Cloud is just getting started...

I read recently that only 15-20% of the Production level workloads has yet adopted Cloud. Interesting stat I thought... so in 10 years of selling virtualized or cloud-based solutions, closing numerous high profile deals, watching fellow colleagues do similar, and we have only just cracked the door open?

Then, when looking back and thinking of the deals that have crossed my desk, the stat kinda makes sense. Some environments just won't fit on cloud... not yet anyway. Most of the bigger environments run on Unix, some require high level security (like data at rest or in motion), some requires extreme low level latency between systems, some systems require special compliance, like PCI or HIPPA, or special operating systems, or databases, or older versions that cloud providers will not supply. All of these are examples of use cases that do not fit well within the Cloud service. So 15-20% starts to make logical sense.

What about growth rates? Are we fully considering that not only existing workloads, but new workloads will want cloud services as well... The picture widens, as does the opportunity. What about the enterprise application space? These are known to move the markets when it comes to compute needs. Some of the bigger servers in the world are used to support SAP, Oracle, eComm, Banking, Analytic, Data Warehousing, and other core business functions. Most of these have yet to move as well. Can Cloud handle those compute requirements, those network speeds, those transfer rates, those backup requirements? Not just yet either...

I had a client come to me recently and say 'Jamie - I cannot backup my SAP system and run batch in the same time window with my current cloud provider' - after taking a closer look, he was right. The provider had a great number of network options for solutions, but none rugged enough to support the client needs. It sounds simple - we run SAP batch in the evening, and we backup in the evenings, but cloud couldn't handle it.

So when you think of 80% of the worldwide production workloads have yet to adopt cloud, that workload development is growing daily, that we have 4-5 non-production systems for every production system, and cloud vendors are innovating new technologies daily for broader use cases, your mind begins to see the exponential growth opportunities for cloud computing.

Cloud does have a long way to go - it has not caught up with the legacy options of workload support, or network speeds, or HA/DR options, but it sure is evolving quickly. IBM now has AIX/Power solutions in the Cloud, we are seeing NIC speeds go from 10 to 80gb/sec speeds, we are seeing companies like RedHat put everything into secure containers so you can move the workloads easily across providers, we see more robust storage, servers, bare-metal configurations, and in-memory applications scale to record sizes. Each and every day cloud evolves and adopts a new use case or two... and that 80% of the marketshare will be up for grabs. Will it be AWS or Azure - the current front runners? Will it be Google with their recent announcements? Will it be IBM with their enterprise announcements?

One thing I've learned in this business - just because you are on top today, doesn't mean you are tomorrow. It wasn't that long ago AOL was the stock to own, or Netscape the web browser to use. It will be fun to watch the evolution, the challenges, and the talented contenders go to war over the 80% of the market space left... 'evolve or die' they say.