Cloud Tech News

Ovum's Integration Middleware Global Market Forecast Model estimates that the spend on cloud-based integration platforms will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31% between 2012 and 2018, reaching $3.7bn by the end of 2018. Over the same period, spending on cloud-based integration platforms in the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions will grow at CAGRs of 27% and 44% respectively.

One of the most frequent questions we get on cloud computing is: "When should a company move to the cloud?" While there are numerous reasons to make the move, there are also certain events that minimise obstacles and objections. These are "triggers", which greatly reduce the sales cycle for prospects considering cloud offerings. In no particular order...

There is a lot of hype surrounding the cloud and its delivery of software, storage and infrastructure over the Internet, but many businesses still view the technology as being too disruptive to implement. And yet, by taking the time to understand this advanced technology, we can begin to learn that the benefits usually outweigh the negatives, and that the myths are most often grounded in fiction. For that reason, we are going to debunk 10 of those myths.

While alternative sourcing approaches such as shared services, outsourcing, and cloud services are much discussed at conferences and in the media, the reality for this group of CIOs is that ICT management is still about managing the people, processes, and technologies of the in-house ICT department. It is therefore not surprising that a shortage of people and skills was regarded as one of the major challenges.

According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide spending on hosted private cloud (HPC) services will be more than $24 billion in 2016. IDC says that they define HPC as an operational model for deploying computing infrastructure services of many types via the cloud.

IBM recently made three significant announcements about its vision for how cloud computing will be adopted by enterprise customers. Ovum considers that the concept of an open standard-based approach to cloud computing represents one such way a technology can gain wider adoption, but cautions that it will need wide cross-vendor support to make an impact on the market.

Over the last five years a number of new technologies that provide huge technological advantages (and create management headaches) have been developed. We have attempted to leverage these advances to the benefit of our organizations, while at the same time struggling with how to incorporate them into our established IT management methodologies.

Cloud services policies are being developed and iterated in all jurisdictions. Having reviewed a number of draft policies in recent months, we believe policy-makers need to work harder to create a level playing field for cloud services adoption, mindful of the potential for a type I procurement error or a type II procurement error.