Cloud computing just a "fad"

Survey finds cloud enablement is not normally the main driver of datacentre change

Datacentre change: CIOs favour cost savings over cloud enablement

Cloud enablement is the least compelling reason for chief information officers (CIOs) to make changes to their datacentres, research claims.

According to a survey conducted by Vanson Bourne, 52 per cent of the 200 CIOs polled said they intended to make changes to their existing data centre environments.

The survey, commissioned by datacentre management vendor Nlyte Software, revealed that just 18 per cent of those wanting to make changes planned to do so to enable cloud.

Jon Temple, chief executive at nlyte Software, said the lowly ranking was a reflection of cloud technology’s immaturity.

“At the moment, it [cloud] is a fad, not a trend,” said Temple. “A lot of people are talking about it, but not a lot of people are implementing initiatives based on it.”

Robert Neave, vice president of sustainable IT initiatives for Nlyte Software, added that the reluctance of firms to embrace cloud technology could harm them in the long run.

He said: “If organisations do not have their datacentres in order and have no way of effectively managing change, they will not only face competitive disadvantages.”

Additionally, the most common driving force behind making datacentre changes was to obtain operational savings – with 69 per cent citing it as a reason.

Simon Brickett, head of data centre managed services at Nlyte partner Computacenter, said the results highlight the effect the economy has had on end-user priorities.

He said: “The fluctuations in energy pricing and the advent of virtualisation means that people have started to understand more about how much it costs to run applications.”