Every year cloud management vendor RightScale runs a survey of cloud adoption. The results are always interesting reading.
This year’s RightScale “State of the Cloud” report is, as in previous years, interesting reading. In particular, it is interesting to see subtle changes in the cloud industry makeup with vendors starting to make inroads on dominant players. The report also tends to be something of a bellwether for new technology adoption, hence, the statistics around both DevOps and Docker were interesting to see. Enough with the commentary — on to the findings.
Hybrid cloud
In something of an indication that cloud generally is hitting the mainstream, the report found that hybrid cloud adoption grew significantly from last year.
- Private cloud adoption increased from 63% to 77%, driving hybrid cloud adoption up from 58% to 71% year over year.
- 82% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy, holding steady from 2015.
- 95% of organizations surveyed are running applications or experimenting with infrastructure as a service.
MyPOV: Greater adoption by those already adopting hybrid cloud, but a surprisingly steady state in terms of companies having a hybrid cloud strategy. I wonder if this is an indication of a greater move to the public cloud, or simply the last vestiges of conservative companies not willing to move to cloud of any flavor?
Cloud security
Eureka. After years of fear, uncertainty and denial from traditional technology vendors, it would appear that security is no longer the top cloud challenge.
- Lack of resources/expertise is now the No. 1 cloud challenge (cited by 32%), supplanting security (cited by 29%).
- Even the most security-conscious respondents — enterprise central IT teams and security pros — no longer see security as the No. 1 challenge.
MyPOV: I say it regularly, but refreshingly less regularly than a few years ago: Cloud is, all things considered, likely more secure than an organization’s traditional on-premises IT infrastructure. I’ve seen a worrying number of servers sitting in dusty broom closets or a single layer of drywall away from the public world. It is very refreshing to see IT practitioners adopt a more progressive, pragmatic and realistic attitude toward security.
Cloud cost management
As usage increases, it is perhaps unsurprising that cloud cost challenges increase, but sadly, optimization efforts lag.
- 26% of respondents identified cloud cost management as a significant challenge, a steady increase each year from 18% in 2013.
- Cloud cost management provides a significant opportunity for savings, since few companies are taking critical actions to optimize cloud costs, such as shutting down unused workloads or selecting lower-cost cloud or regions.
MyPOV: There is no excuse for not having a good understanding of what resources an organization is consuming, be they human, utility or IT. Cloud is simply a subset of this, and as cloud adoption generally increases, it is increasingly important to ensure that cloud usage is as effective and efficient as possible.
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SOURCE: Computer World
Ben Kepes covers how technology helps business compete.
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