Gartner Predicts Significant Increase in Cloud Computing by 2016
Without realizing it, many people have been using the cloud even before the term became widely known to both consumers and businesses. Applications such as email and other programs which are web based and accessed over the internet are in reality, cloud applications. The concept of web-based applications such as Hotmail and Gmail as well as Instant Messenger, social networking and other apps accessible from any location with an internet connection are early forms of cloud computing.
The increased use of mobile devices which potentially mark the decline of the PC era and the upward trend of cloud computing has prompted demand for being able to access content from anywhere and from any type of device. Gartner predicts that the demand will only continue to accelerate over the next few years.
What Gartner Says about the Future of Cloud Computing
Gartner, a leading information technology research company since 1979, recently released a report outlining the expected growth of cloud computing storage within the next few years. The research firm pointed out that the amount of content stored in the cloud during the year 2011 was less than 8 percent.
The amount of cloud computing storage is expected to increase to approximately 36 percent by the year 2016, with more users of cloud computing storage moving at least one-third of their content to the cloud by 2016.
Japan and South Korea to Experience the Highest Growth in Cloud Computing
Based on a pay-as-you-go model and providing a cost-effective way to share technology resources, cloud computing helps organizations to reduce IT costs. According the International Data Corporation (IDC), a leading global provider of technology market intelligence, organizations worldwide generated revenue of more than $600 billion and created more than 1.2 million jobs during the year 2011 as a result of employing cloud computing services.
The IDC study also showed that more than fifty percent of employment positions created during 2012 will be in the small-to-medium-sized business sectors. A high percentage of this growth will originate from the United States and Western Europe, with Japan and South Korea experiencing the highest growth in the use of cloud computing in the Asia Pacific.
Gartner Forecasts for Cloud Computing Storage
Gartner forecasts an increase in the use of cloud computing as a result of technologically-advanced smartphones, tablet PCs, handheld gadgets and other portable devices which are capable of producing multimedia content which in turn, increases storage demands. This increase is also the result of social media networking sites such as Facebook striving to meet storage demands for the consumer. However, the amount of storage offered to the consumer is relatively small compared to other cloud storage resources. Regardless, consumers will be able to store and share multimedia on various social media sites which offer storage space free of charge.
- Consumer Digital Storage by 2016: Gartner forecasts that consumer digital storage needs will grow to more than 4 zettabytes worldwide by the year 2016. This is an increase over 329 exabytes during the year 2011 and also includes content which is stored on computers, tablet PCs, smartphones, external hard-disk drives, and network attached storage (NAS).
- Household Digital Content Storage: Digital content storage needs for the average household is predicted to grow to more than 3 terabytes per household by the year 2016. This is a significant increase over 464 gigabytes per household during 2011. The increased use of mobile devices equipped with digital cameras will be a major contributor to the increased demand for digital content storage.
- On-Premises Digital Content Storage: Gartner predicts that the use of digital content storage on premises will be greatly reduced to 64 percent by the year 2016, down from 92 percent in 2011. Digital content storage on the premises will still be used but will decrease as cloud storage becomes more common.
All of these studies point to cloud computing storage and services being emphatically on the rise until 2016.
In line with this expected surge of usage and demand, individual and organization consumers need to be prepared. This means that they will need a provider that can sufficiently supply the computing power that they need. One example would be the true scalability of resources. GMO Cloud Hosting offers this kind of service and more, visit the Features page of the site to learn more about these services.
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About the Guest Author:
Aeyne Schriber has more than two decades of accumulated experience in IT security, computer technology, and internet marketing, including technology education and administration field both on the public school and college level. She works worldwide helping companies establish an online presence from small businesses to large enterprises. Her skills as a published copywriter and marketer also include consulting and training corporate personnel and entrepreneurs. For more details, visit www.digitalnewmediamarketing.com
