Twenty-eight percent of U.S. organizations are using cloud computing today, with 73 percent reporting that their first step into the cloud was implementation of a single cloud application, according to a survey.
While 84 percent said they have already employed at least one cloud application, most do not yet identify themselves as cloud users who are implementing or maintaining cloud computing. Cloud computing is defined as a model for enabling convenient, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned.
Applications most commonly operated in the cloud are commodity applications such as email (50 percent of cloud users), file storage (39 percent), web and video conferencing (36 and 32 percent, respectively), and online learning (34 percent).
Respondents estimated that, on average, only 42 percent of their current services and applications have potential to operate in the cloud. Even the respondents who identified themselves as cloud users -- currently implementing or maintaining cloud computing -- said they expect to spend no more than one-third of their IT budget (34 percent) on cloud computing by 2016, and at the same time, to save 31 percent of their IT budget by using cloud resources and applications. Non-cloud users said they expect to spend slightly more than one-quarter of their IT budget (28 percent) on cloud computing by 2016, and to save 23 percent by using cloud computing resources and applications.
Among current cloud users, 84 percent said they cut application costs by moving to the cloud. On average, cloud users report saving 21 percent annually on those applications moved to the cloud.
Comment from David Cottingham, senior director, managed services at CDW: Many organizations are carefully -- and selectively -- moving into cloud computing, as well they should, because it represents a significant shift in how computing resources are provided and managed. With thoughtful planning, organizations can realize benefits that align directly with their organizational goals: consolidated IT infrastructure, reduced IT energy and capital costs, and "anywhere" access to documents and applications. The potential to cut costs while maintaining or even enhancing computing capabilities for end users presents a compelling case for investment in cloud computing. The fact that even current cloud users anticipate spending just a third of their IT budget on cloud computing within five years suggests that before wide-scale implementation, IT managers are taking a hard look at their IT governance, architecture, security and other prerequisites for cloud computing, in order to ensure that their implementations are successful.
About the survey: CDW LLC, a provider of technology products and services, conducted the Cloud Computing Tracking Poll, an assessment of current and future cloud computing use in business, government, healthcare and education among 1,200 IT professionals familiar with their organization's use of, or plans for, cloud computing. The poll includes findings specific to each of the eight industries surveyed during March 2011: small businesses, medium businesses, large businesses, the federal government, state and local governments, healthcare, higher education and K-12 public schools.
Contact: http://www.cdw.com/cloudtrackingpoll
Contact: http://www.cdw.com/cloud
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Majority Of Independent Business Owners Have Never Heard Of Cloud Computing
Small business owners apparently are clueless about cloud computing, according to a survey.
Findings:
-- 71 percent have never heard of cloud computing
-- 74 percent of those who have heard of cloud computing said they could not describe it
-- 22 percent said they had data or critical information, software or hardware in their office that may not be secure
-- Only 29 percent said that their critical computer hardware, software and data was backed up and stored offsite
Comment from Barry Sloane, President and CEO of The Small Business Authority: Cloud computing will be the next important trend in the U.S. economy for businesses large and small. There is no doubt that business owners will embrace the cloud concept and over time gravitate towards its massive benefits. We surveyed over 1,800 independent business owners and discovered that the concept of cloud computing has begun to disseminate into the marketplace, due primarily to large advertising programs by entities like Microsoft, Cisco and others. Business owners will need to understand what the cloud is and what it can do for their businesses in the areas of cost control, data security, data protection, accessibility, efficiency and productivity to facilitate a smooth running technological platform for their business. About 25 percent of our business owners said they understood what cloud computing was. However, when we drilled down deeper most, 78 percent, thought that their data was secure. Yet 71 percent stated their data was not backed up offsite. Server huggers beware. The cloud is approaching; the security blanket of the server in the closet onsite and having an assistant backup important business data and confidential client information needs to be behind us all. Our survey this month is quite telling about what independent business owners really need to know about the cloud and how misinformed they are about data safety and security.
About the survey: Conducted by Newtek Business Services, the monthly SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey polled approximately 1,800 small business respondents.
Contact: http://www.newtekbusinessservices.com
Findings:
-- 71 percent have never heard of cloud computing
-- 74 percent of those who have heard of cloud computing said they could not describe it
-- 22 percent said they had data or critical information, software or hardware in their office that may not be secure
-- Only 29 percent said that their critical computer hardware, software and data was backed up and stored offsite
Comment from Barry Sloane, President and CEO of The Small Business Authority: Cloud computing will be the next important trend in the U.S. economy for businesses large and small. There is no doubt that business owners will embrace the cloud concept and over time gravitate towards its massive benefits. We surveyed over 1,800 independent business owners and discovered that the concept of cloud computing has begun to disseminate into the marketplace, due primarily to large advertising programs by entities like Microsoft, Cisco and others. Business owners will need to understand what the cloud is and what it can do for their businesses in the areas of cost control, data security, data protection, accessibility, efficiency and productivity to facilitate a smooth running technological platform for their business. About 25 percent of our business owners said they understood what cloud computing was. However, when we drilled down deeper most, 78 percent, thought that their data was secure. Yet 71 percent stated their data was not backed up offsite. Server huggers beware. The cloud is approaching; the security blanket of the server in the closet onsite and having an assistant backup important business data and confidential client information needs to be behind us all. Our survey this month is quite telling about what independent business owners really need to know about the cloud and how misinformed they are about data safety and security.
About the survey: Conducted by Newtek Business Services, the monthly SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey polled approximately 1,800 small business respondents.
Contact: http://www.newtekbusinessservices.com
Despite Surge In Cloud Storage, SMBs Still Using Network-Attached Storage
Cloud-based storage solutions have not supplanted network-attached storage among small- and medium-sized business, research shows.
More than 70 percent of small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) that use cloud-based storage solutions also use networked-attached storage (NAS).
While SMB NAS represents a smaller portion of the total NAS market, SMB NAS is expected to grow at a much faster rate over the forecast period with revenues reaching $2 billion in 2015, says In-Stat .
Network-attached storage is a specialized server connected to a network that provides file-based data storage services to other devices on the network. NAS systems typically have the capability to support one or more hard disk drives (HDDs), and often include features such as RAID (redundant array of independent disks) and back up/replication services for all the devices attached to the network.
Findings:
-- 57.3 percent of SMB survey respondents use NAS technology products
-- North America and Europe will represent 84.6 percent of the revenue opportunity for the SMB NAS market.
-- Survey respondents that "don't use NAS" tend to have less than 50 employees.
Comment from Norm Bogen, VP Research, In-Stat: As the market has matured, the definition of NAS has taken on additional aspects. In particular, system management software has evolved into the most important feature of NAS adoption for several reasons, but primarily because it simplifies the user experience to set up and manage NAS products.
About the survey: In-Stat's Worldwide SMB Network-Attached Storage: Technology and Service Innovation Drive High Growth, (#IN1105046CT) provides survey results and coverage of the small and medium business (SMB) NAS market, including survey data relating to the use of NAS and cloud services, as well as an in depth overview of the market and technology trends.
Contact: http://www.in-stat.com
More than 70 percent of small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) that use cloud-based storage solutions also use networked-attached storage (NAS).
While SMB NAS represents a smaller portion of the total NAS market, SMB NAS is expected to grow at a much faster rate over the forecast period with revenues reaching $2 billion in 2015, says In-Stat .
Network-attached storage is a specialized server connected to a network that provides file-based data storage services to other devices on the network. NAS systems typically have the capability to support one or more hard disk drives (HDDs), and often include features such as RAID (redundant array of independent disks) and back up/replication services for all the devices attached to the network.
Findings:
-- 57.3 percent of SMB survey respondents use NAS technology products
-- North America and Europe will represent 84.6 percent of the revenue opportunity for the SMB NAS market.
-- Survey respondents that "don't use NAS" tend to have less than 50 employees.
Comment from Norm Bogen, VP Research, In-Stat: As the market has matured, the definition of NAS has taken on additional aspects. In particular, system management software has evolved into the most important feature of NAS adoption for several reasons, but primarily because it simplifies the user experience to set up and manage NAS products.
