29 Jan 2010

Businesses 'to focus on the cloud'

Companies across the UK are set to turn to cloud computing in the months ahead, it has been claimed.

Steve Reynolds, chairman of the Mobile Data Association, said improved scalability, recoverability and flexibility are the main drivers behind this renewed interest in cloud technology, as well as the cost-saving effect it can have on business IT infrastructure.

He commented: "If you're looking in the enterprise, space you find it gives enterprise mobility solutions providers a huge flexibility of scale which they couldn't get with a hosting provider. It's cost-based on usage, not a leased model."

According to Symantec's 2010 State of the Data Centre survey, cloud computing is ranked behind server consolidation, storage virtualisation, data centre consolidation and data deduplication as being the most important technologies to invest in over the coming year.

However, private cloud computing was ranked as a major area for investment by 57 per cent of respondents, while 54 and 53 per cent respectively said they were keen to invest in hybrid and public cloud technology.