1.  Infonetics Research released excerpts from its 2014 Cloud Service Strategies: North American Enterprise Survey, which explores businesses’ plans for the adoption and usage of cloud services.

Infonetics survey respondents rated Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, Google and Cisco top cloud service providers (CSPs). Note that those companies are perceived as the top CSPs, independent of their actual market share, revenue or profits derived from delivering cloud services.

Infonetics asked survey respondence somewhat of an open-ended  question:  “Whom do you consider to be the top 3 cloud service providers?”

Marketing Director Kim Peinado explains, “We ask this question in a lot of our surveys, because it provides a good view of overall brand strength. Typically, the larger the provider (e.g., broad product portfolio) and the more visible their brand, the better they fare in this question.”

From the report: “The majority of the CSPs named by respondents as top three cloud providers have a long history as a software vendor and professional services provider or were a very early entrant into the off-premises cloud services market. Cisco is the one exception, having been able to leverage its dominant position in networking and communications to launch a Web collaboration offering with significant market recognition.”

CLOUD SERVICE SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS:

. When asked whom they consider to be the top cloud service providers (CSPs), Infonetics’ survey participants most often named Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, Google and Cisco
. Factors driving enterprise respondents’ adoption of off-premises cloud include increased performance, agility, scalability, and reduced costs
. Cloud-as-a-service (CaaS) adoption grows through 2016, while infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS) decline
o CaaS appeals to businesses because it is an automated and pre-configured application execution environment operated on their behalf by a CSP
. The cloud spells disruption and opportunity for network equipment vendors: Respondents believe that shifting to the cloud will make it necessary to consider alternate vendors and demand better LAN and WAN performance
. For over 3/4 of businesses surveyed, a CSP’s security reputation is a critical factor in the vendor selection process

“Our latest cloud strategies study shows that hybrid cloud will see a significant increase in adoption over the next two years, growing from 30% of respondent enterprises today to 46% by 2016,” notes Cliff Grossner, Ph.D., directing analyst for data center, cloud, and SDN at Infonetics Research. 

Grossner continues: “This is driving a new architecture for the data center with virtualized servers, storage, and networks where applications are automatically deployed by data center orchestration software.”

CLOUD SURVEY SYNOPSIS:

For its 29-page annual cloud service strategies survey, Infonetics interviewed qualified IT decision-makers with detailed knowledge of and influence in their organizations’ cloud service plans and purchase decisions at 155 North American enterprises. Survey participants were asked about their current usage of and plans for deploying cloud services, including IaaS, CaaS, PaaS, SaaS deployment drivers and barriers, uses, technologies, and architectures (public, private, community, hybrid), as well as their opinions of cloud service providers (CSPs).

2.  Infonetics Research released excerpts from its new Cloud Services for IT Infrastructure and Applications market size, market share, and forecasts report, which tracks the off-premises cloud services market and the vendors who play in this space. 

The new 18-page cloud services report provides detailed analysis of the off-premises cloud services market, which consists of applications and computing infrastructure delivered from a cloud service provider’s (CSP) data center, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), cloud as a service (CaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS).

CLOUD SERVICES MARKET HIGHLIGHTS:

. Software as a service (SaaS) represents more than 2/5 of all off-premise cloud service revenue out to 2018
. North America is where off-premise cloud services started, and it will remain the lead market through at least 2018
. Google is the market share leader for CaaS and PaaS, IBM is #1 for SaaS, and Amazon is tops in IaaS

“We continue to see new tools to automate data centers and technology for developers appear in the market, driving innovation around cloud as a service (CaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS), the revenue growth engines for off-premises cloud services,” notes Cliff Grossner, Ph.D., directing analyst for data center, cloud, and SDN at Infonetics Research.

Grossner adds: “The move to hybrid cloud architectures fuels the adoption of CaaS as enterprises migrate their on-premises data centers to a cloud architecture, where servers, storage, and networks are virtualized and applications are automatically deployed by data center orchestration software.”

CLOUD SERVICES REPORT SYNOPSIS:

Infonetics’ cloud services forecast report provides worldwide and regional market size, vendor market share, forecasts through 2018, analysis, and trends for off-premises cloud services, including IaaS, CaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. The report also tracks SaaS subscribers. Vendors tracked include Amazon, AT&T, CA Technologies, CenturyLink, Cisco, Citrix, Deutsche Telekom, Equinix, Google, IBM, Internap, Microsoft, NTT, Oracle, Rackspace, Salesforce, SAP, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, and others. 

To buy any of the reports, contact Infonetics:

www.infonetics.com/contact.asp

RELATED REPORT EXCERPTS:

. Infonetics’ November Data Center and Cloud research brief: http://www.infonetics.com/2014-newsletters/Data-Center-and-Cloud-November.html
. Infonetics forecasts carrier SDN and NFV market to reach $11 billion by 2018
. Orchestration software is the new battleground in the data center
. White box switching having a big impact on data center networking, up 95% from a year ago
. QLogic moves into #3 spot in converged data center network adapter market
. Data center and enterprise SDN market grows legs, soars 192% year-over-year
. 87% of medium and large North American enterprises surveyed by Infonetics intend to have SDN live in the data center by 2016 

Alan’s Issues & Questions related to Cloud Services and Networking:

1.  With all the price wars, especially for public cloud, which CSPs (if any) or making money?  That’s not generally reported by the companies in this market!

2. Access bandwidth- many cloud computing/storage apps will require fiber to the building- not bonded copper (n x DSL or n x T1 or T3).