About the survey: In-Stat's Worldwide SMB Network-Attached Storage: Technology and Service Innovation Drive High Growth, (#IN1105046CT) provides survey results and coverage of the small and medium business (SMB) NAS market, including survey data relating to the use of NAS and cloud services, as well as an in depth overview of the market and technology trends.
Contact: http://www.in-stat.com
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
CIOs Say Cloud Computing Pays Off
Leading financial technology executives say they want innovations that allow them to process more data more quickly, cheaply and reliably, a survey has found. One of those innovations they are especially impressed with is cloud computing.
When asked what infrastructure investment areas have yielded the most return on investment (ROI) in the last year, cloud computing received 45 percent of the responses, another 33 percent said low-latency trading and 23 percent said complex event processing (CEP).
About the survey: The Bloomberg survey was taken at Bloomberg LINK's first Enterprise Technology Summit, an invitation-only seminar that brought together more than 100 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and technology decision-makers from major financial services firms.
Contact: http://www.bloomberg.com/enterprise/
When asked what infrastructure investment areas have yielded the most return on investment (ROI) in the last year, cloud computing received 45 percent of the responses, another 33 percent said low-latency trading and 23 percent said complex event processing (CEP).
About the survey: The Bloomberg survey was taken at Bloomberg LINK's first Enterprise Technology Summit, an invitation-only seminar that brought together more than 100 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and technology decision-makers from major financial services firms.
Contact: http://www.bloomberg.com/enterprise/
More Than 68 Percent Of Federal IT Officials Support Private Or Hybrid Models
Government and higher ed IT professionals prefer private and hybrid cloud models, according to a survey. The results cast light on the critical importance of long-term planning and management of cloud computing, having an "exit strategy," ensuring security, and successfully managing virtualized environments.
Key findings among federal government respondents:
-- The overwhelming majority of federal respondents (90.3 percent) said they don't have or are unaware if they have a cloud computing exit strategy, which agencies need if they want to move their data and/or change cloud providers.
-- The majority of federal IT professionals (68.1 percent) believe that private or hybrid clouds will best meet their organizational needs five years or more from now.
-- While the plurality of federal respondents (28.0 percent) named cost savings as their biggest incentive to adopt cloud computing, a large number of federal IT professionals (21.1 percent) believe that cloud computing will provide them with better mission support.
-- A very small percentage of public sector respondents (6.9 percent) see the public cloud model as a viable long-term option for their organization.
-- The majority of federal survey participants (64.7 percent) report that there is some level of confusion at their organization about the distinction between cloud computing and virtualization.
-- Federal respondents (56.4 percent) believe that existing federal security standards and regulations (such as FISMA & FedRAMP) need to be supplemented with additional cloud security standards and regulations, best practices and guidelines.
-- The majority of federal IT professionals (62.2 percent) said that Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra's initiative to eliminate at least 800 of the government's data centers by 2015 is somewhat to very feasible.
-- According to federal respondents, lack of in-house expertise is a bigger barrier to private cloud adoption than upfront costs.
Comment from Paul Garver, chief executive officer of Quest Software Public Sector: Cloud is not the only solution to every problem, but with proper planning and management, can provide numerous benefits to public sector organizations.
About the survey : Quest Software Public Sector, Inc., a subsidiary of Quest Software, sponsored the survey of federal, state and local, and higher education IT professionals. The survey was conducted by the School of Graduate and Continuing Studies at Norwich University, which gathered data from 646 respondents.
Contact: http://www.quest.com
Key findings among federal government respondents:
-- The overwhelming majority of federal respondents (90.3 percent) said they don't have or are unaware if they have a cloud computing exit strategy, which agencies need if they want to move their data and/or change cloud providers.
-- The majority of federal IT professionals (68.1 percent) believe that private or hybrid clouds will best meet their organizational needs five years or more from now.
-- While the plurality of federal respondents (28.0 percent) named cost savings as their biggest incentive to adopt cloud computing, a large number of federal IT professionals (21.1 percent) believe that cloud computing will provide them with better mission support.
-- A very small percentage of public sector respondents (6.9 percent) see the public cloud model as a viable long-term option for their organization.
-- The majority of federal survey participants (64.7 percent) report that there is some level of confusion at their organization about the distinction between cloud computing and virtualization.
-- Federal respondents (56.4 percent) believe that existing federal security standards and regulations (such as FISMA & FedRAMP) need to be supplemented with additional cloud security standards and regulations, best practices and guidelines.
-- The majority of federal IT professionals (62.2 percent) said that Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra's initiative to eliminate at least 800 of the government's data centers by 2015 is somewhat to very feasible.
-- According to federal respondents, lack of in-house expertise is a bigger barrier to private cloud adoption than upfront costs.
Comment from Paul Garver, chief executive officer of Quest Software Public Sector: Cloud is not the only solution to every problem, but with proper planning and management, can provide numerous benefits to public sector organizations.
About the survey : Quest Software Public Sector, Inc., a subsidiary of Quest Software, sponsored the survey of federal, state and local, and higher education IT professionals. The survey was conducted by the School of Graduate and Continuing Studies at Norwich University, which gathered data from 646 respondents.
Contact: http://www.quest.com
Deployment Of Cloud Services Soars Among Multinationals
Adoption of cloud services is picking up pace among large organizations, with telecom providers well positioned to take advantage, according to a survey. Cloud services adoption is up 61 percent from April 2010 with 45 percent of multinational companies (MNCs) already using cloud sourcing for at least some elements of key IT services.
Asia-Pacific MNCs are reporting the greatest cloud interest, with 63 percent uptake across all cloud services categories; networking, communications, applications, corporate IT systems, as well as data management, security and backup.
Around the globe, enterprises have already moved significant resources to the cloud and are ready to move more application services. The dominant areas of cloud services uptake are in data backup and storage, at 51 percent of respondents, with an additional 33 percent reporting their intention to procure cloud data backup and storage services in the next 24 months. Cloud uptake is permeating all sectors. Finance and insurance multinationals have adopted cloud services for some elements of corporate IT systems (56 percent), whereas manufacturing is embracing cloud components for networking and data management (63 percent and 59 percent, respectively).
Sectors are also placing different applications in cloud environments. Professional services single out Customer Relationship Management (CRM) (50 percent) while finance and insurance places strong emphasis on document management (50 percent). Manufacturing places most value on messaging (41 percent) and CRM (41 percent).
Seventy-five percent of MNCs rate scalability of capacity and matching capacity to fluctuating demand as the main benefits from the use of cloud services, with increased speed of provisioning coming in a close third (72 percent). Cost transparency is regarded as least important with only 24 percent citing this as a major benefit.
Telecommunication providers are emerging as trusted partners and credible suppliers for cloud services, increasing from 37 percent in 2010 to 49 percent in 2011.
Comment from Evan Kirchheimer, Practice Leader, Enterprise Services, at Ovum: We believe the majority of MNCs are currently between "early" and "adolescent" adoption phases of cloud-based services, with broader and deeper adoption being contemplated. Greater adoption is dependent on the resolution of security, governance and reliability and once these concerns are addressed through standardised, tested offers from service providers, more large enterprises will feel comfortable positioning cloud as a preferred procurement option.
About the study: Ovum analysts interviewed CIOs, telecoms managers and/or IT directors with global responsibility for communications services (fixed, mobile, voice, data, IT) at 102 multinational corporations during April and May 2011.
Contact: http://www.cw.com
Asia-Pacific MNCs are reporting the greatest cloud interest, with 63 percent uptake across all cloud services categories; networking, communications, applications, corporate IT systems, as well as data management, security and backup.
Around the globe, enterprises have already moved significant resources to the cloud and are ready to move more application services. The dominant areas of cloud services uptake are in data backup and storage, at 51 percent of respondents, with an additional 33 percent reporting their intention to procure cloud data backup and storage services in the next 24 months. Cloud uptake is permeating all sectors. Finance and insurance multinationals have adopted cloud services for some elements of corporate IT systems (56 percent), whereas manufacturing is embracing cloud components for networking and data management (63 percent and 59 percent, respectively).
