“I think that system integrators can become service providers and compete with current cloud platforms. While the demand for high service level agreements from the customers of service providers, will make the providers more like system integrators.”
Zwet believes that part of this change will be supported by enterprises adopting hybrid cloud solutions, in which they take several services from the public cloud, whilst also maintaining their own systems to support primary processes in the private cloud.
“This hybrid combination will be managed by the system integrators, which many of the enterprises in Europe outsource their IT projects to, and it will allow integrators to offer hybrid clouds in the near future.”
He also predicts a tightening relationship between carrier neutral data centres and carriers as they seek to grow their cloud platforms:
“Most of the carriers are still fairly domestic orientated so for them to grow their cloud platform to reach the necessary scale they will always need data centres, like Interxion, where there are connectivity options for them to reach their end users in a wider area.”
Interxion’s cloud survey 2011 says that 76% of companies in Europe are using, or are planning to use, cloud computing in the next two years.
For more information about the cloud space read Capacity’s cover feature here.
