Cloud touted $30bn industry

In the next four years, public IT cloud services will grow by more than 20% to become a $30 billion industry, International Data predicts, writes the WBJ Journal.

Professional services businesses mark the 'sweet spot' for public IT cloud services, IDC says, because of the many mid-sized companies that are information-dependent.

Meanwhile, the services and distribution sectors, which include retail, wholesale and transportation services, currently make up the largest share of public IT cloud services at $3 billion and that sector is expected to grow to $8.5 billion by 2014.

As China queues up in the global competition and plans to build a world's top cloud computing base, IBM will support this ambition by providing its data design services for the base, CNR has reported, according to People's Daily Online.

An IBM official said the huge database is expected to complete by 2016, which means that it is therefore possible to keep China's two-digit public expenditure growth on IT services.

Experts and their analyses favour China's future of cloud computing regarding the efficiency and control ability.

Cloud computing looks set to be introduced into universities across the UK after the Higher Education Funding Council for England set aside £12.5 million for its arrival, states Hostway.

The money will be used as part of a University Modernisation Fund that will see £10 million put towards cloud computing applications and shared IT infrastructure along with £2.5 million to provide teaching resources.

It could see universities and colleges pool their computing resources together to save money and therefore take advantage of the cost-cutting abilities of servers hosted off-site.