Sectors are also placing different applications in cloud environments. Professional services single out Customer Relationship Management (CRM) (50 percent) while finance and insurance places strong emphasis on document management (50 percent). Manufacturing places most value on messaging (41 percent) and CRM (41 percent).
Seventy-five percent of MNCs rate scalability of capacity and matching capacity to fluctuating demand as the main benefits from the use of cloud services, with increased speed of provisioning coming in a close third (72 percent). Cost transparency is regarded as least important with only 24 percent citing this as a major benefit.
Telecommunication providers are emerging as trusted partners and credible suppliers for cloud services, increasing from 37 percent in 2010 to 49 percent in 2011.
Comment from Evan Kirchheimer, Practice Leader, Enterprise Services, at Ovum: We believe the majority of MNCs are currently between "early" and "adolescent" adoption phases of cloud-based services, with broader and deeper adoption being contemplated. Greater adoption is dependent on the resolution of security, governance and reliability and once these concerns are addressed through standardised, tested offers from service providers, more large enterprises will feel comfortable positioning cloud as a preferred procurement option.
About the study: Ovum analysts interviewed CIOs, telecoms managers and/or IT directors with global responsibility for communications services (fixed, mobile, voice, data, IT) at 102 multinational corporations during April and May 2011.
Contact: http://www.cw.com
Cloud Computing Poised To Take Off At Companies
Sixty percent of global CIOs report that their organizations are ready to embrace cloud computing over the next five years as a means of growing their businesses and achieving competitive advantage, according to a study. The figure nearly doubles the number of CIOs who said they would utilize cloud in a 2009 study.
As demand for ever-growing amounts of information continues to increase, companies are seeking simple and direct access to data and applications that cloud computing delivers in a cost-efficient, always-available manner. The use of cloud, which began in supporting deployments mainly inside companies, has now also grown common between organizations and their partners and customers. in 2009, only a third of CIOs said they planned to pursue cloud to gain a competitive advantage. This year's study shows a dramatic increase in the focus on cloud, particularly in media and entertainment, which rose to 73 percent, automotive (70 percent) and telecommunications (69 percent).
From a country standpoint, seven out of 10 CIOs in the U.S., Japan and South Korea, and 68 percent in China, now identify cloud as a top priority. This is dramatically up from 2009, when CIO interest in cloud hovered at about a third in each of these countries.
The study also found that more than four out of five CIOs (83 percent) see business intelligence and analytics as top priorities for their businesses as they seek ways to act upon the growing amounts of data that are now at their disposal. CIOs are also increasingly turning their attention to mobile computing to keep pace with the fast-changing marketplace. As the proliferation of mobile devices with enhanced functionality and mobile applications that support business productivity and new market opportunities continues to grow, mobile computing and mobility solutions are now seen by nearly three-quarters of CIOs (74 percent) as a game-changer for their businesses -- up from 68 percent in 2009.
Just as analytics, cloud and mobility have become dominant areas for CIOs, other areas are taking up less of their time, although this does not mean they are any less important. Virtualization, risk management and compliance, for example, have moved down on the CIOs "visionary plan list" but this is the result of virtualization become more mainstream (and less the specific responsibility of CIOs) and risk gradually moving to a dedicated risk officer.
Comment from said Jeanette Horan, vice president and Chief Information Officer, IBM: As technology becomes both an enabler of competitive advantage and embedded in every facet of the enterprise, the role of the CIO has never been more essential. This study provides key evidence of how the capabilities of IT are aligning perfectly with the aspirations of business leaders. The winners will be those companies that understand the power of technologies like cloud, analytics and mobility, and can harness that power to transform their businesses.
About the study: IBM's 2011 study among chief information officers is the product of face-to-face interviews with CIOs from diverse organizations in 71 countries, 18 industries and organizations of every size.
Contact: http://www.IBM.com
As demand for ever-growing amounts of information continues to increase, companies are seeking simple and direct access to data and applications that cloud computing delivers in a cost-efficient, always-available manner. The use of cloud, which began in supporting deployments mainly inside companies, has now also grown common between organizations and their partners and customers. in 2009, only a third of CIOs said they planned to pursue cloud to gain a competitive advantage. This year's study shows a dramatic increase in the focus on cloud, particularly in media and entertainment, which rose to 73 percent, automotive (70 percent) and telecommunications (69 percent).
From a country standpoint, seven out of 10 CIOs in the U.S., Japan and South Korea, and 68 percent in China, now identify cloud as a top priority. This is dramatically up from 2009, when CIO interest in cloud hovered at about a third in each of these countries.
The study also found that more than four out of five CIOs (83 percent) see business intelligence and analytics as top priorities for their businesses as they seek ways to act upon the growing amounts of data that are now at their disposal. CIOs are also increasingly turning their attention to mobile computing to keep pace with the fast-changing marketplace. As the proliferation of mobile devices with enhanced functionality and mobile applications that support business productivity and new market opportunities continues to grow, mobile computing and mobility solutions are now seen by nearly three-quarters of CIOs (74 percent) as a game-changer for their businesses -- up from 68 percent in 2009.
Just as analytics, cloud and mobility have become dominant areas for CIOs, other areas are taking up less of their time, although this does not mean they are any less important. Virtualization, risk management and compliance, for example, have moved down on the CIOs "visionary plan list" but this is the result of virtualization become more mainstream (and less the specific responsibility of CIOs) and risk gradually moving to a dedicated risk officer.
Comment from said Jeanette Horan, vice president and Chief Information Officer, IBM: As technology becomes both an enabler of competitive advantage and embedded in every facet of the enterprise, the role of the CIO has never been more essential. This study provides key evidence of how the capabilities of IT are aligning perfectly with the aspirations of business leaders. The winners will be those companies that understand the power of technologies like cloud, analytics and mobility, and can harness that power to transform their businesses.
About the study: IBM's 2011 study among chief information officers is the product of face-to-face interviews with CIOs from diverse organizations in 71 countries, 18 industries and organizations of every size.
Contact: http://www.IBM.com
Open Source Growing Quickly In Mobile And Cloud Development
Open source is now fully embraced by both the public and private sectors, and is being implemented across a wide variety of markets and applications such as social publishing and big data, according to a survey. Uuser confidence in open source continues to grow dramatically, represented by the fact that users are much less concerned with historical impediments to adoption such as licensing or conforming to an organization's internal policies. The future is bright for open source. Emerging technology segments such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), private cloud, public cloud, and mobile are driving growth in open source.
Key findings:
-- Respondents have identified SaaS, cloud and mobile as the main areas that will have a dramatic impact on open source and that are driving growth.
-- In 2010 there were 3,800 new open source based projects in mobile, with 94 percent targeting Android and Apple iOS, more than double the number in 2009.
-- There are now more than 470 open source projects targeting cloud computing.
-- For the first time, supporting the fact that open source has truly gone mainstream, end users accounted for 60 percent of the survey respondents and the quality of responses continues to increase, spreading across all levels of IT management from developers to a large number of C-level executives.
-- The open source customers are now more focused on mainstream technology issues, including improved operational excellence around areas such as support, product management, feature functionality and return on investment. This is in contrast to earlier years where the survey had pointed to things such as the legal implications of licensing and conforming to internal policies.
-- 56 percent of respondents believe that more than half of software purchases made in the next five years will be open source.
-- 95 percent of respondents noted that a turbulent economy continues to be "good" for OSS, though for the first year ever, lower cost has been overtaken by freedom from vendor lock-in as what makes OSS more attractive.
-- When asked about revenue generating strategies likely to create value for vendors, 56 percent said that an annual, repeatable support and service agreement was the most likely.
Comment from Matt Aslett, senior analyst, enterprise software, The 451 Group: The 451 Group's research has previously shown that the benefits of open source software are many and varied and the survey highlights the fact that multiple factors are driving the increased adoption of open source software, including freedom from vendor lock-in, greater flexibility and lower cost.
About the survey: North Bridge Venture Partners conducted the annual Future of Open Source Survey in partnership with The 451 Group. More than 450 respondents took part, including representatives from both the vendor and non-vendor communities.
Contact: http://www.northbridge.com
Key findings:
-- Respondents have identified SaaS, cloud and mobile as the main areas that will have a dramatic impact on open source and that are driving growth.
