Nearly 50 percent of Large Enterprises To Deploy Hybrid Cloud by 2017

Gartner Special Report Examines the Outlook for Hybrid Cloud

Nearly half of large enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017, according to Gartner, Inc. In the past three years, private cloud computing has moved from an aspiration to a tentative reality for nearly half of large enterprises. Hybrid cloud computing is at the same place today that private cloud was three years ago; as actual deployments are low, but aspirations are high.

When it comes to drivers of private cloud computing, while cost is always an important consideration, a business case for private cloud cannot rely on lower costs as the primary justification.

“Virtualization reduces capital expenses, and standards and automation reduce operational expenses,” said Thomas Bittman, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “However, taking the next step of adding usage metrics, self-service offerings and automated provisioning requires investment in technologies without a significant reduction in operational cost. With this in mind, the driving factor for going that next step should primarily be agility.”

Since agility is the key driver to private cloud computing, Mr. Bittman said that IT needs to understand where agility could make a difference in current services, understand what new services would be useful if provided with agility, and work closely with IT’s customers to make those determinations.

Organizations that are well on their way with private cloud projects rarely consider technology the major issue. Certainly the technologies to deliver private cloud are relatively immature and evolving, and many enterprises find that custom work is required to meet their needs, but much more difficult are the transformational adjustments needed to use the technology.

“Vendors are promoting private cloud computing as ‘the next thing’ for infrastructure and operations — and it is, but only for the right services,” said Bittman. “Virtualization is a horizontal, very broad trend, impacting a high percentage of IT infrastructure. Private cloud is a specific style of computing that will leverage virtualization, but is not appropriate for all services. While the majority of midsize and large enterprises will build and deploy private cloud services over the next few years, private cloud will only be used for specific, appropriate services.”