Global cloud computing services revenue is expected to hit $148.8 billion in 2014, representing a monster market opportunity for solution providers, according to recent Gartner research.
That massive boom in the cloud computing services market comes as cloud services are expected to hit $68.3 billion this year, a dramatic 16.6 percent rise compared to 2009 cloud services revenue, which was $58.6 billion.
Cloud development platform in 2008
How it works?
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It sounds like a phrase ripped straight out of a sci-fi flick. But chances are, if you’re a regular Web user, you already have a pretty solid grasp of what “cloud computing” really is.
Consider, for instance, the social networking site Facebook. When you upload a picture of your friends onto the site, and tag your faces in the photograph, you’re engaging in a kind of cloud computing – those photos are now stored on the Web, as well as on your desktop. If you delete the photos from your computer, they will remain on the Web, accessible to you and your friends.
Years ago, during the first tremors of the dot-com rush, this cloud computing stuff was all pie in the sky. Tech gurus were fascinated by the concept, and a few programmers trotted out some serviceable fare, but accessible, mass-market software remained tantalizingly out of reach. Now, cloud computing is everywhere.
So what would this kind of cloud-driven software look like? Users would forgo the long loading times, and forget about the desktop clutter. All their files would be stored on faraway servers, just a mouse drag and a click away. And forget about the endless installations and upgrades – all of that would be taken care of automatically.
IT managers are thinking strategically about cloud service deployments; more-progressive enterprises are thinking through what their IT operations will look like in a world of increasing cloud service leverage. This was highly unusual a year ago."
Meanwhile, as cloud computing services continue to explode, Gartner predicts that enterprises will pony up $112 billion cumulatively on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) combined over the course of the next five years, further generating opportunities for solution providers looking to strike while the cloud computing iron is hot.
"After many years of germination, most notably in the SaaS arena, the core ideas at the heart of cloud computing—such as pay for use, multi-tenancy and external services—appear to be resonating more strongly," Pring added. "In part, this can be explained by macroeconomic factors. The financial turbulence of the last 18 months has meant every organization has been scrutinizing every expenditure. An IT solution that can deliver functionality less expensively and with more agility (remembering that time is money) is hard to ignore against this backdrop."
Currently, US is leading the charge for cloud computing services. US had 60 percent of the cloud computing services market last year and will be at 58 percent in 2010, Gartner said. However, US market share of the cloud computing market will drop to 50 percent by 2014 as more countries embrace cloud services. For example, Western Europe is expected to represent 23.8 percent of the cloud services market this year, while Japan will account for 10 percent. Come 2014, UK will make up 29 percent of the cloud services market and Japan will represent 12 percent of cloud services revenue.
Despite the obvious increased interest in cloud computing, enterprises still have concerns, with security chief among them, followed closely by availability of service, vendor viability and technology maturity.
[Source- www.crn.in]