-- In 2010 there were 3,800 new open source based projects in mobile, with 94 percent targeting Android and Apple iOS, more than double the number in 2009.
-- There are now more than 470 open source projects targeting cloud computing.
-- For the first time, supporting the fact that open source has truly gone mainstream, end users accounted for 60 percent of the survey respondents and the quality of responses continues to increase, spreading across all levels of IT management from developers to a large number of C-level executives.
-- The open source customers are now more focused on mainstream technology issues, including improved operational excellence around areas such as support, product management, feature functionality and return on investment. This is in contrast to earlier years where the survey had pointed to things such as the legal implications of licensing and conforming to internal policies.
-- 56 percent of respondents believe that more than half of software purchases made in the next five years will be open source.
-- 95 percent of respondents noted that a turbulent economy continues to be "good" for OSS, though for the first year ever, lower cost has been overtaken by freedom from vendor lock-in as what makes OSS more attractive.
-- When asked about revenue generating strategies likely to create value for vendors, 56 percent said that an annual, repeatable support and service agreement was the most likely.
Comment from Matt Aslett, senior analyst, enterprise software, The 451 Group: The 451 Group's research has previously shown that the benefits of open source software are many and varied and the survey highlights the fact that multiple factors are driving the increased adoption of open source software, including freedom from vendor lock-in, greater flexibility and lower cost.
About the survey: North Bridge Venture Partners conducted the annual Future of Open Source Survey in partnership with The 451 Group. More than 450 respondents took part, including representatives from both the vendor and non-vendor communities.
Contact: http://www.northbridge.com
U.S. SMBs Show Strong Preference for Cloud "Bundling"
Small and medium business (SMB) technology buyers in the U.S. are increasingly allocating a larger proportion of their spending to cloud-based services. According to a recent survey, that proportion was 10 percent in 2010, but is forecasted to rise to more than 15 percent in 2015. As this migration into the cloud accelerates, SMB buyers are showing a strong inclination to purchase bundled cloud offerings as opposed to a stand-alone application.
For example, AMI research shows that 38 percent of U.S. SMBs have indicated a strong preference for obtaining software as a service (SaaS) as part of a package/bundle, versus only 11 percent who are interested in a single service. One third of U.S. SMBs are interested in bundling multiple hosted infrastructure and remotely managed services offerings, versus 9 percent of firms who only want a single service.
Comment from Donald Best of AMI: A significant segment of U.S. SMBs prefer to deploy multiple cloud services in order to achieve flexibility, ease of IT management, and lower CAPEX. This is also driving an evolution in the channel ecosystem, as communications service providers and hosts increasingly offer bundles including productivity suites and other cloud-based applications.
About the study: AMI's soon to be published 2011 U.S. SMB Cloud Playbook -- Strategic and Tactical GTM Guide details preferences for SaaS and hosted infrastructure bundling, as well as hosted unified communications and productivity/collaboration suite bundles.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
For example, AMI research shows that 38 percent of U.S. SMBs have indicated a strong preference for obtaining software as a service (SaaS) as part of a package/bundle, versus only 11 percent who are interested in a single service. One third of U.S. SMBs are interested in bundling multiple hosted infrastructure and remotely managed services offerings, versus 9 percent of firms who only want a single service.
Comment from Donald Best of AMI: A significant segment of U.S. SMBs prefer to deploy multiple cloud services in order to achieve flexibility, ease of IT management, and lower CAPEX. This is also driving an evolution in the channel ecosystem, as communications service providers and hosts increasingly offer bundles including productivity suites and other cloud-based applications.
About the study: AMI's soon to be published 2011 U.S. SMB Cloud Playbook -- Strategic and Tactical GTM Guide details preferences for SaaS and hosted infrastructure bundling, as well as hosted unified communications and productivity/collaboration suite bundles.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
Monday, May 16, 2011
Improved Service Availability and Scalability Drive Cloud Adoption
Migration to cloud computing services has increased by 20 percent compared to results from 2010, according to a study. After implementing cloud services, respondents reported the greatest gains in increased application availability and scalability.
Key findings:
-- Cloud Computing on the Rise: Sixty-one percent of respondents have cloud computing services running on their network in 2011. Of these respondents, half have implemented some form of software-as-a-service (SaaS) like Salesforce.com or Google Apps. This was an increase of 10 percent when compared to SaaS adoption in 2010. Fifty percent have deployed private clouds. The 21 percent rise in adoption of private clouds was the largest gain made by a cloud service over last year. A smaller number (21 percent) rely on some form of platform as a service (PaaS) such as Microsoft Azure and Salesforce Force.
-- Cloud-Based Applications Climbing: Respondents indicated that percentage of applications running in the cloud will climb to 38 percent from 21 percent by mid-2012.
-- Improved Availability and User Experience: After deploying cloud services, 61 percent report improved application availability, which compared to only 4 percent reporting availability decreasing. Similarly, 52 percent indicated end-user experience improved compared to only 4 percent that said user experience worsened.
-- Increased Scalability: Over half of respondents reported their ability to scale applications to meet the demands of their organization had improved with cloud computing.
-- Troubleshooting Worsened: Sixty percent of respondents indicated that their ability to troubleshoot problems worsened or remained the same after migrating to the cloud.
-- Cloudy Monitoring: Fifty-two percent of respondents stated that their ability to monitor cloud performance worsened or remained the same after deploying cloud services.
Comment from said Brad Reinboldt, senior product manager of Network Instruments: Although cloud adopters have reported improvements in application availability and cost savings. These improvements aren't sustainable in the long run without appropriate monitoring tools. When trouble does hit, it falls in the lap of the organization's network team to prove that the problem is occurring on the cloud provider's side. Without proof, organizations will waste time finger pointing, jeopardizing any cost savings or efficiency improvements.
About the survey: Network Instruments conducted the onsite survey of 94 network engineers, IT managers and executives attending Interop.
Contact: http://www.networkinstruments.com
Key findings:
-- Cloud Computing on the Rise: Sixty-one percent of respondents have cloud computing services running on their network in 2011. Of these respondents, half have implemented some form of software-as-a-service (SaaS) like Salesforce.com or Google Apps. This was an increase of 10 percent when compared to SaaS adoption in 2010. Fifty percent have deployed private clouds. The 21 percent rise in adoption of private clouds was the largest gain made by a cloud service over last year. A smaller number (21 percent) rely on some form of platform as a service (PaaS) such as Microsoft Azure and Salesforce Force.
-- Cloud-Based Applications Climbing: Respondents indicated that percentage of applications running in the cloud will climb to 38 percent from 21 percent by mid-2012.
-- Improved Availability and User Experience: After deploying cloud services, 61 percent report improved application availability, which compared to only 4 percent reporting availability decreasing. Similarly, 52 percent indicated end-user experience improved compared to only 4 percent that said user experience worsened.
-- Increased Scalability: Over half of respondents reported their ability to scale applications to meet the demands of their organization had improved with cloud computing.
-- Troubleshooting Worsened: Sixty percent of respondents indicated that their ability to troubleshoot problems worsened or remained the same after migrating to the cloud.
-- Cloudy Monitoring: Fifty-two percent of respondents stated that their ability to monitor cloud performance worsened or remained the same after deploying cloud services.
Comment from said Brad Reinboldt, senior product manager of Network Instruments: Although cloud adopters have reported improvements in application availability and cost savings. These improvements aren't sustainable in the long run without appropriate monitoring tools. When trouble does hit, it falls in the lap of the organization's network team to prove that the problem is occurring on the cloud provider's side. Without proof, organizations will waste time finger pointing, jeopardizing any cost savings or efficiency improvements.
About the survey: Network Instruments conducted the onsite survey of 94 network engineers, IT managers and executives attending Interop.
Contact: http://www.networkinstruments.com
Security Vulnerabilities Are At All Time Highs for Mobile Devices
Enterprise and consumer mobile devices are being exposed to a record number of security threats, including a 400 percent increase in Android malware, as well as highly targeted Wi-Fi attacks, according to a report.
