The Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) has unveiled its fourth annual membership survey. Conducted at the end of last year, the survey examined cloud computing adoption among member companies and revealed a current preference for internal cloud solutions. It also noted a growing interest in software-defined networking and hybrid cloud, suggesting that companies will look to solutions that blend public and internal resources over the next few years.

"The results of our member survey validated the importance of interoperability between cloud vendors to expand enterprise adoption of cloud computing," said Reyk Bederke, ODCA chairman and president, and vice president, Cloud Integration Center at T-Systems. "Our members are working together to drive the market toward interoperable cloud services as they continue to push more operations into the cloud."

Over the past three years, there has been significant growth in internal cloud implementations, with the greatest growth in organizations that have more than half of their services in private clouds.

Since 2012, the number of respondents who have greater than 60% of their operations in an internal cloud has increased from 10% to 24%.

Respondents with one-fifth or less of their operations in internal cloud services dropped 23%, implying a push of operations further up the stack.

When asked what percentage of their services would be in internal clouds by 2016, the expectation for 40% or more of operations increased from 38% to 63%. In 2012, 18% of members surveyed believed their organizations would house 60% of their operations in internal clouds by 2016. Since then, that number has doubled.

Other survey highlights include:

  • The primary concern that slows cloud adoption continues to be security.
  • More than 80% of survey respondents are using or are planning to using hybrid cloud solutions at some point in the future.
  • For the past three years, the amount of organizations with less than 20% of their operations in a public cloud has ranged from 79-88%.
  • This year showed a marked increase in the use of the ODCA's software-defined networking usage model and a preference for that usage model in the coming six months. Usage models are global requirements for cloud adoption that can aid businesses building RFPs and requirements for new cloud implementations.

Methodology
Every year, the ODCA surveys its members on their current and future data center implementations. The objectives of the survey are to track adoption of cloud services, track integration of ODCA requirements into deployment plans, and identify shared outlooks on technical obstacles facing enterprise use of cloud services and data analytics. It reveals what these companies are doing with the cloud.

Beginning in December 2014, the survey was sent electronically to registered contacts from current and former member companies, including executives, IT architects and engineers, and marketing staff. Response was voluntary and incentivized by a small gift or charitable donation. To track changes over time, most of the questions asked were identical to the past annual ODCA member surveys.

For full survey results, download the white paper, Open Data Center Alliance: Cloud Adoption Survey 2014, here.