Survey Reveals More Than Eighty Percent of IT Executives Plan to Keep Cloud Initiatives within Their Own Firewalls

TORONTO, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Eighty-three percent of IT executives intend to keep their cloud initiatives within their own firewall, according to a survey of delegates by Platform Computing at the Supercomputing Conference (SC'09) in November 2009.  Platform Computing surveyed 95 IT executives across the research, manufacturing, government and education industries to determine why organizations are investing in cloud solutions, their concerns about cloud computing and plans for future initiatives.

Although most organizations are experimenting with cloud computing, the majority (82%) do not foresee cloud bursting initiatives, demonstrating that cloud models are still early in their adoption and that executives are cognizant of the very same security and management issues that drive them to create a private cloud in the first place. Executives see the value of a private cloud management platform that is independent of location and ownership resources.  

The survey cited that nearly half (45%) of organizations are considering establishing a private cloud, with executives citing experimenting with cloud computing (40%) and improving efficiency (33%) as top reasons for investing in a cloud solution. According to respondents, the greatest expected benefits of cloud computing are a larger resource pool (28%) and a more flexible, agile infrastructure (26%).

The survey also found that security remains a principal concern regarding cloud computing (49%), followed by complexity of managing (31%) and upfront costs (15%). For organizations considering cloud computing, fears of upfront investment costs and complexity can be addressed through the availability of private cloud management solutions designed to leverage their existing infrastructure.

"When deploying a private cloud, organizations will need a management framework that can leverage existing hardware and software investments and support key business applications," said Peter Nichol, general manager, HPC Business Unit, Platform Computing. "This survey reaffirms the benefits that private clouds offer - a more flexible and dynamic infrastructure with greater levels of self-service and enterprise application support."

Although nearly three-quarters of respondents (70%) do not believe that the structure of their IT organizations will change with cloud computing, a successful cloud initiative is dependent on an organization's willingness to evolve. This transition will require that IT organizations transform to meet organizational needs, including providing additional resource management capabilities directly to users.  

"Cloud computing has provided the impetus for IT to make a much needed shift, but many in the industry are still struggling to understand the value of the cloud," said Randy Clark, chief marketing officer, Platform Computing. "As organizations continue to experiment with cloud to move toward better efficiency and cost-savings, it is best to bear in mind that to ensure success, the adoption of cloud computing should follow a sequence of evolutionary steps rather than an overnight revolution."

Notes to Editors on Methodology: Survey of 95 IT executives, cross-industry.

About Platform Computing

Platform Computing is the leader in cluster, grid and cloud management software – serving more than 2,000 of the world's most demanding organizations. For 17 years, our workload and resource management solutions have delivered IT responsiveness and lower costs for enterprise and HPC applications. Platform has strategic relationships with Cray, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Red Hat, and SAS. Visit www.platform.com.

SOURCE Platform Computing