PHL to see big leap in cloud computing in 2014, analyst says

The retail, banking, and logistics industries are expected to make the move to the cloud this year, according to DataOne Asia president and CEO Cyril Rocke.

 

With a broader market, Rocke anticipates remarkable developments in cloud services in the Philippines in 2014 with new global players emerging this year.

 

He also anticipates formation of partnerships between traditional hardware vendors and new cloud providers, adding new services and business applications will be created due to cloud adoption.

 

The emergence of new major cloud providers such as Google to compete with Amazon, Rackspace, and other players will push IT infrastructure to have a global standard.

 

“This is the major trend and I see this accelerating,” he says.

 

In the Philippines, cloud computing’s acceptance from enterprises is increasing faster than anticipated since last year. This 2014, Rocke said cloud computing will gain an even wider recognition.

 

“I’m not saying that all the companies will go for it, but we see from a lot of different industries the demand and acceptance for cloud,” he said, noting companies are seeing more benefits beyond cost and performance.

 

Retail, banking, and logistics to migrate to the cloud

 

Rocke said industries that perform large amount of transactions such as companies in retail, logistics, and banking will need to shift to the cloud.

 

“If you’re a logistics company, there’s a lot of movement of goods to be delivered quickly, frequently, and precisely. Due to the nature of this industry, network security and speed of computing infrastructure are key because you need to scale or increase your capacity quickly on demand,” he explained.

 

During peak or holiday seasons, Rocke said DataOne has clients requesting for an increase in capacity. “Being able to deliver that capacity very quickly shows our service is able to address the specific needs of those industries,” Rocke said.

 

According to him, the cloud made its impact in 2013. Last year saw a drop in sales in large hardware manufacturing as enterprises were slowly migrating to the cloud.

 

“At the same time, the large traditional hardware vendors like IBM, HP, Dell, and others are using various strategies to enter the cloud. We see convergences between them and new emerging cloud providers,” Rocke said.

 

Although he expects a higher demand for data center services and cloud infrastructures in 2014, Rocke clarifies that it doesn’t mean needing larger data centers because a lot more computing power can now be delivered through the cloud.

 

Wide range of new services and biz apps

 

The wide acceptance of cloud computing technology is a major leap for the industry. “It is becoming a standard and it opens new opportunities,” said Rocke.

 

For instance, the large amount of transaction data in the financial market over the past 10 years can now be provided as a service to conduct analytics.

 

“So you can analyze what happens in the financial market and try to anticipate what’s coming because all the platforms are getting standardized,” he said.

 

He emphasizes that new services are being offered these days which we could never have imagined two or three years ago. “Now, you can have access to your data at a very low cost with limited entry barriers,” said Rocke.

 

The official said the adoption of cloud will open a host of new services in many other unexpected areas.

 

“What we see is that a lot of other aspects of life can be automated from the Internet like having an IP address for equipment to be able to locate them, anticipate their condition, and do preventive maintenance. This is probably something that will create more businesses to the industry, as I see it, in the short term,” he said. — Newsbytes.ph