Enterprises Remain Focused on Internal Clouds According to New 451 Research Cloud Computing Study

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47% of surveyed enterprises list internal clouds among top projects in 2013;
Potential cost-savings of public cloud still met with skepticism
NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- TheInfoPro, a service of 451 Research,
released its latest Cloud Computing Study, indicating that 47% percent of those
interviewed had internal cloud projects planned for 2013. Conducted during the
second half of 2012, TheInfoPro study identifies major initiatives and explores
several fundamental areas, including implementation plans for more than 12
technologies, macro IT influences transforming the sector, drivers of cloud
adoption, and provider-selection criteria. This annual study is based on
extensive live interviews with primary decision-makers at large and midsize
enterprises in North America and Europe.

Mr. ffoulkes said key trends from TheInfoPro Cloud Computing study include:

* The Cloud has really become a proxy for internal transformation, as adoption
of technologies like virtualization and efforts to radically standardize and
consolidate have all been classified as 'cloud' initiatives.
* In 2013 we expect that enterprises will remain focused on building internal
environments that mimic the functionality of highly efficient cloud service
providers like Amazon (for example). Results of our Wave 4 survey validate this
assumption, as 47% percent of those interviewed said that the internal cloud was
amongst their top-two cloud related projects in 2013.
* Despite conventional wisdom, many enterprises remain skeptical as to whether
they can actually save money by using the public cloud. Many of the
organizations that we spoke to have more clarity about the potential cost
savings of their internal private cloud initiatives. End-users expect greater
savings from their internal cloud efforts, with 36% expecting savings of between
1% and 10% from their internal cloud efforts, and that much of the expected
savings will come as a result of increased automation.
* The majority of enterprises remain in the initial stages of their internal
transformation. 64% percent of those interviewed indicated that they remain in
the initial phases - standardization, consolidation and virtualization - of the
internal cloud journey with 61% in the virtualization phase.
* 47% of those interviewed told us that they are facing significant roadblocks
in their quest to move beyond virtualization toward automation, 34% cited
non-technical issues (organization / budget, People / Time and Buy-In /
Resistance to Change) and 13% said technology issues would likely thwart their
efforts.
* The market for cloud platforms today is small - of those responding to our
survey, only 26% said they currently are using a cloud platform. However, the
future looks bright, as 40% of respondents said they are in-pilot and will
deploy in the next 18 months.
* Amazon remains the clear leader in the IaaS space. When asked to identify
their existing cloud service providers, 19% of respondents chose Amazon, while
8% chose Verizon and 5% Rackspace. The opportunity to participate in a rapidly
growing market coupled with the necessity of defending existing markets, has
brought in competitors from a variety of market segments including
telecommunications, Internet infrastructure providers (e.g. Amazon and Google)
and traditional hosters.

"The Digital Infrastructure of the future will provide CIOs with an assortment
of service delivery venues, which will enable users to schedule or automate the
delivery of workloads to the most suitable internal or external clouds depending
on workload characteristics, SLAs and policy requirements," said Peter ffoulkes,
TheInfoPro's Research Director for Cloud Computing. "As IT organizations
complete their infrastructure virtualization and automation projects and turn
toward cloud initiatives, there will be significant upside opportunity for a
veritable host of cloud service and cloud enabling technology vendors over the
next two years."

Research Director Peter ffoulkes will host a 451 Research Innovation webinar on
February 14th to discuss the report's findings.

Webinar Details:

* Title: The State of Cloud Computing in 2013
* Date: February 14, 2013
* Time:2 pm ET
* Presenters: Peter ffoulkes, Research Director, Servers & Virtualization and
Cloud Computing
* Registration:https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/370508457

About TheInfoPro Cloud Computing Study
TheInfoPro's Cloud Computing Study relies on a proprietary network of IT
professionals and is based on in-depth interviews with 100 information
technology professionals conducted from July 2012 through October 2012.
TheInfoPro's interview methodology elicits an excellent understanding of the
issues and decision-making processes related to strategic planning, technology
benchmarking, and vendor selection and negotiation. TheInfoPro's Commentator
Network members comprise a variety of industry types and levels of technology
adoption. TheInfoPro screens potential commentators to ensure that they can
discuss in detail their enterprises' technology roadmap and relationships with
pertinent vendors. To participate, a commentator must work for a large or
midsize enterprise. For the purposes of this study, large enterprises have at
least $1 billion in revenue, while midsize enterprises have annual revenue
between $100 million and $999 million.

About 451 Research
451 Research, a division of The 451 Group, is focused on the business of
enterprise IT innovation. The company's analysts provide critical and timely
insight into the competitive dynamics of innovation in emerging technology
segments. Business value is delivered via daily concise and insightful published
research, periodic deeper-dive reports, data tools, market-sizing research,
analyst advisory, and conferences and events. Clients of the company - at
vendor, investor, service-provider and end-user organizations - rely on 451
Research's insight to support both strategic and tactical decision-making. 451
Research is headquartered in New York, with offices in key locations, including
San Francisco, Washington DC, London, Boston, Seattle and Denver.

Media Contacts:

Newsmaker Group for 451 Research:
Jennifer Fugel
845.657.4202
Jfugel@newsmakergroup.com
OR
Lynn Schwartz
973.736.7118
lschwartz@newsmakergroup.com

This press release was issued through eReleases Press Release Distribution. For
more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE 451 Research