With smartphones set to eclipse PCs as the preferred method of both personal and professional computing, cyber criminals have turned their attention to mobile devices. At the same time, the gap between hacker capabilities and an organization's defenses is widening. These trends underscore the need for further mobile security awareness, as well as more stringent, better integrated mobile security policies and solutions.
Key report findings:
-- App Store Anxiety: The single greatest distribution point for mobile malware is application download, yet the vast majority of smartphone users are not employing an antivirus solution on their mobile device to scan for malware
-- Wi-Fi Worries: Mobile devices are increasingly susceptible to Wi-Fi attacks, including applications that enable an attacker to easily log into victim email and social networking applications
-- The Text Threat: 17 percent of all reported infections were due to SMS trojans that sent SMS messages to premium rate numbers, often at irretrievable cost to the user or enterprise
-- Device Loss and Theft: 1 in 20 Juniper customer devices were lost or stolen, requiring locate, lock or wipe commands to be issued
-- Risky Teen Behavior: 20 percent of all teens admit sending inappropriate or explicit material from a mobile device
-- "Droid Distress": The number of Android malware attacks increased 400 percent since Summer 2010
Comment from Jeff Wilson, principal analyst, security, at Infonetics Research: The last 18 months have produced a non-stop barrage of newsworthy threat events, and while most had been aimed at traditional desktop computers, hackers are now setting their sights on mobile devices. Operating system consolidation and the massive and growing installed base of powerful mobile devices is tempting profit-motivated hackers to target these devices. In a recent survey of large businesses, we found that nearly 40 percent considered smartphones the device type posing the largest security threat now. Businesses need security tools that provide comprehensive protection: from the core of the network to the diverse range of endpoints that all IT shops are now forced to manage and secure.
Comment from Dan Hoffman, chief mobile security evangelist at Juniper Networks: These findings reflect a perfect storm of users who are either uneducated on or disinterested in security, downloading readily available applications from unknown and unvetted sources in the complete absence of mobile device security solutions. App store processes of reactively removing applications identified as malicious after they have been installed by thousands of users is insufficient as a means to control malware proliferation. There are specifics steps users must take to mitigate mobile attacks. Both enterprises and consumers alike need to be aware of the growing risks associated with the convenience of having the Internet in the palm of your hand.
Recommendations for guarding against growing mobile malware threats for enterprises, government agencies and SMBs:
-- Employ on-device anti-malware to protect against malicious applications, spyware, infected SD cards and malware-based attacks against the mobile device
-- Use SSL VPN clients to effortlessly protect data in transit and ensure appropriate network authentication and access rights
-- Centralize locate and remote lock, wipe, backup and restore facilities for lost and stolen devices
-- Strongly enforce security policies, such as mandating the use of strong PINs/Passcodes
-- Leverage tools to help monitor device activity for data leakage and inappropriate use
-- Centralize mobile device administration to enforce and report on security policies
About the report: "Malicious Mobile Threats Report 2010/2011" was compiled by the Juniper Networks Global Threat Center (GTC) research facility, which conducts around-the-clock security, vulnerability and malware research tailored specifically to mobile device platforms and technologies. The GTC examines increasingly sophisticated attacks from 2010 and 2011, such as, Myournet/Droid Dream, Tap Snake and Geinimi as well as the pirating of the "Walk and Text" application, new threat vectors for mobile cybercrime, and the potential for exploitation and misuse of mobile devices and data.
Contact: http://www.juniper.net
With smartphones set to eclipse PCs as the preferred method of both personal and professional computing, cyber criminals have turned their attention to mobile devices. At the same time, the gap between hacker capabilities and an organization's defenses is widening. These trends underscore the need for further mobile security awareness, as well as more stringent, better integrated mobile security policies and solutions.
Key report findings:
-- App Store Anxiety: The single greatest distribution point for mobile malware is application download, yet the vast majority of smartphone users are not employing an antivirus solution on their mobile device to scan for malware
-- Wi-Fi Worries: Mobile devices are increasingly susceptible to Wi-Fi attacks, including applications that enable an attacker to easily log into victim email and social networking applications
-- The Text Threat: 17 percent of all reported infections were due to SMS trojans that sent SMS messages to premium rate numbers, often at irretrievable cost to the user or enterprise
-- Device Loss and Theft: 1 in 20 Juniper customer devices were lost or stolen, requiring locate, lock or wipe commands to be issued
-- Risky Teen Behavior: 20 percent of all teens admit sending inappropriate or explicit material from a mobile device
-- "Droid Distress": The number of Android malware attacks increased 400 percent since Summer 2010
Comment from Jeff Wilson, principal analyst, security, at Infonetics Research: The last 18 months have produced a non-stop barrage of newsworthy threat events, and while most had been aimed at traditional desktop computers, hackers are now setting their sights on mobile devices. Operating system consolidation and the massive and growing installed base of powerful mobile devices is tempting profit-motivated hackers to target these devices. In a recent survey of large businesses, we found that nearly 40 percent considered smartphones the device type posing the largest security threat now. Businesses need security tools that provide comprehensive protection: from the core of the network to the diverse range of endpoints that all IT shops are now forced to manage and secure.
Comment from Dan Hoffman, chief mobile security evangelist at Juniper Networks: These findings reflect a perfect storm of users who are either uneducated on or disinterested in security, downloading readily available applications from unknown and unvetted sources in the complete absence of mobile device security solutions. App store processes of reactively removing applications identified as malicious after they have been installed by thousands of users is insufficient as a means to control malware proliferation. There are specifics steps users must take to mitigate mobile attacks. Both enterprises and consumers alike need to be aware of the growing risks associated with the convenience of having the Internet in the palm of your hand.
Recommendations for guarding against growing mobile malware threats for enterprises, government agencies and SMBs:
-- Employ on-device anti-malware to protect against malicious applications, spyware, infected SD cards and malware-based attacks against the mobile device
-- Use SSL VPN clients to effortlessly protect data in transit and ensure appropriate network authentication and access rights
-- Centralize locate and remote lock, wipe, backup and restore facilities for lost and stolen devices
-- Strongly enforce security policies, such as mandating the use of strong PINs/Passcodes
-- Leverage tools to help monitor device activity for data leakage and inappropriate use
-- Centralize mobile device administration to enforce and report on security policies
About the report: "Malicious Mobile Threats Report 2010/2011" was compiled by the Juniper Networks Global Threat Center (GTC) research facility, which conducts around-the-clock security, vulnerability and malware research tailored specifically to mobile device platforms and technologies. The GTC examines increasingly sophisticated attacks from 2010 and 2011, such as, Myournet/Droid Dream, Tap Snake and Geinimi as well as the pirating of the "Walk and Text" application, new threat vectors for mobile cybercrime, and the potential for exploitation and misuse of mobile devices and data.
Contact: http://www.juniper.net
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
C-Level Execs Struggling With Cloud Purchasing Decisions
Organizations are struggling with how to measure Cloud ROI, with more than 60 percent of respondents to a survey saying that their organizations do not currently have an ROI mechanism in place.
Comment from Dr. Chris Harding, Forum Director for The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group: The ability to transform business is the most exciting feature of the Cloud phenomenon. The survey shows that users recognize that Cloud Computing will impact their business processes, but that they are not yet prepared to handle that impact or, in many cases, even to measure it.
About the survey: The Open Group, an international vendor- and technology-neutral consortium, conducted the survey.
Contact: http://opengroup.org
Comment from Dr. Chris Harding, Forum Director for The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group: The ability to transform business is the most exciting feature of the Cloud phenomenon. The survey shows that users recognize that Cloud Computing will impact their business processes, but that they are not yet prepared to handle that impact or, in many cases, even to measure it.
About the survey: The Open Group, an international vendor- and technology-neutral consortium, conducted the survey.
Contact: http://opengroup.org
Friday, May 6, 2011
More Than Two Thirds Of Global Organizations Plan To Adopt Cloud Strategy
Sixty-eight percent of IT professionals say their organizations either have implemented, or plan to implement, a cloud computing strategy within six months, according to a survey.
However, 51 percent do not think their IT service management (ITSM) processes are mature enough to effectively manage cloud-based services, 26 percent think their organizations are ready, while the remaining 23 percent feel unsure.
