TheInfoPro, a service of 451 Research, released its latest Cloud Computing Study, indicating that 47% percent of those interviewed had internal cloud projects planned for 2013. Conducted during the second half of 2012, TheInfoPro study identifies major initiatives and explores several fundamental areas, including implementation plans for more than 12 technologies, macro IT influences transforming the sector, drivers of cloud adoption, and provider-selection criteria. This annual study is based on extensive live interviews with primary decision-makers at large and midsize enterprises in North America and Europe.

Peter ffoulkes, director, 451 Research said key trends from TheInfoPro Cloud Computing study include:

• The Cloud has really become a proxy for internal transformation, as adoption of technologies like virtualization and efforts to radically standardize and consolidate have all been classified as 'cloud' initiatives.

• In 2013 we expect that enterprises will remain focused on building internal environments that mimic the functionality of highly efficient cloud service providers like Amazon (for example). Results of our Wave 4 survey validate this assumption, as 47% percent of those interviewed said that the internal cloud was amongst their top-two cloud related projects in 2013.

• Despite conventional wisdom, many enterprises remain skeptical as to whether they can actually save money by using the public cloud. Many of the organizations that we spoke to have more clarity about the potential cost savings of their internal private cloud initiatives. End-users expect greater savings from their internal cloud efforts, with 36% expecting savings of between 1% and 10% from their internal cloud efforts, and that much of the expected savings will come as a result of increased automation.

• The majority of enterprises remain in the initial stages of their internal transformation. 64% percent of those interviewed indicated that they remain in the initial phases  g standardization, consolidation, and virtualization — of the internal cloud journey with 61% in the virtualization phase.

• Forty-seven percent  of those interviewed told us that they are facing significant roadblocks in their quest to move beyond virtualization toward automation, 34% cited non-technical issues (organization / budget, People / Time and Buy-In / Resistance to Change) and 13% said technology issues would likely thwart their efforts.

• The market for cloud platforms today is small – of those responding to our survey, only 26% said they currently are using a cloud platform. However, the future looks bright, as 40% of respondents said they are in-pilot and will deploy in the next 18 months.

• Amazon remains the clear leader in the IaaS space. When asked to identify their existing cloud service providers, 19% of respondents chose Amazon, while 8% chose Verizon, and 5% Rackspace. The opportunity to participate in a rapidly growing market coupled with the necessity of defending existing markets, has brought in competitors from a variety of market segments including telecommunications, Internet infrastructure providers (e.g. Amazon and Google) and traditional hosters.

"The Digital Infrastructure of the future will provide CIOs with an assortment of service delivery venues, which will enable users to schedule or automate the delivery of workloads to the most suitable internal or external clouds depending on workload characteristics, SLAs and policy requirements," said Peter ffoulkes, TheInfoPro's Research Director for Cloud Computing. "As IT organizations complete their infrastructure virtualization and automation projects and turn toward cloud initiatives, there will be significant upside opportunity for a veritable host of cloud service and cloud enabling technology vendors over the next two years."

ffoulkes will host a 451 Research Innovation webinar on February 14 th to discuss the report's findings.

Webinar Details:

  • Title: The State of Cloud Computing in 2013
  • Date: February 14, 2013
  • Time: 2 pm ET
  • Presenters: Peter ffoulkes, Research Director, Servers & Virtualization and Cloud Computing
  • Registration: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/370508457