UPDATE: Gartner Report: Cloud Market is Growing Rapidly

Editor’s Note: The original article (posted below the line) was published on March 1, 2013. An update on the subject matter was sorely needed….

It seems like every time IT research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc. releases a report, it means big news for the tech field. Last year, the company predicted big growth (18%) in cloud computing, and they were right.

We’ve seen more files being added to the cloud on a daily basis, from notes and music to documents and photographs. It’s even been mentioned in more than a few commercials, as more people are using it to keep access to their important files wherever they go. The most popular companies of course were Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, where cloud computing is used for both personal and professional information alike.

What Is Sparking Cloud Growth?

Part of this consistent growth has been new technology, while the other part is steered by migration to the cloud. You’ve got one side working as the provider, and the other side working as the consumer. And not all providers are created equally. Each person must determine their needs when it comes to the 4 Ss: software, services, space, and security. Each company offers a different solution depending on the scenario.

Although North America is the largest consumer, the growth isn’t just happening here. Studies show that the global market is expected to hit $79.1 billion for cloud equipment in 2018. This includes servers, storage, and hardware that keep many industries running, like education and financial institutions, as well as health care industries and more.

This consistent growth will change the way businesses operate in the next 5 years. IT departments will continue to shrink, adoption of BYOD (bring your own device) for the workforce will continue to grow, and adaptation in a variety of industries will continue to expand. We’re currently at over 1 exabyte worth of information in the cloud. That’s more than one quintillion bytes! Next up is zettabyte, then yottabyte, and we’re going to have to start coming up with more names.

Original:

This past Thursday Gartner predicted the global cloud market will grow at approximately 18%, meaning market share is expiated to exceed $130 billion.

Garner, Inc. – a leading IT research and advisory firm, latest report depicts the growth of the public cloud market in 2013.

It is expected that public cloud’s IaaS (infrastructure as a service) will the fastest growing market segment this year. Exactly how much are companies expected to spend?

Public Cloud Grows at 18%

This past Thursday, Gartner predicted the global cloud market will grow at approximately 18% while market share is expected to exceed $130 billion. Public cloud offerings fall under multiple categories however; cloud storage, IaaS, management cloud services etc.

Gartner expects businesses to spend over $300 billion on cloud services annually. That’s a high number concerning cloud’s IaaS is relatively new to the marketplace. Demand seems to be catching up with the hype after all. Demand is primarily driven by the end-user, especially those situated in the advertising industry, Gartner says.

North America The Largest Consumer

It is estimated that North America will continue to lead the market in cash spending on cloud services. How much exactly? The report says roughly 60%, while Europe will account for 25% of global spending. But North America and Europe aren’t the only countries expected to spend big this year. Indonesia, India, Argentina and even Mexico are expected to spend much more on cloud services. Although global spending is rapidly increasing, other factors may inhibit adoption of cloud.

Neighboring countries have different regulations concerning public cloud offerings. Security remains a big issue as are economic conditions in markets outside of Europe and North America. Whatever the case may be, Gartner’s latest report depicts a multi-billion dollar industry in which Cloud will lead. We can only speculate what economic forecasts will look like in 2014.