The survey also revealed that only eight percent of organizations currently use their ITSM tool to manage cloud-based services; 19 percent think their current tool could support management of cloud services, but they have just not started to do so. About one-third (31 percent) of IT professionals indicate that their current ITSM tool would not support the management of cloud-based services; the remaining 42 percent of respondents feel unsure.
Sixty-eight percent have set or implemented plans to adopt cloud computing. A significant number of respondents (28 percent) indicate that their organizations have already adopted a cloud strategy in one or more areas. Regarding future plans for cloud-based services, five percent of respondents have plans to implement cloud services in the next three months. Another 16 percent also have short-term plans to adopt cloud strategies in three-to-six months. With an additional 20 percent of respondents planning to roll out cloud services in six months or beyond, the market shows very clear signs of wide-spread cloud adoption. Only 32 percent percent expressed no current plans to adopt a cloud strategy.
As a report by Gartner last year noted: "Overall, we see the positioning of cloud-driven business and IT services as still emerging. However, the hype and momentum around the use of cloud-computing technologies will drive an accelerated pace and movement of cloud-driven business and IT services through the Hype Cycle milestones at a much faster velocity than other typical items that we normally track. As such, we believe that in less than five years, there will be major shifts and higher adoption ratios."
Comment from Markos Symeonides, Executive Vice President at Axios Systems: ITSM and ITIL (IT infrastructure library) play a critical role in managing cloud services. Many organizations we work with understand IT service supply chains and the need to fully view how their business services are constructed. These organizations must get an end-to-end view for all services, including cloud-based ones. ITSM tools like assystSaaS for ITSM and Service Catalog allow organizations to manage all aspects of IT service provision, including supplier and contract management for cloud computing vendors as well as the traditional ITIL processes like Incident, Problem, Change, Release, Asset and Service Level Management.
About the survey: ITSM provider Axios Systems conducted the survey via poll questions during an April 12, 2011 webcast with attendees from across the globe. The recorded webcast is available here.
Contact: http://www.axiossystems.com
However, 51 percent do not think their IT service management (ITSM) processes are mature enough to effectively manage cloud-based services, 26 percent think their organizations are ready, while the remaining 23 percent feel unsure.
The survey also revealed that only eight percent of organizations currently use their ITSM tool to manage cloud-based services; 19 percent think their current tool could support management of cloud services, but they have just not started to do so. About one-third (31 percent) of IT professionals indicate that their current ITSM tool would not support the management of cloud-based services; the remaining 42 percent of respondents feel unsure.
Sixty-eight percent have set or implemented plans to adopt cloud computing. A significant number of respondents (28 percent) indicate that their organizations have already adopted a cloud strategy in one or more areas. Regarding future plans for cloud-based services, five percent of respondents have plans to implement cloud services in the next three months. Another 16 percent also have short-term plans to adopt cloud strategies in three-to-six months. With an additional 20 percent of respondents planning to roll out cloud services in six months or beyond, the market shows very clear signs of wide-spread cloud adoption. Only 32 percent percent expressed no current plans to adopt a cloud strategy.
As a report by Gartner last year noted: "Overall, we see the positioning of cloud-driven business and IT services as still emerging. However, the hype and momentum around the use of cloud-computing technologies will drive an accelerated pace and movement of cloud-driven business and IT services through the Hype Cycle milestones at a much faster velocity than other typical items that we normally track. As such, we believe that in less than five years, there will be major shifts and higher adoption ratios."
Comment from Markos Symeonides, Executive Vice President at Axios Systems: ITSM and ITIL (IT infrastructure library) play a critical role in managing cloud services. Many organizations we work with understand IT service supply chains and the need to fully view how their business services are constructed. These organizations must get an end-to-end view for all services, including cloud-based ones. ITSM tools like assystSaaS for ITSM and Service Catalog allow organizations to manage all aspects of IT service provision, including supplier and contract management for cloud computing vendors as well as the traditional ITIL processes like Incident, Problem, Change, Release, Asset and Service Level Management.
About the survey: ITSM provider Axios Systems conducted the survey via poll questions during an April 12, 2011 webcast with attendees from across the globe. The recorded webcast is available here.
Contact: http://www.axiossystems.com
Small Business Decision Makers Are Hazy On “Cloud Computing”
Following a traditional path of conservative investment in technology, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have been slow to adopt new technologies, such as cloud computing, according to a survey.
Only 10 percent of SMBs have deployed cloud technologies and 72 percent of respondents don't understand or are not familiar with the technology.
Of the businesses currently without cloud computing technologies, only 2 percent plan to deploy cloud-based solutions this year, with an additional 20 percent still weighing the cost and benefits of various solutions.
The survey also found that the IT role within SMBs is evolving to include business development and day-to-day operations responsibilities.
Of the 78 percent who indicated they have in-house support, 79 percent said that the role of IT is involved in other areas of the business, including operations, business development and sales. Of the 22 percent outsourcing support to vendors, 52 percent cited cost as the primary reason.
Comment from said Alex Terry, General Manager of Zoomerang: More often than not, the IT role within a small or midsize business may be fulfilled by the most technology savvy employee, requiring them to juggle multiple responsibilities on top of keeping the company's technology up and running. With limited resources, businesses are looking to every employee to contribute and as a result, the IT role is gradually shifting from one of support to one of support and revenue generation. As to the findings on cloud adoption, these numbers are quite staggering given that cloud vendors are investing huge amounts of money in marketing to showcase the benefits of cloud computing. This research points to the need for cloud vendors to instead educate business owners on what cloud computing means and how it is relevant to SMBs.
About the survey: The survey of more than 500 decision makers was conducted by Zoomerang Online Surveys and Polls. It provides a glimpse of how IT is managed among SMBs and offers a snapshot of cloud computing awareness and adoption.
Contact: Click here to view the report in its entirety.
Contact: http://www.markettools.com
Only 10 percent of SMBs have deployed cloud technologies and 72 percent of respondents don't understand or are not familiar with the technology.
Of the businesses currently without cloud computing technologies, only 2 percent plan to deploy cloud-based solutions this year, with an additional 20 percent still weighing the cost and benefits of various solutions.
The survey also found that the IT role within SMBs is evolving to include business development and day-to-day operations responsibilities.
Of the 78 percent who indicated they have in-house support, 79 percent said that the role of IT is involved in other areas of the business, including operations, business development and sales. Of the 22 percent outsourcing support to vendors, 52 percent cited cost as the primary reason.
Comment from said Alex Terry, General Manager of Zoomerang: More often than not, the IT role within a small or midsize business may be fulfilled by the most technology savvy employee, requiring them to juggle multiple responsibilities on top of keeping the company's technology up and running. With limited resources, businesses are looking to every employee to contribute and as a result, the IT role is gradually shifting from one of support to one of support and revenue generation. As to the findings on cloud adoption, these numbers are quite staggering given that cloud vendors are investing huge amounts of money in marketing to showcase the benefits of cloud computing. This research points to the need for cloud vendors to instead educate business owners on what cloud computing means and how it is relevant to SMBs.
About the survey: The survey of more than 500 decision makers was conducted by Zoomerang Online Surveys and Polls. It provides a glimpse of how IT is managed among SMBs and offers a snapshot of cloud computing awareness and adoption.
Contact: Click here to view the report in its entirety.
Contact: http://www.markettools.com
Cloud Providers, Consumers Have Conflicting Views On Cloud Security
Conflicting views among cloud providers and cloud consumers on focus, priority and responsibility suggest a pending security standoff between cloud providers and cloud users, according to a study.
Cloud providers are more focused on delivering the benefits of cost and speed of deployment, the top two reasons cited for migrating to cloud computing. The majority of cloud providers (79 percent) allocate just 10 percent or less of IT resources to security or control-related activities. This result is consistent with the finding that less than half of the respondents agree or strongly agree that security is a priority.
Additional key findings:
Fewer than 20 percent of cloud providers across the U.S. and Europe view security as a competitive advantage. Fewer than 30 percent of respondents consider security as an important responsibility. Less than 27 percent of respondents feel their cloud services substantially protect and secure customer information.
