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Four Predictions for Enterprises Cloud Services in 2012

Contributed Article by David Ayers, Senior Product Manager, SunGard Availability Services

The past year saw the term "cloud" gain unprecedented visibility, moving it from the realm of tech into ubiquitous, consumer-friendly language. The cloud's growth in popularity, however, didn't necessarily translate into adoption-many enterprises and consumers alike both viewed the cloud with some amount of trepidation concerning data security and access. In 2012, I believe we will begin to see these attitudes change forever.

1. The "honeymoon phase" is over. The cloud will be far less hype and far more reality in 2012, as many of the enterprises that sat on the sidelines in 2011 will realize the potential they are missing out on. Enough time has passed to ensure the cloud's longevity, and enterprises and organizations will begin to shift more and more applications to the cloud. Most newcomers will start with putting a new initiative in the cloud, and then begin to build out.

2. Security won't prevent cloud adoption. The security issues about the cloud today-namely security, access and the potential negative impact on a business by other cloud customers-are very similar to the concerns that people experienced a decade ago with the advent of managed hosting services. Like managed hosting, the cloud may not be the entire solution, but security concerns alone can't stop the advancement of more and more applications into the cloud.

3. Cloud plus hybrid solutions including traditional hosting and colocation will be commonplace. Perhaps some of the hesitation related to the cloud is a misunderstanding about what its capabilities offer. The cloud cannot and should not be treated as a cure for all IT challenges. In 2012, we will launch the era of the hybrid solution for enterprises. Cloud users are just now beginning to realize that it makes no sense to move into the cloud lock, stock and barrel. Instead, enterprises in particular will begin to identify and move workloads that fit well in the cloud space, but shored up on the back end. Vendors must enhance their ability to explain why some of the customer's needs are a good fit for the cloud, while other needs are best handled in traditional settings like managed hosting and colocation.

4. More enterprise applications will be a necessity. As more enterprises make the shift into the cloud, more applications geared toward heavy-duty workloads will be required. Look for a significant jump in the amount of enterprise applications to meet this demand.

We have seen already that cloud hosting environments don't shrink, they grow. This coming year, we are likely to experience a huge increase in the cloud in both users and data. Vendors should be ready to consult with new enterprise customer and guide them as to how the cloud can be best applied to their operation.

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David Ayers is a Senior Product Manager for SunGard Availability Services