Public IT cloud services market could surpass $127 billion in 2018: report

Cloud growth will surpass the overall IT market by a factor of six, according to a new forecast from IDC Corp.

The research is forecasting public IT cloud services spending to reach US $56.6 billion in 2014 and surpass $127 billion in 2018. That would be a five-year compound annual growth rate of 22.8 per cent, good for six times the rate of growth for the overall IT market and, by 2018, would represent more than half of global software, server, and storage spending growth.

According to IDC, the explosive growth in public IT cloud services is being fueled by both vendors and buyers adopting a “cloud first” mentality when it comes to both developing and purchasing new solutions. With the market in an “innovation stage” IDC expects to see significant growth in new cloud-based solutions coming to market, many with a specific industry focus, spreading across the business and consumer markets and changing the way people work and live.

“Over the next four to five years, IDC expects the community of developers to triple and to create a ten-fold increase in the number of new cloud-based solutions,” said Frank Gens, senior vice-president and chief analyst at IDC, in a statement. “Many of these solutions will become more strategic than traditional IT has ever been. At the same time, there will be unprecedented competition and consolidation among the leading cloud providers. This combination of explosive innovation and intense competition will make the next several years a pivotal period for current and aspiring IT market leaders.”

 

Software as a service is expected to dominate the public IT cloud services market, with IDC forecasting it to account for 70 per cent of spending in 2014 with customer demand being driven at the application level. Next is infrastructure as a service, followed by platform as a service and cloud storage services.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Jeff Jedras
Jeff Jedras
A veteran technology and business journalist, Jeff Jedras began his career in technology journalism in the late 1990s, covering the booming (and later busting) Ottawa technology sector for Silicon Valley North and the Ottawa Business Journal, as well as everything from municipal politics to real estate. He later covered the technology scene in Vancouver before joining IT World Canada in Toronto in 2005, covering enterprise IT for ComputerWorld Canada. He would go on to cover the channel as an assistant editor with CDN. His writing has appeared in the Vancouver Sun, the Ottawa Citizen and a wide range of industry trade publications.

Related Tech News

Featured Tech Jobs

 

CDN in your inbox

CDN delivers a critical analysis of the competitive landscape detailing both the challenges and opportunities facing solution providers. CDN's email newsletter details the most important news and commentary from the channel.