Hybrid Cloud Push 'Largely Economic,' Study Shows

Expect hybrid cloud adoption to triple over the next three years, according to Canadian Internet hosting services providerPeer 1 HostingNew independent research from Peer 1 Hosting revealed declining use of on-premise and private cloud hosting environments among more than 900 IT decision-makers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.Use of on-premise hosting is expected to fall from 31 percent to 17 percent in the next three years, Peer 1 Hosting said, while private cloud hosting could decline from 52 percent to 41 percent during that time frame.In addition, 10 percent of IT decision-makers said they primarily use hybrid cloud, and 28 percent noted that they plan to use hybrid cloud in the next three yearsPeer 1 Hosting also found that the drivers behind the shift toward hybrid cloud appear to be largely economic.When IT decision-makers were asked to name the top IT priorities within their organizations, cutting IT costs (49 percent) and improving processes and operational efficiencies (45 percent) were the two most commonly cited issues. And when asked what the challenges in achieving these priorities were, security (53 percent) and data protection (46 percent) were the most frequent responses, according to Peer 1 Hosting."Hybrid cloud adoption appears to be held back by concerns largely related to security and data protection," Toby Owen, Peer 1 Hosting's vice president of product, said in aprepared statement. "Clearly these are areas where businesses cannot compromisA March 2015 Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) member survey showed that security remains paramount for global organizations interested in cloud computing as well.The ODCA survey revealed that security was the top cloud adoption concern among global organizations. It also showed that more than 80 percent of respondents said they are using or plan to use hybrid cloud solutions at some point in the future.So how can businesses overcome hybrid cloud security issues? Owen pointed out that there is a "perceived lack of control" with hybrid cloud adoption, but cloud services providers (CSPs) that deliver "truly scalable, flexible and controllable hybrid cloud solutions" can help companies adopt hybrid cloud quickly and efficiently.What are your thoughts on the new Peer 1 Hosting research? Share your thoughts about this story in the Comments section below, via Twitter @cloudsupport2 or email me at cloudupp298@gmail.com