5 Cloud Predictions for 2014

5 Cloud Predictions for 2014 by Pat O’Day, CTO, Bluelock

1. Consolidation and Recalibration: As the cloud market matures there will be some churn in the space, but mostly through consolidation and recalibration.  While some smaller companies may fall away or run out of fuel, larger companies are recalibrating their objectives. They may be spinning off new business units or recalibrating through acquisition.

*In 2014 the market will make some case uses obsolete by identifying who the leaders are and who is being successful in terms of pricing and services.

2. The need for a Marquee customer: While Amazon continues to tout Netflix as their prime success story, in 2014 I imagine a vCloud provider will tackle the same feat and work to declare a similar marquee customer or application in order to stay relevant and competitive.

3. Value-add resellers (VARs) will find an answer for cloud: In order to keep their trusted advisor status with their customers, VARs will need to be able to offer a cloud solution. Some will refocus on their core strengths and find a cloud to resell, while others will find a cloud partner who complements what they are already doing well.

4. Increase in company partnerships: More companies will look to find partner companies who are willing to combine products to solve real business problems. These new capabilities, created by mashing two companies and their products together, will help both get closer to the business. Bluelock is already doing this by partnering with tw telecom on a dynamic Recovery-as-a-Service solution that includes a dynamic networking component.

5. Increase in DR and RaaS: In the past DR was a luxury for many businesses relying on a single datacenter. The investment required for a second site combined with the costs for traditional DR were just too great to take on economically. As Recovery-as-a-Service continues to evolve as an affordable, dependable recovery solution for single datacenter businesses, DR will no longer be a luxury for those businesses, but rather, the new normal.

Pat O’Day, Chief Technology Officer, Bluelock

As Bluelock’s Chief Technology Officer, Pat is responsible for commercializing and making the company’s “Infrastructure as a Service” (IaaS) cloud computing model a business reality. With more than 15 years of experience as an information technology professional, he defines Bluelock’s services, spearheads its strategic vendor alliances and oversees the solution strategy.

After starting his career in network management and systems integration and then transitioning into managed IT services, data center outsourcing and disaster recovery, Pat is uniquely qualified to develop and continue to grow Bluelock’s innovative Virtual Datacenter services.

He is currently serving on the advisory council for the School of Information Technology at Harrison College as well as the CIO council for NPower Indiana.
He is also the co-founder and former president of the local Association of Internet Professionals, a former board member of the technology peer group for TechPoint, Indiana’s only statewide information technology association and has served on the board of Directors for both the Zionsville Boys and Girls Club and NPower Indiana.