Virtualisation: Cloud to gain importance

Dubai: Cloud computing will gain importance in the years to come as the demand for virtualisation gains importance, an IDC analyst said.

"Small budgets and new adoption trends will fuel demand for outsourcing and cloud computing. But cloud computing is still in an infant stage. Customers are getting to know about cloud computing despite challenges, security being the main one. We are seeing many vendors across the globe making announcements in cloud computing this year in software, hardware and services." Omar Shihab, Research Manager, PCs and Systems, IDC Middle East and Africa, said

Cloud computing is the current revolution in IT services. The "cloud" (i.e., the internet) serves as a medium to provide customers with software, services, and even hardware as subscription services delivered securely without incurring capital expenses. Hotmail is one of the earliest successful examples of cloud computing, where you get full e-mail functionality without having to buy hardware or software.

"In the UAE, a growing number of companies are already using Software-as-a-Service [SaaS] services successfully," said Cyril Simonnet, CEO of Keross LLC in Dubai. He said cloud computing gives you access to IT solutions for which you pay a relatively low, flat subscription (like a magazine), or a usage-based fee (like an electricity connection)

The advantages are stark - there are no capital expenditures to incur, operating expenditures are substantially reduced and deployment is a matter of months or even weeks, as opposed to years in the case of in-premise software and hardware. In addition, service levels are dramatically improved.

Shihab said: "This is the period for vendors to make it easier for customers to adopt cloud computing. Every single segment in the IT industry we forecast has been revised downwards except certain segments like storage etc. But the trend for software-as-a-service, a form of cloud computing, is revised upward. It is changing rapidly and it is not going to take much time for the region to catch up."