Recently, the popularity of cloud computing across the world has grown at a phenomenal rate. One great way to see the evidence of this growth is simply to follow the investments that are being made into the infrastructure we use, and the equipment that is required to keep it in top working form. That’s why many experts turn to the Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker to get their update on the latest cloud development trends.
According to the report issued by IDC recently, the total expenditure on IT infrastructure products, including Ethernet switches, enterprise storage, and server solutions for use in cloud environments will all see a growth of around 18% this year equating to around $44 billion. At the same time, predictions indicate that investment in traditional non-cloud architecture will face a significant decline of 3% in 2017.
The Cloud is Growing
It doesn’t take an expert to recognise the trends. The cloud in all its many shapes and sizes – from hybrid and public, to private solutions, is growing more every day, causing investment in on-premise infrastructure to plummet. In fact, IDC suggest that the continued movement towards a more universally off-premise solution for IT resources is what’s driving the cloud momentum at this time -leading to double-digit growth in spending.
Of course, that’s not necessarily a sign that people are going to instantly stop investing in non-cloud infrastructure. In fact, experts predict that non-cloud spending will still make up more than half of the total infrastructure-based spending in 2017, with a significant amount of spending going into on-premise data centres that use traditional IT architectures and private cloud solutions. IDC suggests that within those on-premise deployments, there will still be opportunities for more movement towards a cloud-based future.
Of course, this is only a fraction of the story today. Public cloud infrastructure spending is also having a huge impact in investments within off-premise private cloud architecture, and 61% of cloud spending is going to go into public data centres, while off-premise environments gather a little under 15% of the full cloud spend.
The Future Looks Cloudier
As we peer off into the future forecasts for technology and IT development, it seems that off-premise cloud spending will only continue to grow. IDC predicts a growth rate of around 14% annually, leading to a $48 billion value by 2020. What’s more, around 81% of that invested cash is likely to go towards public cloud data centres. If you connect that information with the on-premise cloud infrastructure that’s growing at around 13% each year, it’s easy to see cloud on the horizon.
Of course, if you’ve been watching the industry lately, this information about the latest cloud adoption numbers shouldn’t be much of a surprise. The momentum that has been directed towards the cloud has been building for some time now, and while there’s still a place for non-cloud solutions in certain enterprises, most are happy to move to a cloud solution that’s inherently less expensive, more manageable, more versatile, and more secure.
Though the cloud may not have taken over traditional IT completely yet, the latest IDC information, and the constantly updated state of cloud adoption seems to have given us a pretty good idea of what we should expect in coming years.
