Global Forecast Sunny for the Cloud

Last month a Gartner report said the U.S. share of the worldwide cloud services market was 60 percent in 2009 and will decline slightly to 58 percent in 2010.  While barely noticeable, that two percent reduction may not be a sign of reduced interest in the U.S., but an important indication of global market share dilution as other countries accelerate their interest in the cloud


Signs of global adoption are emerging everywhere.


Two examples within the last week include an announcement that SFR, a leading French telecom operator, partnered with HP to offer cloud based services to their customers. The cloud services platform helps SFR offer IT infrastructure as a service (IaaS) with utility-based pricing to French companies. The HP-SFR partnership is based on the HP offering known as HP Cloud Services Enablement (CSE) portfolio for Communications Service Providers (CSP), which tightly integrates HP software, hardware and services to simplify and speed cloud services deployments. 


And just this morning, an article in the English language publication, Al Bawaba, said that heightened interest among businesses in the region has spurred the creation of a new, dedicated conference -- Cloud Confex -- for Middle East businesses to assess and compare cloud technologies.  Cloud Confex will also provide a vendor showcase and knowledge exchange.  Scheduled speakers include executives and technologists from Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, EMC, HP, LiveRoute, Kamal Osman Jamjoom, Qatar Foundation, Sahara Petrochemicals, Saudi Aramco and The Executive Council, Government of Dubai.


These are just recent examples that illustrate the global emergence of the cloud. Gartner confidently predicts worldwide cloud services revenue will reach $68.3 billion this year --  a 16.6 percent increase from 2009 revenue of $58.6 billion.  


A FOUR YEAR BOOM
In four years, Gartner estimates global cloud services revenue will more than double to $148.8 billion.  The report cites cumulative growth in Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service and Software as a Service and identifies financial services and manufacturing industries as the largest early adopters of cloud services followed by communications, high-tech industries and the public sector.


Geographically, the report indicates the U.S. share of the worldwide cloud services market will see 10 percent dilution over the next four years as other nations move to the cloud, decreasing the U.S. share to 50 percent in 2014.  


While this kind of growth in a troubled global economy is exciting, we wonder if it will accelerate even faster if the industry resolves concerns over security, availability of service and vendor viability and as the use of the cloud shows signs of maturation and build confidence in its capabilities. 


Additional information is available on Gartner's website “Forecast: Public Cloud Services, Worldwide and Regions, Industry Sectors, 2009-2014.”