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Symform Forecasts Top 6 Cloud and Storage Predictions for 2013
SEATTLE, WA, Dec 19, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --
The combined forces of digital data growth and the consumerization
of IT will come to a head in 2013, and create a wave of increased
investment and moves by IT to take back control of corporate data.
Symform predicts companies of all sizes will demand that vendors and
service providers improve on-ramps to the cloud and service level
agreements (SLAs) around cloud services. The company expects larger
investments in data management, big data, and distributed systems,
and believes the use of rogue cloud services in the enterprise will
come under increased governance. Based on conversations with
customers, partners and industry experts from around the globe, these
predictions will impact both large enterprises and small and
medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as well as the IT service providers
who deliver solutions to them.
"As we enter 2013, the massive growth of digital data and the
challenges around how to secure, manage and store that data is only
increasing -- in spite of the many technologies and cloud solutions
aimed at alleviating these issues," said Matthew J. Schiltz, CEO of
Symform. "Last year, we correctly predicted the continued disparity
between local and remote storage costs, along with an increased
concern over the high cost and environmental impact of a record build
out of datacenters to support centralized cloud platforms. This year,
we will see even greater awareness of the wasted, unused capacity in
our existing infrastructure investments and the need to embrace
distributed, decentralized systems. This will enable IT's efforts to
gain back control of rogue devices and cloud applications."
Symform's top six predictions for 2013 include:
1. Continued Exponential Data Growth Will Result in Increased
Investment in Data Management & Big Data
According to IDC, we are
creating 58 terabytes of digital data every second, a number which is
expected to increase to 35 zettabytes stored by 2020. Much of this
data is a result of what Gartner calls the "Nexus of Forces," or the
convergence of social, mobile and cloud information, which makes the
upward trajectory of data volumes unstoppable. Similarly, the
"Always-On Generation" -- pegged as the most insatiable group of
digital media consumers in the world -- is contributing to the influx
of data in droves. Given all of these factors, the reality of
improved data management is settling in, and Symform predicts that
2013 will be the year that businesses invest more heavily to protect,
manage and store that data. The heightened sensitivity around data
accessibility and compliance requirements will motivate companies to
better understand their data types and how to categorize, secure, and
gain business intelligence from the data -- such as mission-critical,
business-critical, sensitive or archival data.
2. Cloud Storage On-Ramps Will Enter the Mainstream
An emphasis on
data classification and management will help businesses match the
appropriate storage requirements, including primary or secondary
backup, archiving, and disaster recovery. This, in turn, will drive
increased demand and market penetration of the currently burgeoning
cloud storage on-ramp or gateway market. Movements toward this
include Microsoft's acquisition of StorSimple in 2012, and actions by
major traditional hardware vendors such as HP, Citrix, Dell, and
major network attach storage (NAS) vendors, to embrace the cloud and
extend their on-premise devices to cloud services. Customers,
especially SMBs, will increase investment in local storage solutions
that include a cloud storage or online backup component. This hybrid
cloud storage strategy will prove itself in 2013 and start to move
beyond the SMB to the enterprise segment, although large companies
will still prefer a private over public cloud implementation.
Capabilities such as single-sign-on (SSO), strong data encryption,
and overall storage management will become more critical with this
trend. Further details can be found in The 451 Group's report on the
Cloud Storage On-Ramp Market.
3. As BYOD and Cloud Denial Comes to a Head, IT Will Shut Down Rogue
Cloud Usage
A recent Symform survey found that 65 percent of
companies "not in the cloud" still allow employees or teams to use
cloud services, while 35 percent allow employees to put company data
in cloud applications and on mobile devices. This lack of awareness,
coupled with the sheer volume of mobile and cloud data, will fuel a
renewed focus on protecting and securing that data. In 2013, Symform
anticipates IT will regain control by implementing stringent security
policies and access control rules for cloud services and
employee-liable mobile devices. In many cases, especially among SMBs,
third-party consultants or channel partners will be called in to
determine whether the proper security policies are in place and being
enforced. Symform expects this shake up to result in the decline of
popular unsanctioned cloud collaboration or file sharing services
that threaten a company's ability to maintain regulatory compliance
and adhere to their own internal security requirements.
