Cisco study reveals cloud computing trends

New information has been released from Cisco’s Connected World Report, which looks at the trends of workers in accessing information anywhere, on any device, and the ability of IT professionals to address their needs.

The study found that global IT professionals are creating new job opportunities by increasing collaboration among teams in the data center, and adopting new technologies such as virtualisation and cloud computing.

The report also warned that they are struggling to maintain security and data governance as employees demand more offsite access to networks and information.

Cisco says that the latest findings revealed disconnects in worker expectations around information access, IT policies and employee awareness of policies.

"The data center is evolving to meet employee expectations for accessing networks, applications and information anywhere at any time with any device," said Lew Tucker, Cisco's Chief Technology Officer.

"The third installment of the Cisco Connected World Report demonstrates that IT professionals worldwide are embracing new technologies such as virtualisation, cloud computing, desktop virtualisation, and unified data center infrastructure to meet employee expectations while helping their companies meet their businesses goals."

Cloud Computing Trends

• Cloud use today: Across the study's 13 countries, only an average of 18 percent of respondents are using cloud computing today, while an additional 34 percent plan to use the cloud. 
• Top cloud users today: Brazil (27%), Germany (27%), India (26%), US (23%) and Mexico (22%) top the list of countries that are already taking advantage of cloud computing, exceeding the average (18%) across all countries.
• Future cloud use: A large majority (88%) of IT respondents predict that they will be storing some percentage of their company's data and applications in private or public clouds within the next three years.
• Private clouds: One in three IT professionals said more than half of their company's data and applications will be in private clouds within the next three years. Private cloud adoption was predicted to be higher in Mexico (71%), Brazil (53%) and the US (46%)
• Timing for public clouds: Of those respondents that will use public clouds, one of every three (34%) plan to deploy within one year, and 44% predicted their companies would use public clouds within the next two years; 21% are expected to do so within two to three years.