Survey shows cloud computing will be the main it platform in 2014

According to foreign media reports, a survey shows that most CIOs in Europe believe that by 2014, Cloud computing will provide their main IT operations channels.　　While only 16% per cent of companies say they have deployed the entire enterprise cloud to date, 60% said that by 2014, cloud computing would be their most important it operation.　　A study commissioned by colt, a communications provider, surveyed 500 CIOs in Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, with 100 CIOs in the UK. The survey found that 58% of respondents said the ease of transition was a key challenge for cloud applications, while 55% per cent said quality assurance and reasonable costs were key challenges for cloud applications.　　54% of respondents said safety regulations and customer data control were also key challenges for cloud applications. Colt, executive vice president of the Office of Chief Information officer Mark Leonard, said that while full deployment of cloud services was difficult to build, the trend was clear.　　Driven by the need for greater flexibility and responsiveness to the current economic climate, companies are evaluating and applying cloud services at a faster year-on-year rate of growth. Security is a particularly important issue for British and German businesses.　　74% of British companies and 70% of German business executives say they are worried about the security of cloud computing. The survey showed that 46% of respondents were concerned about the lock-in of suppliers. 31% of respondents were concerned about the location of cloud providers. Private clouds in Spain (58%), Germany (57%) and the United Kingdom (56%) are popular options. Private clouds are thought to eliminate security concerns, but private clouds are less scalable and costly to operate.