4. Cloud Economics Will Shift with Low Cost No Longer the Main Value
Proposition
With pricing wars amid big players in the cloud storage
market, including Amazon and Google, a low-cost value proposition
alone will no longer be enough to gain market share. Customers are
looking beyond initial costs to consider the total cost of ownership
as well as other intrinsic values of cloud services. These additional
values include storage, a better leverage of existing infrastructure,
extension of on-premise devices to the cloud, pricing flexibility
based on SLAs, data recovery, access control rules, and other
capabilities or features. With the improved focus on data
classification, companies will look for cheaper alternatives to store
inactive or archival data, while being willing to pay premiums for
highly reliable, scalable and secure cloud storage for active data.
This trend will move beyond early adopters of cloud storage, such as
consumer-facing Web 2.0 and eCommerce companies, to the overall
business-to-business market.
5. Companies Will Demand More Stringent SLAs and Reliability from
Cloud Providers
In 2012, customers bore the brunt of outages from
cloud vendors including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apple iCloud,
GoDaddy, Rackspace, Google, Microsoft and Twitter. It wasn't cheap.
According to Ponemon Institute, the average cost of datacenter
downtime across all industries was approximately $5,600 per minute.
Similarly, the average reported incident length was 90 minutes,
resulting in a cost per incident of approximately $505,500. In 2013,
Symform believes more companies will adopt the adage of "fool me
once, shame on you -- fool me twice, shame on me" by demanding
greater assurances from cloud providers around SLAs and uptime. In an
effort to avoid escalating concerns and a potential head-on collision
with the government, cloud providers will step up assurances or face
the alternative of tighter regulations and increased taxation.
Companies will also get smarter about how they architect their
infrastructure as a service on cloud provider platforms, building in
greater failover and redundancy. As noted above, companies will be
willing to pay more for a higher SLA.
6. Companies Will Embrace Distributed Computing Models
Last year,
Symform correctly predicted the myth of the "green" datacenter for
cloud computing would be debunked. Indeed, the "greenwashing" of
infrastructure supporting cloud computing is ending with the move
toward more transparent reporting and the utilization of alternatives
such as co-location datacenters and distributed architectures. In
2012, both a comprehensive report released by Greenpeace and the New
York Times' article "Power, Pollution and the Internet" validated
that prediction. The Greenpeace report suggested that cloud computing
datacenters account for about two percent of the world's carbon
footprint, while the NYT article claimed datacenters worldwide use
about 30 billion watts of electricity, roughly equivalent to the
output of 30 nuclear power plants. In 2013, Symform expects that even
as large vendors such as Google and Amazon undoubtedly continue
rampant datacenter build outs, many businesses will look beyond
traditional computing approaches for alternative solutions and
architectures. Specifically, both vendors and companies will accept
distributed and decentralized approaches to data management, not only
for the green benefits, but for the improved utilization of existing
infrastructure, increased performance, and global resiliency.
About Symform
The Symform Cloud Storage Network is a better way to
store and backup all of your data. As the world's first distributed
and crowdsourced data backup solution, Symform enables users to pay
with bytes instead of bucks. Every business on the network
contributes excess local drive space to the grid in exchange for
secure, fast and reliable cloud data backup. Before data leaves the
source device, it is encrypted and shredded, redundancy added, and
then geo-distributed across the global network. With its proprietary
and patented technology, Symform is building the world's largest
virtual datacenter using existing Internet infrastructure. Go to
www.symform.com or email info@symform.com for more information.
Symform, Symform Global Cloud Storage Network, the Resilient Storage
Architecture, and RAID-96 are trademarks of Symform, Inc. References
to other companies and their products acknowledge the trademarks
owned by their respective companies and are for reference purposes
only.
Contact:
Lindsey Bradshaw
Barokas PR for Symform
206-264-8220
Email Contact
SOURCE: Symform
http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct id=CFA622F04BAD789A
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