Global private cloud spending on the up, research finds

Global private cloud spending on the up, research finds

The growing interest in public cloud-based solutions has also sparked a new focus on the private cloud.

The International Data Corporation (IDC) - the market research, analysis and advisory firm specialising in information technology – estimated in its 'Worldwide Hosted Private Cloud Services 2012-2016 Forecast: New Models for Delivering Infrastructure Services' report that global private cloud spending reached $5.5 billion last year.

The firm predicts a sharp rise in this figure over the course of this year, with spending tipped to reach $9.1 billion, representing a 64 per cent rise compared to last year. This is in relation to the $40 billion being spent on public cloud offerings by global corporations, which highlights the sheer popularity of cloud-based systems.

IDC also believes that, by 2016, annual spending for private clouds will top $24 billion, showing a growth rate of 50 per cent between 2011 and 2016. The organisation outlines the two types of private cloud deployment models, one of which, the dedicated private cloud, is constructed from dedicated physical servers contracted by an organisation.

The virtual private cloud is akin to the public cloud, whereby clients use shared virtualised resources that come complete with heightened security functions.

Research vice president of SaaS and Cloud Services at IDC, Robert Mahowald, said: "IDC anticipates that virtual private cloud will be the predominant operational model for companies wanting to take advantage of the speed and lower capital costs associated with cloud computing while cloud service providers will welcome the move away from the expense of dedicated 1:1 physical systems for delivering their business process and datacenter outsourcing and other services.”

Businesses looking to move services into the cloud, should evaluate the performance of their existing network and consider setting up a leased line or MPLS network.