The majority of cloud providers (69 percent) believe security is primarily the responsibility of the cloud user; this contrasts with 35 percent of cloud users who believe security is their responsibility. Just 16 percent of cloud providers feel security is a shared responsibility, compared to 33 percent of cloud users who believe the duty should be shared. Thirty-two percent of both cloud providers and cloud users say security is the responsibility of the provider.
Cloud providers and cloud users disagree widely on the degree to which they saw intellectual property (IP) being too sensitive for the cloud. Sixty-eight percent of cloud users felt their IP was too risky for cloud use, compared to just 42 percent of cloud providers.
Comment from Mike Denning, general manager, Security, CA Technologies: The focus on reduced cost and faster deployment may be sufficient for cloud providers now, but as organizations reach the point where increasingly sensitive data and applications are all that remains to migrate to the cloud, they will quickly reach an impasse. If the risk of breach outweighs potential cost savings and agility, we may reach a point of "cloud stall" -- where cloud adoption slows or stops -- until organizations believe cloud security is as good as or better than enterprise security.
Comment from Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute: Given the well-publicized concerns about the potential risks to organizations' sensitive and confidential information in the cloud, we believe it is only a matter of time until users of cloud computing solutions will demand enhanced security systems. However, until this happens, users of cloud computing should be aware of their responsibility to assess the risks before migrating to the cloud. They should thoroughly vet providers and their applications and infrastructure for their ability to safeguard information. Finally, cloud users and providers should consider the importance of joint responsibility to create a secure computing environment.
About the study: For "Security of Cloud Computing Providers," sponsored by CA Technologies, Ponemon Institute surveyed 103 cloud service providers in the US and 24 in six European countries for a total of 127 separate providers. Respondents said SaaS (55 percent) is the most frequently offered cloud service, followed by IaaS (34 percent) and PaaS (11 percent). Sixty-five percent of cloud providers in this study deploy their IT resources in the public cloud environment, 18 percent deploy in the private cloud and 18 percent are hybrid.
Contact: http://www.ca.com
Contact: http://www.ponemon.org/index.php
Cloud providers are more focused on delivering the benefits of cost and speed of deployment, the top two reasons cited for migrating to cloud computing. The majority of cloud providers (79 percent) allocate just 10 percent or less of IT resources to security or control-related activities. This result is consistent with the finding that less than half of the respondents agree or strongly agree that security is a priority.
Additional key findings:
Fewer than 20 percent of cloud providers across the U.S. and Europe view security as a competitive advantage. Fewer than 30 percent of respondents consider security as an important responsibility. Less than 27 percent of respondents feel their cloud services substantially protect and secure customer information.
The majority of cloud providers (69 percent) believe security is primarily the responsibility of the cloud user; this contrasts with 35 percent of cloud users who believe security is their responsibility. Just 16 percent of cloud providers feel security is a shared responsibility, compared to 33 percent of cloud users who believe the duty should be shared. Thirty-two percent of both cloud providers and cloud users say security is the responsibility of the provider.
Cloud providers and cloud users disagree widely on the degree to which they saw intellectual property (IP) being too sensitive for the cloud. Sixty-eight percent of cloud users felt their IP was too risky for cloud use, compared to just 42 percent of cloud providers.
Comment from Mike Denning, general manager, Security, CA Technologies: The focus on reduced cost and faster deployment may be sufficient for cloud providers now, but as organizations reach the point where increasingly sensitive data and applications are all that remains to migrate to the cloud, they will quickly reach an impasse. If the risk of breach outweighs potential cost savings and agility, we may reach a point of "cloud stall" -- where cloud adoption slows or stops -- until organizations believe cloud security is as good as or better than enterprise security.
Comment from Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute: Given the well-publicized concerns about the potential risks to organizations' sensitive and confidential information in the cloud, we believe it is only a matter of time until users of cloud computing solutions will demand enhanced security systems. However, until this happens, users of cloud computing should be aware of their responsibility to assess the risks before migrating to the cloud. They should thoroughly vet providers and their applications and infrastructure for their ability to safeguard information. Finally, cloud users and providers should consider the importance of joint responsibility to create a secure computing environment.
About the study: For "Security of Cloud Computing Providers," sponsored by CA Technologies, Ponemon Institute surveyed 103 cloud service providers in the US and 24 in six European countries for a total of 127 separate providers. Respondents said SaaS (55 percent) is the most frequently offered cloud service, followed by IaaS (34 percent) and PaaS (11 percent). Sixty-five percent of cloud providers in this study deploy their IT resources in the public cloud environment, 18 percent deploy in the private cloud and 18 percent are hybrid.
Contact: http://www.ca.com
Contact: http://www.ponemon.org/index.php
RMITS Will Drive Cloud Spending In Asia-Pacific Region In 2011
The cloud has made the adoption of specialized information and communications technology (ICT) solutions among small and medium businesses in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region -- excluding Japan -- a viable possibility, according to a study.
In this region, remotely managed IT services (RMITS) account for a vast portion of the ICT spending pie. About $2.4 billion will be spent on these types of services in 2011 and this spending will more than double in the next five years. Remotely managed hardware (PC and servers) will be the area that sees the greatest increase in spending.
Remotely managed IT services are a logical choice, as a majority of APAC SMBs operate with limited financial & internal IT resources/management. This is exacerbated by the growing complexity of SMBs' IT environments and growing dependence on IT in their business operations. Many services can be managed remotely. IT management of hardware and/or software by a third party can be done at the customer site or at the third party's location. For companies with an infrastructure already on premise this is an attractive alternative replacing the need for skilled IT personnel on the payroll.
Most APAC SBs have few (if any) IT professionals on staff. As these companies grow, their need for technology grows. As more specialized business applications are being developed, the need for specially trained individuals grows too. With the use of RMITS the average SB owner is able to use innovative business solutions without hiring an IT professional. These RMITS are increasingly being offered by IT vendors and channel partners enabling APAC SBs to adopt new and advanced IT solutions.
RMITS will provide value not only to smaller businesses but also to mid-size companies (MBs, companies with 99 to 999 employees) in the APAC region. In fact, the availability and adoption of RMITS is giving MBs key benefits beyond technical skills, such as competitive pricing, and a smaller, less daunting financial/ organizational commitment. For this reason, AMI believes that RMITS will be an option that APAC MBs will adopt faster than other business segments. IT vendors should target these companies with solutions/bundles that address these needs.
In an effort to catch and surpass the more ICT advanced countries (such as Australia), India and China have a vast number of small and medium businesses who are eager to leverage the new IT solutions now available. Remotely managed services through the cloud are one way to accomplish this goal. IT vendors and channel partners will need to incorporate a highly effective Go-To-Market strategy that will enable these SMBs to compete with large enterprises without the necessity of building and maintaining a costly infrastructure and delivery team.
Comment from Venu Reddy, VP in Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc. Singapore: The fact that companies can eliminate the need for skilled IT personnel on the payroll makes RMITS a logical solution for small businesses (SBs, companies with less than 100 employees) that neither have the capability nor willingness to manage the growing complexity of hardware and software in house.
About the study: AMI's 2011 SMB Cloud Overview and Tactical Guides examine the SMB Cloud opportunity in 30+ countries, including SMB preference for Cloud-based application bundle, price sensitivity and purchase channel preferences. These studies also provide comprehensive coverage of SMB adoption of Cloud-based applications, managed services, and supporting infrastructure, including platforms and devices.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
In this region, remotely managed IT services (RMITS) account for a vast portion of the ICT spending pie. About $2.4 billion will be spent on these types of services in 2011 and this spending will more than double in the next five years. Remotely managed hardware (PC and servers) will be the area that sees the greatest increase in spending.
Remotely managed IT services are a logical choice, as a majority of APAC SMBs operate with limited financial & internal IT resources/management. This is exacerbated by the growing complexity of SMBs' IT environments and growing dependence on IT in their business operations. Many services can be managed remotely. IT management of hardware and/or software by a third party can be done at the customer site or at the third party's location. For companies with an infrastructure already on premise this is an attractive alternative replacing the need for skilled IT personnel on the payroll.
