Given the considerable discussion about what is and isn’t cloud computing, and the impact of Cloud infrastructure providers on the traditional enterprise sector, Tier1 (www.t1r.com) managed hosting and telecom sector senior research analyst Antonio Piraino took steps to bring the Cloud down to Earth, defining the Cloud industry as it is and where it is going.
“What is Volvo known for? Safety. What are you going to be known for as a service provider?,” Piraino asked the audience of the “Cloud Computing Business Models” session he presented Tuesday afternoon at this year’s Parallels Summit.
Currently Google, IBM and SalesForce.com are the top public cloud computing vendors and Piraino gave some tips on how to mimic their success as new Cloud infrastructure solutions open up opportunities for both their current and new customer segments.
Key to Piraino’s presentation was his considerable research on what businesses are looking for. He found that Internet application hosting was the major service business were looking for, followed by database hosting and disaster recovery.
He also found that between just April 2008 and October 2008, not only has the use of Cloud services risen from five percent to six, but companies are beginning to know more about Cloud services.
Tier1′s research found that SMBs need accounting, HR, billing modules, file replacement and CRM. The story changes with mid-tier, which want custom databases, heavy storage, and HR and accounting as SaaS. Enterprises are looking for colocation space, heavy storage and more efficient ways to host applications.
“Mid-tier enterprises,” Piraino said, “represents a large, untapped market in this space.” He noted that they make up the largest users of Cloud services.
While many companies have succeeded by servicing these markets, he also talked about strategies that are not working. In terms of making the decision to move to the cloud, he said, “Green IT is not even a criteria now,” neither is an easy-to-use console, despite the industry’s efforts to make this a selling point.
The top applications are the usual suspects: messaging and collaboration, CRM and productivity applications, more complex HR and accounting systems. On-demand storage, as well, is big.
One of the major roadblocks for companies who may be able to use cloud services, however, is red tape. “There are still a lot of regulation requirements.” Piraino noted the hostility that highly regulated industries have toward the cloud, especially the medical industry, however, many businesses from hospitals to retailers will end up having to move to the cloud.
“In the long run, I think they’re really missing on on not using these services,” he said.
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