Talking trends in 2013

- Cloud Expo Europe exhibitors give their two-cents on what to expect in Cloud - 

Taking place on 29th and 30th January 2013, Cloud Expo Europe 2013 is less than two months away, and as we count down to the show opening a number of show exhibitors have been keen to highlight what they expect to be the big Cloud trends in 2013. Here are some of those points:

Andy Burton, Chair of Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) and CEO of Fasthosts, will be at the show representing CIF and believes 2013 will see Cloud generate a greater mainstream presence: “According to recent research we have conducted, the market is clearly moving out of a nascent state into mainstream adoption and with it the challenges are changing from clarity and comfort that the Cloud is viable as an IT delivery model into achieving a strategic goal of integrating Cloud within the wider IT agenda and determining an effective and efficient path for more widely embracing Cloud services without diminishing efficiency, control or governance.”

Esther Spanjer, Director of SSD technical marketing at Smart Storage Systems, found on stand 703, identifies the demand for data creation and the need to access data in near real-time as a key driver in 2013: “With the rise of social networking and other Cloud computing services, data creation and the need to access data in near real-time has grown at an unprecedented rate. This has led enterprise organisations to turn to solid state disks in order to meet the throughput levels necessary to work with an ever-increasing data-set. This is a trend that is set to grow and explains why we are attending this show for the first time this year.”

Marcus Jewell, UK country manager, representing Brocade, suggests we’ll see more and more non-IT organisations embracing Cloud in 2013: “Last year we predicted that non-IT organisations would move towards “Cloud Service Provisioning” in order to uncover new ways of optimising and monetising Cloud and service provider networks. For the next 12 months, we see this trend continuing, but in an evolved state, scrutinising the impact of the Cloud, its benefits, usage and ROI more than ever before.” 

Phoenix, found on stand 365, is quick to highlight that as more and more firms migrate to the Cloud in 2013, and competition increases, Cloud adopter’s must not be afraid to examine the Cloud provider’s themselves:  

“Buying into a Cloud solution is like making any other business decision. It’s imperative you move beyond the benefits, drawbacks and costs involved, and evaluate the Cloud provider itself. Look at the contractual agreement and the T&Cs in place. In terms of data laws it’s not about where the servers are located, it’s about the country’s legal system the contract is governed in. The laws in place in the US differ significantly from that of Europe.” 

James Henigan from Rise, discusses the role education will play within Cloud computing notably the opportunity it represents for SMBs: “2012 will be remembered for the impact Cloud made in certain sectors. If you look back to 2011, a lot of uncertainty still existed amongst enterprises looking to migrate their data into the Cloud. Is my data safe? Where is it stored? Do you still have control? were all common questions. Education played a big part in answering these and when you look back on 2012, Cloud adoption has never been higher. While strides have been made across the entire enterprise and mid-market community, there are those, notably SMBs, who still struggle with the concept of Cloud computing. As we move into 2013 its clear that greater education is needed, which, in turn, will unlock a huge market with massive amounts of potential."

Finally, Claranet’s UK Managing Director Michel Robert, outlines the growth in Cloud adoption particularly the hybrid Cloud model: “Claranet's second Market Report on Cloud adoption trends shows that 2012 was the tipping point for public trust in the Cloud. The next year will see further growth in Cloud adoption, particularly hybrid Cloud, as end users' concerns over security and data sovereignty are increasingly addressed by CSPs."

About Cloud Expo Europe

Cloud Expo Europe, organised by CloserStill Media Ltd, is in its fourth year and second at Olympia London. In July 2012 it was honoured with the prestigious Best Trade Show, Association of Event Organisers (AEO) Excellence Award. The event successfully differentiated itself in 2012 by hosting five of Tech Target’s 2010 & 2011 top ten global leaders and being the only event of its kind with an independent BPA audit of its total attendance of 4,750 delegates..

Cloud Expo Europe represents the fast-paced, dynamic and ever changing cloud computing industry; its conference content and show features continually evolve to mirror the needs of the cloud industry and those businesses implementing the latest cloud technologies. For more information, please see: http://www.cloudexpoeurope.com/ 

Press contacts: 

Nick Bird/ Andy Chatterton

Spreckley Partners Ltd,

Tel: +44 (0)207 388 9988

Email: cloudexpo@spreckley.co.uk