Most APAC SBs have few (if any) IT professionals on staff. As these companies grow, their need for technology grows. As more specialized business applications are being developed, the need for specially trained individuals grows too. With the use of RMITS the average SB owner is able to use innovative business solutions without hiring an IT professional. These RMITS are increasingly being offered by IT vendors and channel partners enabling APAC SBs to adopt new and advanced IT solutions.
RMITS will provide value not only to smaller businesses but also to mid-size companies (MBs, companies with 99 to 999 employees) in the APAC region. In fact, the availability and adoption of RMITS is giving MBs key benefits beyond technical skills, such as competitive pricing, and a smaller, less daunting financial/ organizational commitment. For this reason, AMI believes that RMITS will be an option that APAC MBs will adopt faster than other business segments. IT vendors should target these companies with solutions/bundles that address these needs.
In an effort to catch and surpass the more ICT advanced countries (such as Australia), India and China have a vast number of small and medium businesses who are eager to leverage the new IT solutions now available. Remotely managed services through the cloud are one way to accomplish this goal. IT vendors and channel partners will need to incorporate a highly effective Go-To-Market strategy that will enable these SMBs to compete with large enterprises without the necessity of building and maintaining a costly infrastructure and delivery team.
Comment from Venu Reddy, VP in Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc. Singapore: The fact that companies can eliminate the need for skilled IT personnel on the payroll makes RMITS a logical solution for small businesses (SBs, companies with less than 100 employees) that neither have the capability nor willingness to manage the growing complexity of hardware and software in house.
About the study: AMI's 2011 SMB Cloud Overview and Tactical Guides examine the SMB Cloud opportunity in 30+ countries, including SMB preference for Cloud-based application bundle, price sensitivity and purchase channel preferences. These studies also provide comprehensive coverage of SMB adoption of Cloud-based applications, managed services, and supporting infrastructure, including platforms and devices.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
Sixty-two Percent Of Small Companies Use Social Networking In Everyday Business
Large numbers of small and medium-sized enterprises are embracing social media as a means of conducting business, a survey finds. Sixty-two percent report that they now use social networking in everyday business, while 92 percent use it to keep in touch with customers, and 78 percent use it to find new customers.
LinkedIn is the most widely-used social media tool by small businesses, with 83 percent of those that said they were using social media, using the business-orientated social networking site. Facebook (72 percent) is the next most popular means of conducting "social business," followed closely by Twitter (65 percent). Forty-four percent of these socially active small businesses also run a company blog to engage with the public, but only 3.5 percent reported using MySpace, and a handful of others are using other forms of social media such as YouTube, Yammer, Xing, Quora and FourSquare.
The use of cloud free CRM, cloud CRM and web based CRM by small businesses has now overtaken in-house CRM, with 45 percent of respondents now using hosted applications as opposed to 36 percent using in-house CRM.
The survey confirms that free CRM, cloud CRM and web based CRM systems remain the most popular type of Cloud-based solution used by small businesses and 66 percent of respondents reported that they are now more confident in hosted CRM systems than traditional in-house systems. The use of hosted accounting, ERP, payroll and manufacturing solutions has gone up slightly (between one and three percent), whilst one percent less companies are using a hosted HR system. Despite only a modest rise in their use, confidence in hosted systems over their in-house counterparts has risen in most areas, most notably in the payroll market, with some 54 percent or respondents now more confident in hosted solutions - up 10 percent on last year.
The survey also revealed that almost half of respondents feel as confident about the reliability, speed, data safety, and functionality of cloud applications as they do with in-house offerings. This is indicative of the now almost identical usage of hosted and in-house CRM.
Perhaps surprisingly, 40 percent of those questioned plan to spend more on IT in the next 12 months than they did in the last 12 months and a further 38 percent will keep IT spend at the same level.
Comment from John Paterson, CEO of Really Simple Systems: We all know that enterprise companies are rapidly adopting social media as a means of communicating with existing customers and prospects, but I was surprised to see that adoption among small businesses was so advanced. Our survey shows that 80 percent of respondents agree that cloud systems require less internal IT-support. And with 63 percent stating that Software as a Service solutions are made more attractive by the current financial climate, cloud solutions continue to be a major way for companies to dramatically reduce IT overheads, removing the burden of system maintenance for small organizations who would rather allocate that resource to developing the business. In two years, we have seen a split of 47/36 percent in favor of in-house, become a 45/36 percent split the other way. CRM is now being delivered through the cloud to the majority of small businesses using such a system.
On the fact that 40 percent plan to spend more on IT in the next 12 months than they did in the last 12 months, Paterson said: This is good news for the IT sector as the signs show the dark clouds of recession and austerity seem to slowly lifting. It's not yet business as usual, as rising inflation should be factored into these results, but it looks like the IT sector is on the road to recovery, with cloud vendors set to benefit from increasing small business confidence in the economy.
About the survey: The survey was conducted among 862 small and medium-sized organizations with fewer than 50 employees by Really Simple Systems, a European provider of free CRM, cloud CRM and web-based CRM (Customer Relationship Management) services. The annual survey has traditionally questioned small business owners, directors, sales, marketing and IT managers, on their views of cloud services and the reliability of the products currently available in the market and this year covered the issue of social media for the first time.
Contact: http://www.reallysimplesystems.com
LinkedIn is the most widely-used social media tool by small businesses, with 83 percent of those that said they were using social media, using the business-orientated social networking site. Facebook (72 percent) is the next most popular means of conducting "social business," followed closely by Twitter (65 percent). Forty-four percent of these socially active small businesses also run a company blog to engage with the public, but only 3.5 percent reported using MySpace, and a handful of others are using other forms of social media such as YouTube, Yammer, Xing, Quora and FourSquare.
The use of cloud free CRM, cloud CRM and web based CRM by small businesses has now overtaken in-house CRM, with 45 percent of respondents now using hosted applications as opposed to 36 percent using in-house CRM.
The survey confirms that free CRM, cloud CRM and web based CRM systems remain the most popular type of Cloud-based solution used by small businesses and 66 percent of respondents reported that they are now more confident in hosted CRM systems than traditional in-house systems. The use of hosted accounting, ERP, payroll and manufacturing solutions has gone up slightly (between one and three percent), whilst one percent less companies are using a hosted HR system. Despite only a modest rise in their use, confidence in hosted systems over their in-house counterparts has risen in most areas, most notably in the payroll market, with some 54 percent or respondents now more confident in hosted solutions - up 10 percent on last year.
The survey also revealed that almost half of respondents feel as confident about the reliability, speed, data safety, and functionality of cloud applications as they do with in-house offerings. This is indicative of the now almost identical usage of hosted and in-house CRM.
Perhaps surprisingly, 40 percent of those questioned plan to spend more on IT in the next 12 months than they did in the last 12 months and a further 38 percent will keep IT spend at the same level.
Comment from John Paterson, CEO of Really Simple Systems: We all know that enterprise companies are rapidly adopting social media as a means of communicating with existing customers and prospects, but I was surprised to see that adoption among small businesses was so advanced. Our survey shows that 80 percent of respondents agree that cloud systems require less internal IT-support. And with 63 percent stating that Software as a Service solutions are made more attractive by the current financial climate, cloud solutions continue to be a major way for companies to dramatically reduce IT overheads, removing the burden of system maintenance for small organizations who would rather allocate that resource to developing the business. In two years, we have seen a split of 47/36 percent in favor of in-house, become a 45/36 percent split the other way. CRM is now being delivered through the cloud to the majority of small businesses using such a system.
On the fact that 40 percent plan to spend more on IT in the next 12 months than they did in the last 12 months, Paterson said: This is good news for the IT sector as the signs show the dark clouds of recession and austerity seem to slowly lifting. It's not yet business as usual, as rising inflation should be factored into these results, but it looks like the IT sector is on the road to recovery, with cloud vendors set to benefit from increasing small business confidence in the economy.
About the survey: The survey was conducted among 862 small and medium-sized organizations with fewer than 50 employees by Really Simple Systems, a European provider of free CRM, cloud CRM and web-based CRM (Customer Relationship Management) services. The annual survey has traditionally questioned small business owners, directors, sales, marketing and IT managers, on their views of cloud services and the reliability of the products currently available in the market and this year covered the issue of social media for the first time.
Contact: http://www.reallysimplesystems.com
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