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 which can be accessed 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 the 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 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, according to Gartner. This figure points to the fact that more users of cloud computing storage will be 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 Since cloud computing is based on a pay-as-you-go model and provides a cost effective way to share technology resources, the concept of cloud computing represents a way for organizations to reduce IT costs.  According the International Data Corporation (IDC), a leading global provider of market intelligence for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets, organizations worldwide generated revenue of more than $600 billion and created more than 1.2 million jobs during the year 2011 as the result of using cloud computing services. The IDC study also showed that more than fifty percent of the 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, according to Gartner. Gartner Forecasts for Cloud Computing Storage Gartner forecasts an increase in the use of cloud computing as the 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. Gartner continues to explain that the increase in storage demands for digital content is also the result of social media networking sites such as Facebook which also strive to meet the storage demands for the consumer.  However, the amount of storage offered to the consumer is relatively small compared to other cloud storage resources, according to Gartner. 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, according to Gartner.   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 the premises will be greatly reduced to 64 percent by the year 2016 which is a significant decrease from 92 percent during the year 2011.  It is predicted that digital content storage on the premises will still be used but as cloud storage grows and becomes more common storage on the premises will be greatly reduced.

All of these studies point to the fact that cloud computing storage and services are on the rise and the upward trend will continue through 2016.

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Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.   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