Cost reduction and application workload demand seen as driving adoption

Over a quarter (28 percent) of IT executives surveyed are planning to deploy private cloud in 2009, according to a survey of delegates by Platform Computing at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC'09) in June 2009. This planned adoption of private cloud within High Performance Computing (HPC) is being driven by the increased workload demand of applications and the need for IT to cut costs at the same time. As the leader in grid and cloud computing software, Platform Computing has been tracking adoption of private clouds and this level of intent to deploy reflects steadily changing attitudes in IT departments.

Cloud computing is an IT delivery model that provides infrastructure and computer resources as a service. By implementing a private cloud, IT leverages the power of sharing to maximize the utilization of compute, networking and storage resources in an organization. The compute-intensive nature of HPC applications lends themselves to the benefits of shared resource pools of private clouds. The concept of cloud computing has generated considerable buzz in recent months and is expected to become increasingly popular over the next few years.  According to Gartner, by 2012 80 percent of Fortune 1000 enterprises will be paying for some cloud computing services and 30 percent will be paying for cloud computing infrastructure services.

The survey also cited that IT executives are positive about the benefits of the technology, with most (41 percent) citing 'improving efficiency' as the biggest motivation for establishing a private cloud.  This was followed by 'resource scalability' (18 percent), 'cutting costs' (17 percent), 'experimenting with cloud computing' (15 percent) and 'improving IT responsiveness' (9 percent).

The majority (67 percent) said they are planning to run simulation and modelling applications on cloud, highlighting the need for greater power for compute intensive tasks.  When asked what other applications they were planning to run using cloud, 32 percent said web services, while 18 percent said business analytics.

Yet before this takes place, several internal hurdles need to be overcome. Business decision makers are not fully aware of the benefits the technology can deliver -- according to the survey findings, 76 percent of IT executives admit they do not feel that business decision makers understand the potential of private clouds. Also, according to respondents, over one third (37 percent) felt organizational culture was the biggest barrier to establishing a private cloud. The survey demonstrates that while IT executives recognize the benefits that private clouds can deliver over the traditional approach to IT, and want to deploy quickly, some decision-makers still need convincing. Others cited complexity of managing (26 percent), security (21 percent), upfront costs (8 percent) and application software licensing (8 percent).

"The private cloud route offers organizations a responsive, cost effective infrastructure model and supports IT's obligation to oversee fundamental corporate requirements, including governance, compliance, business continuity, cost management and risk management," said Randy Clark, chief marketing officer, Platform Computing.  "IT executives are clearly convinced about the efficiencies and cost savings that private clouds will deliver, but as the research highlights, senior business decision makers are not yet on-board.  If enterprises are to reap the full benefits of private clouds, the IT function will evolve to become a business service partner to the business.  While this transition will not happen overnight it's hugely important and will require internal leadership and world-class vendor support."