Digital Lifescapes

The rush to move IT applications from on-premises enterprise data centers to public cloud service providers, primarily on the basis of the promise of a low-cost, has once again been challenged by recent market research findings. In fact, savvy CIOs and CTOs are seeking comprehensive solutions that meet all their expectations, rather than merely a limited subset. Even if it costs more to achieve that goal, the demand for superior hybrid cloud services is gaining momentum across the globe. As an example, seventy-five percent of respondents to the latest worldwide market study by 451 Research indicate that enterprise IT leaders are willing to pay a premium for enhancements to their server hosting and cloud services. Cloud Services Market Development The most desired improvements are guarantees of security (48.7 percent of respondents) and service performance (43.3 percent) with less interest in paying service providers to take on the operational management burden (27.9 percent). ...

High growth continues within the public cloud sector. CIOs report that growth in their hosting and cloud computing services spending will outpace growth in their overall IT spending, according to the latest worldwide market study by by 451 Research. This growth trend applies across almost every vertical market and company size category, but is most pronounced among very large businesses, which expect an average of 33.3 percent growth in hosting and cloud services spending this year. Among survey respondents, 88 percent will increase their hosting or cloud budgets in 2017 vs. 2016 -- that's compared to 70 percent that expect to increase total IT budgets year-over-year. In contrast, just 9.5 percent expect a decrease in hosting or cloud spending -- that's compared to 22.3 percent that expect a decrease in their total IT spending. Public Cloud Service Market Development "We see the pace of investment in hosting and cloud services exceeding investment in IT overall, me...

Numerous industry analysts have reported that organizations continue to report that a shortage of skilled and experienced technical staff in their market inhibits their ability to adopt cloud computing service options. Those that can find the technical talent often discover that the salary requirements of the most capable cloud architects are beyond their traditional IT pay scales. Some organizations have solved the near-term technical staffing challenge by reaching out to vendors that can offer a comprehensive hybrid cloud managed services solution, and can provide staff training and skills certification as a solution to their long-term knowledge transfer needs. Meanwhile, cloud computing consultants and other skilled specialists fulfill the requirement to augment an organization's technical staff -- just-in-time, as needed on new digital transformation projects. Cloud Services Ongoing Market Development The market for cloud computing solutions will continue on a strong g...

The legacy telecommunications sector was challenged continuously by upstarts during last year, as these savvy over-the-top companies targeted the incumbent's customers with attractive offers. That being said, 2013 will be equally challenging. Global telecom service provider revenues exceeded $2 trillion in 2012, with 60 percent of that amount going to mobile network operators, according to the latest market study by Ovum . No doubt, more competitors will seek to tap that huge market in 2013. While overall revenue growth is expected to be minimal, Ovum believes some segments will still have above-average growth, and significant incremental revenues over the next five years at each level of the value chain. Ovum's global analysts have revealed that mobile broadband presents the single largest opportunity for legacy service providers to win back revenue. Their forecasts show mobile broadband growing 19.2 percent annually and generating $122.9 billion in incremental revenue...