Gartner Announces SaaS Revenue and Adoption Worldwide

Mid-September Gartner announced the various revenue and adoption statistics for regions and countries worldwide, as well as the projected reasoning for increased percentages. 

"Worldwide software as a service (SaaS) revenue is on pace to reach $12.1 billion in 2011, a 20.7 percent increase from 2010 of $10 billion," according to Gartner, Inc., and the global SaaS market is forecast to reach $21.3billion by 2015. 

SaaS, or third-party cloud hosting, is a concept that is being embraced by firms of all sizes. Large corporations embraced the concept of cloud computing fairly quickly when it came into view, with small corporations following hesitantly behind. 

"SaaS adoption is more prominent in the more mature markets in Asia/Pacific, such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea, because of their established infrastructure, such as more-stable networks, as well as the availability of vendor sales, marketing and support service structures," said Sharon Mertz, research director at Gartner. Mertz claims that the ease and speed of deployment are the number one reason that North America has adopted SaaS, as well as the lower total cost of ownership provided by third-party cloud hosting.

"SaaS penetration and adoption is occurring mostly in Northern Europe, which is composed of the U.K., Ireland, the Netherlands and Nordic countries," Ms. Mertz said. "This is due to a culturally open outlook toward technology adoption, well-established and generally good Internet infrastructure within these countries, and English being the primary business language." Global adoption and implementation of third-party cloud hosting services is growing dependent upon the ability for adaptation and current IT structure within the country or region. 

According to Gartner, the organization holds annual symposiums across the globe to "[deliver] independent and objective content with the authority and weight of the world's leading IT research and advisory organization, and [provide] access to the latest solutions from key technology providers. Gartner's annual Symposium/ITxpo events are key components of attendees' annual planning efforts. IT executives rely on Gartner Symposium/ITxpo to gain insight into how their organizations can use IT to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency." 

Upcoming dates and locations for Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2011 include:

October 3-5, Tokyo, Japan: www.gartner.com/jp/symposium
October 16-20, Orlando, Florida: www.gartner.com/us/symposium
October 25-27, Sao Paulo, Brazil: www.gartner.com/br/symposium
November 7-10, Barcelona, Spain:www.gartner.com/eu/symposium
November 14-17, Gold Coast, Australia:www.gartner.com/au/symposium
November 21-23, Mumbai, India: www.gartner.com/in/symposium

Small Australian Businesses Adopting Cloud Computing

Cloud computing was first embraced by large businesses and corporations that saw the value in relocating and streamlining their IT infrastructures. While big businesses switched almost immediately, seeing the added value of moving IT functions to remote locations to reduce the cost of IT management  onsite, small businesses were hesitant to make the move.  Over time, small businesses have cobbled on to the money-saving cloud hosting industry that also provides improved flexibility, increased security and fewer risks.

Third-party service providers facilitate and take over the responsibility for the IT systems for the businesses. Third-party service providers handle various aspects of IT management such as managing computer servers, performing software updates, and backing-up data and software. The business basically rents spatial capacity and accesses their information from a remote location via the Internet. This reduces the overall cost for businesses because there is no need to have a full-time or part-time employee that handles IT management.

The number of cloud hosting and cloud service providers has grown rapidly over the last few years, in size and in the range of services offered. Now, instead of simply moving your general IT functions to a cloud provider, you can also access a range of cloud-based software including accounting systems, sales management systems and office productivity software. In Australia, this is especially verifiable.

According to a report by The Australian, as posted in The Wall Street Journal's Business section, small businesses in Australia have adopted cloud computing and cloud hosting services to help make their businesses more effective and cost-efficient.

"The greatest thing about the cloud is that enables you to scale and grow easily," said the Managing Director of Rookie Recruits, Andy Springer. "We needed IT systems that could grow with the business but did not require the IT budget of a large corporate to put in place."

Cloud computing and cloud hosting provides the opportunity for small businesses to save money and man power by moving IT management to third-party service providers. While this industry is growing at a rapid pace, studies predict we are barely tipped the iceberg of the impact that cloud hosting will have on IT management and businesses worldwide. 

