Trusted Cloud Services to Take Center Stage in 2012

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As provider interest in cloud services grows, telcos are exploring ways to differentiate their products while the IT industry works on standardization at different layers of the cloud operating stack, according to the latest report from Heavy Reading Service Provider IT Insider (www.heavyreading.com/servsoftware), a paid research service of Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com).

Delivering a Trusted Enterprise Cloud: Can Standards Help? examines the key features of the trusted, enterprise cloud and what standards apply to it. It discusses standardization at four levels of the cloud operating stack that affect trust in the cloud and evaluates the current level of industry support for the various standardization efforts. It assesses the trusted cloud strategies of 10 leading cloud providers and cloud standards bodies.

For a list of companies analyzed in this report, http://img.lightreading.com/ssi/pdf/spiti1111_companies.pdf

"Over the past 12 months, cloud service providers have seen a sea-change in enterprise demand for cloud services," says Caroline Chappell, research analyst with Heavy Reading Service Provider IT Insider and author of the report. "One market survey showed that the proportion of enterprises expressing interest in buying cloud services has risen from 50 percent in 2010 to 80-90 percent in 2011," she continues. "As enterprises gain confidence in the cloud, their demand is spurring more telcos to consider launching cloud services. A recent Heavy Reading survey found that over 90 percent of telco respondents globally either already offer cloud services or are intending to offer them within a relatively short timeframe."

Telcos are seeking ways to differentiate their public clouds from those of the pure-play providers by leveraging investments in their trusted infrastructure, Chappell explains. "Several telcos are creating trusted clouds aimed mainly at large enterprises with traditional IT environments and are bundling their public cloud offer with hosted private cloud and traditional hosting solutions," she says. "This bundled approach puts telcos in a good position to meet a high proportion of enterprise IT outsourcing needs at this stage of the market, since enterprises have applications that are not easily moved to the cloud and they must comply with industry regulation and standards that are not yet cloud-ready."

Key findings of Delivering a Trusted Enterprise Cloud: Can Standards Help? include:

• Trusted clouds are very different from other public clouds, telcos argue, offering security and performance features not catered for by Amazon and Google.
• Cloud providers are leveraging investments in infrastructure security, IT management best practices and compliance with industry security standards to build the trusted cloud.
• Verizon ups the ante where cloud innovation is concerned, with Terremark and Cloudswitch on board to strengthen in-house trusted cloud development.
• Meanwhile Openstack attracts interest from telcos wanting a standard platform to reduce development cost and increase the enterprise trust factor.
• ODCA and CSA establish market leadership as top standardization bodies for the trusted cloud.

Delivering a Trusted Enterprise Cloud: Can Standards Help? is available as part of an annual single-user subscription (six issues) to Heavy Reading Service Provider IT Insider, priced at $1,595. Individual reports are available for $900 (single-user license).

To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: www.heavyreading.com/servsoftware. For more information on all of Heavy Reading's Insider services, please visit www.heavyreading.com/research.

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Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com) is an independent research organization offering deep analysis of emerging telecom trends to network operators, technology suppliers, and investors. Its product portfolio includes in-depth reports that address critical next-generation technology and service issues, market trackers that focus on the telecom industry's most critical technology sectors, exclusive worldwide surveys of network operator decision-makers that identify future purchasing and deployment plans, and a rich array of custom and consulting services that give clients the market intelligence needed to compete successfully in the $4 trillion global telecom industry. As a telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network (www.lrcn.com), Heavy Reading contributes to the only integrated business information platform serving the global communications industry.

SOURCE Heavy Reading