Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2017. Read them in this 9th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Chris Sharp, CTO of Digital Realty
Cloud Security Takes the Lead, IoE Goes Offshore
2017 will see greatly accelerated growth of
enterprise hybrid and multi-cloud IT strategies based on
an increase in availability, quality, performance and security of cloud
interconnection services and capabilities. The rapid growth of IoT, the
continued search for security advancements, the focus on sustainability and
businesses' omnipresent need to reduce costs and increase productivity will
drive continued growth of interconnection services, and create strong pull for
public cloud and SaaS offerings.
Interconnection and colocation vendor
consolidation will likely continue, driven by global enterprises' need to
simplify operations, and owing to increased opportunity and competition in the
space. By the end of 2017, Fortune 500 companies without progressive
interconnection, hybrid and multi-cloud strategies will compose a minority, and
will find themselves at ever-increasing disadvantages when compared to their
competition.
The market in 2017 will be driven by a number of
factors, including the following:
Cloud Security Bests Private Data Centers; Direct Connections Beat
the Public Internet
Years of hand-wringing over cloud security, accompanied by
near-daily breaches of on-premises data centers have led to the realization
that the cloud is actually just as good, if not far better. Continued proof
that hackers' ability to exploit vulnerabilities of the public Internet makes
the superiority of direct connections obvious. Both realizations will drive
increased adoption of these services in the coming year.
Sustainability Concerns Promote Colocation/Cloud Adoption (with
Green Data Center Leaders)
Increasingly focused on the "greening" of their IT operations and
its effect on both capex and corporate reputation, distributed enterprises and
mid-market leaders will continue seeking to outsource data center facilities
and operations rather than building and operating their own. Highly aware of
the increased visibility of IT generally, however, they will be sure to pick
colocation and multicloud providers who lead the field in sustainability
themselves.
Internet of Everything Drives Compute and Storage Needs Up and
Away
When IT manages everything from servers to light switches, and
from routers to refrigerators, the need for compute and storage goes up. Enter
colocation and the cloud, easily scaled up as the number of "things" under IT's
purview continues its rapid expansion. Savvy leaders will outsource the
necessary infrastructure and the applications, leaning on their interconnection
providers' abilities to draw from and manage best-in-class options for both.
Managed Services Managing Things Lean on the Cloud
Managed services offerings designed to offload management of the
Internet of Everything will scale quickly and globally, and will by necessity
be based in the cloud. A need for local direct connections to cloud resources
based on the need for low latency in these systems will drive increased
engagement with multi-cloud-enabled interconnection providers.
(Ever) Increasing Mobility will Drive Further SaaS (and Shadow
Cloud) Deployments
The low cost and ease of installation for most cloud based mobile
SaaS applications makes them increasingly attractive to a highly mobile
workforce that values flexibility and low physical device profile over the
ability to conduct in-depth deliverable development. Continuing acceleration of
mobile devices in the workplace will continue to drive cloud
application/storage/SaaS adoption, even when IT is uninvolved (Shadow Cloud).
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About the Author
Chris Sharp, Chief
Technology Officer, Digital Realty
Chris Sharp has
over 20 years of experience in the technology industry, with an extensive
background in developing technology strategies in global markets. He has a deep
knowledge of the data center sector and is well positioned to expand technical
innovation at Digital Realty. Most recently, he was responsible for cloud
innovation at Equinix, where he led the development of innovative cloud services
solutions and developed new capabilities enabling next-generation,
high-performance exchange and interconnection solutions, facilitating broad
commercial adoption of cloud computing on a global basis. Previously, Mr. Sharp
held leadership positions at top network and colocation providers, including
Qwest Communications, MCI/Verizon Business and Reliance Globalcom.