Why Should Your Data be Stored in the Clouds?

Undoubtedly, you've heard of cloud servers by now, but maybe you're still wondering what all the fuss is about and why your company should be jumping on the bandwagon.  While we know the technology is only going to become more ubiquitous in the years to come, we understand your concerns.  That's why we're going to go over some of the top reasons why it makes sense to put your data into the clouds.

Unparalleled Scalability

Are you tired of worrying about peak periods forcing you to facilitate new services?  The underutilization of equipment and misappropriation of hardware won't be concerns any longer once as our cloud hosting allows for data to be more appropriately stored and shared.

Speedier Dispersal

Going up into the clouds means a dramatic drop-off in the amount of time required to deliver new applications.  This is accomplished through the elimination of monotonous software downloads, installations and new hardware servers.  With all of that out of the way, it's no wonder cloud clients save time.

Improved Disaster Recovery

The unfortunate reality is that there is a plethora of reasons for server or hardware failures to occur.  The American Red Cross estimates that 40% of businesses fail following a natural or manmade disaster.  Don't be part of that statistic.  The disaster recovery services afforded to you by signing on for our cloud services provide redundant versions of your data that can be pulled back online in moments.  This all happens automatically, but you can alternatively choose to have a portion of your data restored should the situation call for it.

So now you know what you're missing.  Oh, and did we mention that your operating costs will also be slashed as a result of you no longer needing expensive hardware or a large IT staff?

Storage Developer Conference 2011

Once a year our industry gathers together for the Storage Developer Conference (SDC) to discuss all of the exciting things happening in the biz.  Several hundred server hosting and cloud server experts are expected to be in attendance in this year.  We bring it up now because SDC is now right around the corner on September 19-22.  It will all take place in Santa Clara, California.

The industry's best and brightest will be on hand talking shop in regards to best practices.  Knowledge will also be swapped on the topics of storage management, solid state storage, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), green technologies, file systems, hardware advances, cloud storage, data deduplication, storage system testing and CIFS/SMB/SMB2.

SDC is organized by the global not-for-profit Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and will also feature breakout sessions featuring some of the latest technologies in the type of cloud storage that Server Intellect specializes in as well as other relevant storage technologies. 

New this year is a Cloud technology plug-fest which will permit various vendors to test, identify, and fix bugs in a collaborative setting that is designed to be a forum in which firms can cultivate interoperable products.  We're thinking it will provide those of us in the industry a great chance to come together and push storage tech to the next level, which will be of great benefit to managed service clients.

Disaster Recovery Solutions with Server Intellect

Any and all technological devices can fail at a moment's notice, so it is highly important to make sure your data is backed up with disaster recovery solution software from Server Intellect. While your computers might be fully functioning one day and are fully-up-to-date, even the best computers can malfunction or fall victim to power surges, deletions and other forms of data loss. Power surges and unintentional deletions can lead to severe data loss that might not be recoverable. While minor losses can be recovered with a few simple steps, not all data loss can be recovered. To prevent the potential loss of data, invest in disaster recovery solutions from Server Intellect. 

Disaster recovery solutions might sound like they are only needed in the event of a disaster such as a fire, hurricane or tornado, but that is not the case. Disaster recovery solutions, while beneficial in the previously mentioned situations, are necessary to restore or recover data that could be lost in a power outage or through simple miscalculations. Our disaster recovery solutions offer complete backup and recovery for your servers and databases from a remote location; plus, our disaster recovery solution backs up your complete server at the hard-drive block level. Even files that have just been saved or are open are backed up through our revolutionary software that works seamlessly in the background of your everyday functions. You will hardly know it is there. 

If your database needs to be recovered, you can log-in to our web-interface. Our remote web-interface allows you to restore and recover lost data with a few simple clicks from any location. Choose to protect your company's data today and experience the difference that disaster recovery solutions can make for your company. Preparing for the worst situation with disaster recovery solutions will protect your company from data loss in the event of an emergency, disaster or unforeseeable situation.