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5 Cloud Computing Predictions for 2011

Datamation - Jeff Vance
This past year has been a good one for cloud computing. According to Gartner, the cloud services market grew to $68.3 billion in 2010, a 16.6 percent increase from 2009 revenue of $58.6 billion. Gartner predicts that by 2014, cloud services revenue will balloon to $148.8 billion worldwide.

Gartner also reported that SaaS vendors raked in $9.2 billion in 2010, up 15.7 percent from 2009 revenue of $7.9 billion. The research firm believes the SaaS market will get even stronger in 2011, growing to $10.7 billion worldwide, a 16.2 percent increase from 2010 revenue.

Taking a look at a few major cloud/SaaS players, Salesforce.com saw its revenue nearly double in 2010 to $2 billion. UBS estimates that Amazon Web Services will earn $500 million by the end of the year, while one-time cloud skeptic, Oracle, gave in and embraced the cloud this year.

Both Microsoft and Google continue to invest heavily in cloud computing, although earnings estimates for their cloud efforts aren’t currently available.

All in all, not bad during the worst recession since the Thirties.

I’m not going out on a limb by predicting that 2011 will be even better than 2010, which itself has been a year referred to as “the year of the cloud.” Of course predicting that the cloud sector will expand is easy. Here, though, are five more granular cloud computing predictions for 2011.
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Major technical advances, economic growth

The Nation - Jirapan Boonnoon
With a year of widespread recovery in the information-technology market almost behind them, the leaders of Thailand's IT industry are forecasting a year of solid growth ahead in 2011.

However, even soaring growth may fall short of matching the likely advances in technology. With cloud computing, virtualisation, mobility and convergence high on the list, the pressure on government agencies, businesses and ordinary consumers to understand it all, much less implement it, will be heavier than ever.

There appear to be two aspects to 2011: The struggle to come to terms with technologies that will see Thailand wired for efficiency and global competition, and the palpable excitement of an industry eager to press on with the future.

Microsoft (Thailand)'s managing director Patama Chantaruck said that after a period of widespread cutbacks in IT spending, 2010 saw users once again seek out new technologies, with many businesses embracing new social-media tools.

The intensifying convergence of technologies and moves towards mobile connectivity are now driving demand for greater choice and innovation, and the recent launch of Windows Phone 7 and its ground-breaking interface have made Microsoft a serious contender in this field.

Patama said Microsoft was aware that people were still rebuilding their confidence following the recent economic challenges, but the firm was confident that in 2011 its latest innovations, solutions and services could make a positive impact on long-term performance for local ustomers, partners and the country's software industry. These innovations are making the concept of technology access "anywhere, any time and on any device" a reality, she said.
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