INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cloud
“I THINK THERE’S A TRANSITION
POINT NOW IN THE MIDDLE
EAST SPECIFICALLY, WHERE
IT’S ACTUALLY GOING TO START
BECOMING A REALITY, FOR THE
BIG GUYS – THE MINISTRIES, THE
BANKS – PUSHING IT OUT BECAUSE
OF THE CONSTRAINTS WE’RE
SEEING FROM THE OIL PRICE.”
operators, who candidly say this. Even last year,
the theme at Gitex was cloud – it was a bit of
marketing, a buzzword that’s been kicking around
for a few years.
“I think there’s a transition point now in the Middle
East specifically, where it’s actually going to start
becoming a reality, for the big guys – the ministries,
the banks – pushing it out because of the constraints
we’re seeing from the oil price,” he added.
Pickering believes the shift presents a “very
interesting opportunity” for telecoms operators in
the region, but until now the opportunity has not
been translated into real growth.
“A lot of the biggest operators in the region have
been discussing and announcing cloud-type
services, though I don’t think they’ve had real
traction to date. And then there’s the independent
operators, the standalone organisations across the
region – we had the CEO of one of them here this
morning, and they’re experiencing exactly what
we’re seeing,” he said.
“I think there’s been a degree of resistance in
this part of the world to entrust a third-party
with operation of the network – particularly if the
network is mission-critical to the success of the
organisation. I think that’s changed to an extent
– but what’s happening right now, the level of
exploration of alternative solutions to building your
own in this MENA region, I haven’t seen it at all in
my time over here,” added Pickering.
(For the full article, please visit
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At a glance…
Worldwide public cloud
services market to reach
$204 billion in 2016
The worldwide
public cloud
services market
is projected to
grow 16.5% in
2016 to total
$204 billion,
up from $175
billion in 2015,
according to
Gartner, Inc.
The highest
growth will come from cloud system infrastructure
services (infrastructure as a service [IaaS]), which is
projected to grow 38.4% in 2016. Cloud advertising, the
largest segment of the global cloud services market, is
expected to grow 13.6% in 2016 to reach $90.3 billion.
“The market for public cloud services is continuing to
demonstrate high rates of growth across all markets and
Gartner expects this to continue through 2017,” said Sid
Nag, Research Director at Gartner. “This strong growth
continues reflect a shift away from legacy IT services
to cloud-based services, due to increased trend of
organisations pursuing a digital business strategy.”
Cloud application services (SaaS) is forecast to grow
20.3% in 2016, to $37.7 billion. As software vendors
shift their business models from on-premises licensed
software to public cloud-based offerings, this trend will
continue. In addition, the entry of some major software
vendors into the public cloud last year will fuel growth of
the SaaS market moving forward.
The full forecast and additional analysis is available
in the Gartner reports “Forecast: Public Cloud Services,
Worldwide, 2013-2019, 4Q15 Update” and “Forecast
Analysis: Public Cloud Services, Worldwide, 4Q15
Update.”
INTELLIGENTCIO
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