INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centres
Equinix study reveals further
shift to the cloud despite
security concerns
/////////////////////////////
An independent study by
Equinix of more than 1,200
senior IT professionals
across EMEA highlights
that 71% of organisations
are likely to move more
of their business functions
to the cloud despite
security concerns.
E
quinix, a leading global
interconnection and data centre
company, has announced the findings
of an independent survey of more than
1,200 senior IT professionals from across
Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Results show that more than seven in 10
(71%) of organisations are likely to move
more of their business functions to the cloud
in the coming years. A total of 60% of EMEA
IT leaders cite proximity to cloud service
providers (CSPs) as an integral factor when
choosing a data centre in their local market.
in the future – second only to cybersecurity
risks and breaches (53%). The results also
showed that companies across EMEA are
twice as likely to connect with CSPs than any
other product or service provider. choosing a data centre in the UAE. And
26.2% of IT professionals surveyed think
that cloud service providers are the business
that their organisation is most likely to
connect with in the future.
Comparatively, in the UAE, 59% of
respondents believe their organisation will
move more to the cloud, a lower rate than
for organisations across EMEA (71%). A
total of 76% also believe that cloud service
providers are an important factor when The study also finds that only 17% of
organisations across EMEA are currently
using multi-cloud architecture. This
compares to 56% who currently use
private cloud and 42% who use public
cloud. Organisations should be looking to
multiple CSPs when building out their digital
infrastructure strategy to remain competitive
and secure.
THE TREND
OF DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
IS REVOLUTIONISING
THE MENA MARKET.
Jeroen Schlosser, Managing Director,
Equinix MENA said: “The trend of Digital
Transformation is revolutionising the MENA
market, urging businesses to take innovative
approaches such as cloud adoption.
Despite more business moving to the cloud,
70% of these same respondents still perceive
there to be cybersecurity risks around cloud
adoption. Large public data breaches have
caused uncertainty among companies,
leading to 45% of respondents focusing on
improving their organisation’s cybersecurity
as their biggest IT priority.
Cloud and cybersecurity concerns together
are top considerations for IT executives
across the region. For nearly half (48%)
of those surveyed, the adoption of cloud-
based services represented one of the top
two factors that will impact their business
66
INTELLIGENTCIO
Equinix launched Equinix Cloud Exchange
Fabric (ECX Fabric) in 2017 to support
businesses that need access to multiple
CSPs. The service offers customers private
connections to global CSPs no matter
their location. Last year the company also
launched the Equinix SmartKey service, a
global key management and encryption
Software as a Service (SaaS) offering that
simplifies data protection across any cloud
or destination.
Jeroen Schlosser, Managing Director,
Equinix MENA
“One of the ways businesses can use the
cloud more securely is through direct,
dedicated interconnections between
network and cloud service providers and
users and data, bypassing the hacking and
performance risks of the public Internet. At
Equinix, we see multi-cloud convergence
hitting a tipping point and the cloud as a
major catalyst for changing how enterprises
will do business in the emerging global
digital economy.” n
www.intelligentcio.com