Market survey on cloud computing by AMD
finds growing confidence among businesses
AMD has announced the results of a global research study
on adoption, attitudes and approaches to cloud computing,
surveying IT decision makers in public and private sector
organizations across the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
The findings reveal both global and regional trends in cloud
computing adoption and usage, highlighting the importance
of both infrastructure and workloads in considering a cloud-computing
model.
The findings by AMD includes:
Cloud computing is maturing rapidly, with 70 percent of
respondents indicating they are either using or currently
investigating cloud computing for remotely hosted applications
or to store data
Of those organizations that have deployed cloud solutions,
60 percent reported that they are already seeing business
value
Among current cloud users, 92 percent stated that infrastructure
was an important part of their decision to move to a cloud-computing
model
"Based on the findings of this global study, AMD believes
it is time for the industry to re-shape the way we think
about cloud technology," said Patrick Patla, general
manager and vice president, Server and Embedded Divisions.
"The findings point to the fact that while the era
of cloud computing has arrived, there are radically different
attitudes, approaches, concerns and levels of maturity depending
on business environment. As an industry, we must provide
clear guidance about how to optimize hardware and software
for all types of clouds, focusing on custom parts for specific
workloads that are prevalent in the cloud and the appropriate
balance of performance, power and cost efficiency they require."
Below are the other trends reported in the AMD's release:
Billions of Dollars Stored in the Cloud: As cloud adoption
continues to increase, so does the value of the data that
lives in the cloud. Sixty-three percent of those using the
cloud to host data estimated they store more than $250,000
worth of data in the cloud, and by evaluating this survey
field alone as a sample of the industry at large, it can
be estimated that billions of dollars in active data currently
lives in the cloud.
CIOs Drive Strategic Shift to Cloud: This new era of IT
is being driven by the CIO, head of IT or IT Director more
than 50 percent of the time, placing a huge amount of importance
on the technology at the core of the cloud. Ninety-two percent
of respondents currently using the cloud stated that infrastructure
was important in their decision to adopt cloud computing,
dispelling the myth that cloud customers do not care to
know about the physical servers housing and running their
data. Global private sector respondents also identified
the workloads they believe most suited potentially for cloud
computing as email, finance/accounting and Web serving,
in that order.
With such a clear level of importance placed on the IT
infrastructure of the cloud, it is imperative for vendors
to move beyond the hype and talk about the real issues at
the core of the cloud. Email, finance/account and web serving
are all fast-growing workloads in the cloud, yet have significantly
different compute demands. AMD is taking the lead in approaching
cloud computing from a workload-based model that provides
differentiated solutions based on the unique requirements
of the cloud provider and customer. This approach is highlighted
by some of AMD's web hosting customers in Europe (1&1,
Intergenia AG and Strato).
Public Sector and the Cloud: AMD also specifically examined
public sector attitudes toward the cloud, revealing that
local and federal mandates are having a significant impact
in accelerating cloud adoption. In the US, public sector
respondents felt government policies have accelerated a
move to the cloud more than twice as many times as those
who felt it has decelerated adoption, primarily citing the
shift as a way to reduce costs. Nearly half of the worldwide
public sector respondents indicated budget restrictions
are driving a more rapid adoption of cloud solutions.
One key hurdle that still remains for the public sector
to fully embrace cloud computing is having the necessary
IT skills in-house to support the deployment of cloud solutions.
Currently, 43 percent of public sector respondents did not
feel they had the skills in place to support cloud versus
only 23 percent in the private sector.
Highlights from the report include:: The State of Cloud
Deployments: Seventy-four percent of US organizations are
using or investigating cloud solutions, followed by 68 percent
in Asia and 58 percent in Europe.
Trust in the Cloud: Nearly 1 in 10 organizations in the
US estimate they store more than $10 million worth of data
in the cloud. However, 63 percent of global respondents
still view security as one of the greatest risks associated
with the model.
Understanding and Preparation for the Cloud: For those currently
using the cloud, 75 percent had the necessary IT skills
to implement the solution versus only 39 percent of those
who are currently investigating cloud today.
Cloud Clients: Cloud users are able to access their services
primarily via a PC (90%), followed by smartphone (56%),
tablet (37%) and thin client (32%)
To learn more, go to www.amd.com/cloud.
