CompTIA: US resellers embracing cloud

Research finds cloud-based products and services now the main revenue generator for 46 per cent of US channel

Almost half of US channel firms now derive 50 per cent or more of their sales from cloud computing, a CompTIA survey has suggested.

The trade association said the research, which saw 400 US IT firms quizzed in June, "clearly underscores" the momentum that cloud computing is enjoying in the channel.

Some 46 per cent of those questioned said they had derived more than half of their sales over the previous 12 months from cloud-related products and services. Some 85 per cent of these firms said they expected cloud sales to grow in the next 12 months.

Cloud-based email, storage, backup and recovery and business productivity applications were among the big money spinners.

Nearly half of those who took part in the survey said they would increase their investment in cloud by 10 to 15 per cent in the next 12 months, compared with less than a third of respondents in the same survey last year.

Six in 10 channel firms cited security concerns as the main block to a cloud sale, although CompTIA said this was to be expected given the technology's relative youth.

Carolyn April, director of industry analysis at CompTIA, said: "In all likelihood, the security concerns are a function of cloud's relative immaturity, and that as adoption increases and more demonstrable examples of cloud implementations come to bear, the apprehension over security issues will lessen."