80% of responders already have some sort of cloud access; 81% of responders already have or are investigating or developing a cloud strategy.

(1)

Cloud Optimization Strategies

Summary Results August, 2012

(2)

Observations and Conclusions

Ø

80% of responders already have some sort of cloud access; 81% of responders already have or

are investigating or developing a cloud strategy.

Ø

Responders place the most value on scalability and flexibility.

Ø

45% of responders plan on public cloud use within 5 years.

Ø

Responders report plans to shift to cloud use for on-demand processing, storage, and

Ø

Responders report plans to shift to cloud use for on-demand processing, storage, and

applications.

Ø

Security is by far the number one concern regarding cloud use. Responders rated it on average,

a 4.35 on a scale of 1 - 5. With regards to the public cloud, security is also the key concern.

Ø

Responders use a wide variety of providers for cloud services.

Ø

Responders see disaster recovery and and business continuity as the key benefit to using the

public cloud.

(3)

Program Overview

Ø

Gatepoint Research invited selected executives to participate in a survey

themed Cloud Optimization Strategies.

Ø

Candidates were invited via email and 100 executives have participated to

date.

Ø

All responders are at Manager level or above; 38% are Director level or

above. 51% are executives working for organizations generating more than

$1.5 billion in annual revenue.

Ø

100% of responders participated voluntarily; none were engaged using

(4)

Does your organization currently have any

type of cloud access today?

Does your organization currently have any

type of cloud access today?

35%

37%

Private cloud

Public cloud

80% of responders already have some sort of cloud access.

7%

20%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Hybrid cloud

(Both public and

private cloud)

None

(5)

How do you view the importance of the following

to current or future use of cloud?

(Rate on a scale of 1 to 5: 1 = Lowest, 5 = Highest)

How do you view the importance of the following

to current or future use of cloud?

(Rate on a scale of 1 to 5: 1 = Lowest, 5 = Highest)

3.87

3.88

4.18

4.32 Reduce capital costs

Managing data growth

Business flexibility

Scalability

Responders place the most value on scalability and flexibility.

3.22

3.58

3.87

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

5.00 Reduce IT staffing

in impacted areas

Consolidation of

data center resources

(6)

Does your company have a formal cloud strategy?

Currently no

movement

in this direction

19%

Formal strategy

already in place

21%

Developing a

strategy

81% of responders already have or are investigating or

developing a cloud strategy.

Investigating

cloud options

17%

strategy

43%

(7)

What type of cloud access do you plan to use in 5 years?

29%

45%

Private cloud

Public cloud

45% of responders plan on public cloud use within 5 years.

4%

22%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

None

Hybrid cloud

(8)

Does your company use or plan to use over the next 2-5 years any

of the following services via the cloud?

Does your company use or plan to use over the next 2-5 years any

of the following services via the cloud?

35%

30%

28%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Plan to use

Responders report plans to shift to cloud use for on-demand

processing, storage, and applications.

36%

47%

55%

0%

10%

20%

30%

On-demand compute

/processing

Storage

Applications

Currently use

(9)

What are the barriers to using public cloud for your company?

(Rate on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 = Lowest, 5 = Highest)

What are the barriers to using public cloud for your company?

(Rate on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 = Lowest, 5 = Highest)

3.47

3.64

4.35 Migrating data to cloud

or between cloud providers

Interoperability

Uncertainty over service

provider longevity

Security

Security is by far the number one concern regarding cloud use.

3.10

3.21

3.39

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

5.00 Cost

Organizational

resistance to change

Performance

or between cloud providers

(10)

Which cloud service providers are you working

with or planning to work with soon?

Which cloud service providers are you working

with or planning to work with soon?

18%

19%

22%

25%

27%

Verizon/Terremark

Rackspace

Microsoft Azure

Amazon S3

Amazon EC2

Responders use a wide variety of providers for cloud services.

1%

2%

18%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Joyent

Nirvanix

Google

Verizon/Terremark

(11)

What do you view as the key benefits of

cloud storage using the public cloud?

What do you view as the key benefits of

cloud storage using the public cloud?

35%

44%

51%

63%

Virtualized storage resources via global namespace

Cost Savings - Capex (power, space management)

Centralizing data management and retention

Disaster recovery/business continuity

Responders see disaster recovery and and business continuity as the key benefit

to using the public cloud.

32%

33%

35%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Cost Savings - Opex (power, space management)

Elimination of remote storage server silos

Virtualized storage resources via global namespace

(12)

What concerns do you have about cloud

storage using the public cloud?

What concerns do you have about cloud

storage using the public cloud?

51%

60%

67%

85%

Performance bottlenecks as we scale up

Data retention and backup policies

Latency over WAN

Security

With regards to the public cloud, security is also the key concern.

27%

35%

51%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Remote management capabilities

Ability to optimize how/where data is stored

Performance bottlenecks as we scale up

(13)

Profile of Responders:

Organization Revenue

Profile of Responders:

Organization Revenue

<$250 million

$250-499

million

9%

$500 million

-$1.5 billion

12%

>$ 1.5 billion

51%

51% of responders are executives working for organizations with annual revenues

<$250 million

28%

(14)

Profile of Responders:

Job Level

Profile of Responders:

Job Level

Manager

62%

Director

21%

38% of responders work as Directors, VPs or CxOs.

VP

7%

CxO

(15)

Avere Systems provides NAS Optimization

solutions that allow deployment of private and public

cloud storage without degradation in performance,

administrative complexity, high costs, vendor

lock-in, or loss of data coherence.

in, or loss of data coherence.

(16)

About SimplyDIRECT

SimplyDIRECT helps you identify, engage and qualify prospects with

maximum precision through custom database building and

survey-based lead generation into your target accounts. We specialize in

account penetration by developing qualified warm opt-in leads from

Director, Vice President and C-level decision makers.

Gatepoint Research is the market research arm of SimplyDIRECT.