Public cloud least popular cloud model in Europe, survey finds

Three quarters of European companies have now adopted cloud computing solutions in one form or another, new research has revealed.

According to a survey carried out by Vanson Bourne of IT decision-makers in European firms with 1,000 or more employees, private cloud is the most popular cloud model. Nearly half (47 per cent) of everyone asked said that the private cloud was their predominant approach, while on-premise hosting was found to be the second most popular approach, with 26 per cent of respondents adopting this approach.

Hybrid cloud was the next most popular option - almost one in five companies (17 per cent) said they were using the combination of private and public cloud. Public cloud by itself was the least popular option among senior IT personnel; only around one in 10 companies (11 per cent) across Europe were found to be using this as their main approach.

Looking specifically at the UK, British cloud users were the most likely to go for a hybrid solution, with 22 per cent of UK respondents saying this was their approach. The research also revealed that hybrid and public cloud approaches are more likely to be used by respondents whose organisation manages their multiple CSPs via an integrator.

Broken down by industry sector, companies operating in the business and consumer services (30 per cent) and IT and computer services (21 per cent) were found to be leading the trend towards adoption of hybrid cloud. Meanwhile, enterprises in utilities were found to be the least inclined to opt for hybrid, as only three per cent of respondents in this sector said they were doing so.

The researchers stated that security remains the biggest obstacle to adopting the cloud, which may in turn explain why the less secure public cloud is the least popular model. The survey found that the main challenges to the uptake of cloud technology were data security/trust (62 per cent) and data privacy regulation (48 per cent).

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