IDC report: Enterprise cloud server hardware market to reach $12.6 billion by 2014

According to new research from International Data Corporation (IDC) "Worldwide Enterprise Server Cloud Computing 2010-2014 Forecast", server revenue for public cloud computing will grow from $582 million in 2009 to $718 million in 2014. Server revenue for the much larger private cloud market will grow from $7.3 billion to $11.8 billion in the same time period.

"Now is a great time for many IT organizations to begin seriously considering this technology and employing public and private clouds in order to simplify sprawling IT environments," said Katherine Broderick, research analyst, Enterprise Platforms and Datacenter Trends.

IDC defines the public cloud as being open to a largely unrestricted universe of potential users; designed for a market, not for a single enterprise. Private cloud deployment is designed for, and access restricted to, a single enterprise (or extended enterprise); an internal shared resource, not a commercial offering; IT organization as "vendor" of a shared/standard service to its users. "Many vendors are strategically advancing into the private and public cloud spaces, and these players are widely varied and have differing levels of commitment," Broderick added.

Additional findings from IDC's research include the following:

Public cloud computing has lower ASVs than an average x86-based server
Public cloud seems less likely to be broadly adopted than private
Public clouds will be less enterprise focused than private clouds
According to recent IDC survey results, almost half of respondents, 44%, are considering private clouds