SCIENCE

As private cloud solutions are increasingly used to improve resource utilization in the data center, understanding and acceptance of the technology by executives has significantly improved. The number of companies intending to deploy a private cloud has risen to one-third from a steady twenty-eight percent in previous years, and with this organizational culture has steadily reduced in importance as a barrier for uptake. Having been the biggest inhibiting factor to adoption in 2009 (thirty-seven percent), organizational culture is now less of a barrier to adoption consistently falling by ten percent year-over-year to only twenty-six percent in 2010 and seventeen percent in 2011. This finding is the result of the fourth annual benchmark survey by Platform Computing of delegates at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC'11) in June.

As the leader in cluster, grid and cloud management software, Platform Computing has been tracking adoption of private clouds and the drivers for uptake. Its findings complement a recent IDC report that anticipates the server cloud market is set to enjoy frenetic growth until 2015, with server unit shipments for private cloud units expected to see a compound annual growth rate of twenty two percent to reach 570,000 by 2015.

Following the changing trends identified by Platform Computing over the last few years, this is no surprise. Serious consideration is now being given to the upfront cost of implementing a private cloud solution as executives increasingly look at the practical implications of cloud adoption. Respondents who see upfront cost as the greatest barrier to private cloud have tripled from six to twenty-one percent in the last twelve months. In addition:

• The number of companies planning to deploy private cloud has grown from 28 percent in previous years to one-third
• Organizational culture has been reduced as a barrier for adoption by 10 percent year-over-year
• Concerns about security have remained roughly the same, rising from 26 to 29 percent in the last year as executives more seriously consider the impact of cloud deployment
• Executives are less worried about the complexity of managing a private cloud (reduced from 25 percent to 19 percent),which indicates an increased familiarity with cloud solutions for business
• Application software licensing remains less of a consideration, with a minimal increase from 12 percent to 14 percent

In line with these findings, motivation for establishing a private cloud has also changed:

• 'Improving resource utilization' is considered the key reason for deploying private cloud by almost one-third of respondents (31 percent)
• 'Experimenting with cloud' has become a much bigger driver over the last year with 30 percent of executives ranking it as the biggest motivator for implementation compared to only 19 and 17 percent in 2010 and 2009, respectively
• 'Cost cutting' remains an important consideration as organizations continue to monitor spend in the wake of the economic downturn. Almost a quarter of executives questioned (24 percent) rated this as the biggest influencer compared to 25 percent in 2010 and 17 percent in 2009
• 'Resource scalability' has become less crucial over the past year with only 7 percent of executives selecting this as a primary driver compared to 17 and 18 percent in 2010 and 2009, respectively
• Similarly, 'improving IT responsiveness' remains of minimal importance with less than 10 percent consistently selecting it as their primary driver for private cloud deployment in HPC

Jay Muelhoefer, Vice President of Marketing, Platform Computing, commented: "With a steady understanding of private cloud now established in European business and a growing number of organizations beginning to recognize that the technology is the next natural infrastructural step, it is logical that organizational culture has adapted accordingly. Now the key concerns and drivers for uptake center on logistical and practical considerations. As cost continues to grow in influence (both as a driver and a barrier for uptake), we expect that hybrid use-cases like cloud bursting to a cloud service provider will be more seriously considered as business solutions. The challenge here will be making sure that concerns, such as security, which are specifically linked to public cloud offerings, are effectively addressed to meet legislative and regulatory considerations."