Public Cloud Services Revenue To Hit $66 Billion
To reach $66 billion by 2016, the global public cloud services market will more than triple where it is now. According to Ovum's forecast, the tech analysis firm noted that the market will see a compound annual growth rate of 29.4 percent from the $18 billion it will reach at the end of this year.
"The global public cloud services market will explode over the next five years as uptake soars worldwide," said Ovum cloud analyst Laurent Lachal in a statement. "However, although the market size will see strong growth, the evolution of cloud computing within enterprises and the IT trends that follow will happen more slowly."
Continuing its domination of the public cloud market, North America will see a 50 percent share of the overall public cloud space come 2016. While that's a slight drop from the 54.6 percent it holds this year, North America's cloud market will continue to rise at a compound annual growth rate [CAGR] of 27.1 percent over the next five years, increasing from $10 billion to $33 billion.
Europe, the Middle East and Africa [EMEA] will maintain its place as the second-largest cloud computing market from 2011 to 2016, with its share increasing from 27 percent in 2011 to 29 percent in 2016. Western Europe's cloud market revenues will grow at a CAGR of 31.2 percent from 2011 to 2016 to reach $17.2 billion, up from $4.4 billion in 2011, Ovum said. And Eastern Europe's cloud revenues will increase at a CAGR of 31 percent from 2011 to 2016, hitting $1.5 billion, an increase from the $396 million of five years earlier. Meanwhile, the Middle East and Africa will see an increase at a CAGR of 31.7 percent from over the five year time frame, leaping from $114 million to $451 million.
Ovum noted that Asia-Pacific will also experience its share of public cloud revenues jump, increasing from 16 percent this year to 18.8 percent in 2016. Asia-Pacific's cloud revenues will ride a CAGR of 33.9 percent over the five year span and jump from $2.9 billion to $12.4 billion.
And while public cloud services will continue to move upward, SaaS's domination of the cloud market will shrink from 87 percent of the global market in 2011 to 62 percent in 2016. Ovum credits the rise of Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service offerings for SaaS's decline. IaaS and PaaS are expected from grow 9 percent and 5 percent, respectively, to 23 percent and 16 percent by the end of 2016.
Lachal added that while the public cloud market is growing swiftly, fueled by major players like Amazon and Google, public cloud growth will not make IT department's obsolete. Instead, IT's focus will shift.
"Shifts will include taking a more holistic approach to connecting networks, hardware and software. IT departments will also reduce their emphasis on maintenance and increase their innovation, while being encouraged to take more risks, by giving employees the capacity to tackle high-reward ventures," Lachal added. "But, as ever, preparation is the key to ensuring that cloud computing delivers a positive outcome."