Growing demand for infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) in the enterprise market is creating opportunities for cloud-based IT infrastructure providers to deliver private cloud services, reports a new PwC study on the U.S. US report titled, “Infrastructure-as-a-Service: New providers innovate to win enterprise cloud business”
PwC surveyed 489 business executives and found that most organizations have developed, or are developing, a plan to adopt cloud computing as part of their information technology infrastructure,. Since the IT resource landscape will be a mix of traditional infrastructure, private cloud and public cloud for several years, most respondents reported that they will need help in making it all work together. The role of traditional IT outsourcing vendors and pure play cloud consultants will vary, but it is clear that cloud adoption is not a question of whether, but when.
According to PwC, as many traditional data center functions migrate to the cloud, a new competitive landscape is emerging in which IaaS service providers are now competing with traditional IT outsourcing providers in managing private clouds. Providers need to recognize that the best time to move to the cloud is when a business is pushing for change in existing applications or seeking new applications to drive growth, the study states.
The report reveals a slight preference for new cloud-focused service providers over traditional IT outsourcing vendors to manage private clouds. Other findings included:
- 77 percent of respondents already have a cloud plan (completed or in development)
- 64 percent said some type of cloud, including private and public, would be the best way to manage IT infrastructure in three years
- 55 percent said service providers that specialize in private cloud offerings would be the best choice in three years
- IT outsourcing customers leaned toward new providers instead of their ITO partners.
- 45 percent of organizations that outsource IT indicated that new IaaS service providers were the best solution for private clouds.
