Cloud
Study: IaaS market set to grow
Some companies were once reluctant to adopt cloud-based IT infrastructure because of concerns about cloud computing security. Now, a growing number have decided that cloud computing security can be achieved with appropriate measures.
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When cloud computing was still considered a new idea, some companies were reluctant to adopt cloud-based IT infrastructure because of concerns about cloud computing security.
Today, however, it seems a rapidly growing number of organizations have come around to the view that cloud computing security can be achieved if the appropriate measures are taken.
This trend could be reflected in data recently released by research firm Gartner on the growth of the Infrastructure-as-a-Service market. According to Gartner, the IaaS market is set to experience strong growth in the coming years.
The study estimated the current value of the global IaaS market at approximately $3.7 billion. By 2014, this is expected to reach approximately $10.5 billion, according to Gartner.
Cloud-based IaaS enables businesses to utilize powerful IT infrastructure without the need to purchase the associated hardware. Rather, they can simply pay a cloud computing provider for access to their infrastructure.
This offers many advantages, including reduced costs and greater scalability. In the event that a company experiences growth, it can expand the capacity of the infrastructure it is “renting,” rather than investing in redundant hardware that may never be used.
Furthermore, IaaS enables companies to avoid many of the headaches associated with managing IT infrastructure, since this is taken care of by a service provider.
Lydia Leong, research vice president for Gartner, said the industry is “still at the beginning of the adoption cycle for cloud compute IaaS.”
“This is a rapidly evolving market that represents the transformation of IT infrastructure over 10 to 20 years,” She added. “However, the next five years represent a significant revenue opportunity – as well as a critical period for vendors who need to lay their foundations for the future.”
IaaS, some IT experts say, forms the basis of all cloud computing. According to a recent Tech Evangelist report, a strict definition of cloud computing would not necessarily include SaaS. This, according to the report, is because SaaS “is merely a consumer of cloud computing and not a component of cloud computing.”
According to the report, SaaS uses the cloud to provide applications to users through networks. Without IaaS to provide the necessary infrastructure, however, SaaS would not be possible.
Regardless, both SaaS and IaaS provide significant opportunities for companies looking to optimize their IT solutions. According to another recent Gartner report, cloud computing is the top technology priority for most CIOs worldwide in 2011.