Half of Enterprises to Use Hybrid Cloud by 2017

Like any uncharted technology or service, cloud computing has its share of supporters and its share of detractors.

Those who recoil from the cloud often do so armed with misinformation and an unfounded fear of putting information in the hands of others. Those who embrace the cloud recognize the impact it can have on the bottom line of a business, not to mention the agility it can bring to an enterprise.

A new report on the shape of the cloud reveals nearly half of large enterprises will be engaged in a combined, public and private cloud operation, called “hybrid” cloud computing, four years from now.

Nearly half of large enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017, according to a report from IT research firm Gartner.

Gartner analyst Thomas Bittman made the projection in an Oct. 1 report, “Private Cloud Matures, Hybrid Cloud Is Next.” The report assumes that the opposition to public cloud, which looms large in many enterprise IT surveys, will fall away in the near future, at least for limited hybrid operations, according to an article on InformationWeek.com.

Progress made with private clouds varies enormously, with most deployments starting small and offering a limited scope of functionality. However, as those private cloud portfolios grow, the resulting cloud infrastructures will likely be based on the technologies chosen for pilot projects, the report predicted.

“Virtualization reduces capital expenses, and standards and automation reduce operational expenses,” Bittman said in a statement. “However, taking the next step of adding usage metrics, self-service offerings and automated provisioning requires investment in technologies without a significant reduction in operational cost. With this in mind, the driving factor for going that next step should primarily be agility.”

The IT related report projected that in a market with a lot of vendors vying for market share, the winners and losers will be determined very quickly, and because of the importance of integration throughout the cloud management platform, smaller players will likely be acquired or go out of business within the next few years. In addition, where organizations do decide to deploy cloud services, the technology they choose matters tremendously.

“Vendors are promoting private cloud computing as ‘the next thing’ for infrastructure and operations—and it is, but only for the right services,” Bittman said. “Virtualization is a horizontal, very broad trend, impacting a high percentage of IT infrastructure. Private cloud is a specific style of computing that will leverage virtualization, but is not appropriate for all services. While the majority of midsize and large enterprises will build and deploy private cloud services over the next few years, private cloud will only be used for specific, appropriate services.”

Patrick Burke is a writer and editor based in the greater New York area and occasionally blogs for Rackspace Hosting