IDC: Cloud Uptake Driving Server Spend

The continued uptake of cloud computing in the enterprise will drive new spending on server hardware, according to a report by research firm IDC.

Server hardware revenue for public cloud computing is predicted to grow from $582 million in 2009 to $718 million in 2014, as IT organisations seek to reduce the complexity of their IT environments by moving their systems off-site. Meanwhile, the private cloud market will grow from $2.6 billion to $5.7 billion over the same period, due to increasing use of converged infrastructure.

Reducing sprawl

“Many IT decision makers are seriously considering cloud computing as a way to dramatically simplify their sprawling virtual and physical infrastructure,” said Katherine Broderick, research analyst at Enterprise Platforms and Datacenter Trends.

“However, there is still some lingering apprehension over issues like integration, availability, security, and costs. These concerns, and how they are addressed by IT vendors, will continue to guide the adoption of cloud computing over the next several years.”

IDC’s research also found that private clouds were more likely to be broadly adopted than public clouds, with 44 percent of respondents claiming to be considering private clouds. Public clouds will also be less enterprise-focused than private clouds.

Security and management

Security is still the main concern for most businesses considering entering the cloud. A poll of listeners to a webinar hosted by eWEEK Europe UK last month revealed that 56 percent did not believe the cloud was ready to be trusted yet. But the majority agreed that issues around security and reliability would be solved relatively soon, and many were looking to the cloud to simplify IT services.

Nevertheless, Daniel Fried, managing director EMEA for virtualisation management expert Veeam warned that some enterprise IT managers are likely to struggle with keeping the underlying virtualisation infrastructure under control.

“The promise of simplifying a sprawling infrastructure will prove irresistible for many organisations, whether they use the public or private cloud,” said Fried. “However, the technology that cloud computing is often based on, virtualisation, has so far proved a challenge to manage.”

“Even within the limited confines of a single organisation’s IT infrastructure, virtual environments can quickly sprawl out of control,” he went on. “Organisations are beginning to tame these internal virtual environments, but the arrival of cloud computing doesn’t just repeat the problems that virtualisation creates: it magnifies them, allowing them free reign across a much broader infrastructure than before.”

Kite-mark for cloud services

On top of this, cloud users face the problem of which cloud offering to choose, as a lack of oversight and standards make it exceptionally difficult to validate cloud services.

Earlier this month, industry experts began calling for more regulation and standardisation of cloud services as uptake of the technology increases. Speaking at the Cloud Computing World Forum in London, Ron Brown, director of cloud computing services at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, called for a scheme like the BSI’s “kite-mark” to make it easier for customers to select trustworthy cloud services suppliers.