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A Look at Cloud Storage in 2014

Rene Oldenbeuving

General Manager of Cloud Business

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The Market• Cloud market exploded in

2013 ‒ More companies buying into

the idea that storing large amounts of data in the cloud will save time and money

‒ Also mitigates the increasing difficulty of managing large volumes of data on local servers

• No signs of slowing down‒ IDC predicts the cloud will drive

$100 billion worth of spending in 2014, up 25% over 2013

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Winners and Losers• Smaller cloud providers like

Nirvanix struggled to keep up • Why?

‒ Cloud storage has become increasingly commoditized

‒ Large providers like Amazon Web Services and Windows Azure dominate the market.

• In 2014, look for smaller providers to make efforts to differentiate their cloud storage offering.

• How?‒ Focusing on personalization,

localization, and providing customers with more than just a pure-play “cloud storage” option

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Here are four examples of how cloud providers will differentiate their offerings against cloud giants like Amazon or Microsoft:

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#1 Backup-as-a-Service

• We’ll see more cloud service providers focusing on offering “backup-as-a-service.”

• Expect to hear vendors refer to their offerings as “hosted” or “managed” services, as we move into this new era in the market.

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#1 Backup-as-a-Service (cont.)

• With an expanded portfolio of offerings, service providers will be able to compete against global companies like Amazon by offering storage that:‒ Is more customized‒ Offers flexible options‒ Suits the unique needs of an

individual business

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#2 A Focus on Local

• Smaller service providers will focus on local, in-country storage options.

• These local service options will become an increasingly important differentiator for customers who worry about the security of their data in the hands of foreign governments -- in the wake of high-profile security breaches like PRISM.

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#2 A Focus on Local (cont.)

• Service providers will place more emphasis on the strength of their security and compliance measures, highlighting their expertise in managing specific country and/or industry specific regulations, to stand-out and compete against global players like Google or Amazon.

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#3 The Definition of “Cloud”• Over the past few years, “cloud” has been used as a

blanket term to describe various activities within ITaaS, virtualization, mobile access — ultimately rendering the word meaningless. ‒ Confronting this blurred image and confusion about the cloud, we’ll

see vendors move away from focusing on the word “cloud” only and begin to define their individual tools and services with more specific terms in order to highlight how and why their offering is competitive in this increasingly crowded market.

‒ Increasing customer concerns about security in the cloud will also contribute to the evolving way we define the cloud, and how exactly it operates.

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#4 The New Role of IT

As cloud services evolve and change, we’ll see providers introduce increasingly user-friendly cloud storage services.

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#4 The New Role of IT (cont.)

• New technologies will empower end users to self-manage their IT needs in easier ways than ever before – allowing IT departments to fundamentally change their role within a company.

• While IT departments today often serve as a “help desk,” their role will soon evolve into that of specialized technology service buyers, evaluating what exactly a company needs, and how and where they should get it.

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Conclusion

As momentum continues to grow in the cloud storage market, we’ll see smaller providers introduce new innovations and services to

differentiate themselves against large, global providers in 2014.

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