Public cloud the only tech category to see spending growth this year, analyst says

Gartner claims public cloud debate has been settled during pandemic as companies move to remote working

Gartner says public cloud spending will grow in 2020, claiming that the coronavirus pandemic has put to bed any debate about the future of the technology.

The market watcher believes public cloud sales will grow by 6.3 per cent in 2020 to $257.9bn.

Desktop as-a-service is expected to be the fastest growing segment in public cloud, with Gartner forecasting an increase of 95.4 per cent to $1.2bn.

Software as-a-service (SaaS) will however remain the largest segment, with revenues forecast to grow to 104.7bn in 2020, an increase of 2.6 per cent on the previous year.

Platform as-a-service (PaaS) is set to grow by 16 per cent this year to $43.5bn, while infrastructure as-a-service (IaaS) will also see high revenue growth, with Gartner expecting a 13.4 per cent jump to $50.39bn.

Gartner says that the COVID-19 pandemic has not deterred public cloud growth this year, claiming that the market has performed exactly as expected despite "a few initial hiccups".

Public cloud remains the only area of IT spending that is expected to grow this year, according to Gartner.

It claims that public cloud offers CIOs the advantages during COVID-19 - of fewer cash up-front transactions and the ability to scale up the technology quickly.

Research VP at Gartner, Sid Nag, claims that COVID-19 has put any debate to rest about the future of public cloud technology.

"Any debate around the utility of public cloud has been put aside since the onset of COVID-19. For the remainder of 2020, organisations that expand remote work functionality will prioritise collaboration software, mobile device management, distance learning educational solutions and security, as well as the infrastructure to scale to support increased capacity."