Canalys announced that the private cloud infrastructure
and services market offers the world’s channel partners a $36 billion revenue
opportunity in 2011. This segment accounts for the vast majority of the total
$40 billion cloud computing opportunity.
Cisco, EMC and Juniper Networks, along with emerging
technology vendor Crucial, will join other major IT brands and hundreds of
channel partners at the Canalys Channels Forum to discuss the business of the
cloud and its impact on technology spending in Europe, the Middle East and
Africa.
While channel partners have a strong advantage on the
private cloud front, the public cloud segment, currently estimated to account
for $85 billion of revenue worldwide this year, dominates the overall cloud
computing market.
With consumers driving public cloud expansion via
companies such as Google, Microsoft, Baidu, Facebook, Yahoo! and YouTube, less
opportunity exists for channel partners.
Private cloud initiatives provide the obvious choice for
channel partners looking to grow new business. The IT partner community is as
relevant as ever, thanks to its close customer relationships. Proximity, along
with a history of product sales, gives channel partners a strong position from
which to support internal cloud roll-outs,” said Alastair Edwards, principal
analyst, Canalys.
The Canalys Channels Forum
will take place from 3-5 October in Barcelona. The event’s theme, ‘From cloud
to clarity,’ focuses on the risks and rewards of cloud computing for the
channel community. AMD, HP, IBM, Brocade, Cisco and many other technology
vendors will present their views on cloud computing within the context of
today’s economy.
With a track record that includes service outages,
security concerns and regulatory question marks, cloud computing has yet to
become pervasive on the enterprise side. Its adoption is certain to accelerate
rapidly over the next few years though, as technologies improve and comfort
levels increase. Channel partners capable of quickly developing the necessary
skills and product offerings to match this transition will capture an early
competitive advantage,” Edwards added.
To help partners navigate the cloud computing landscape,
the Canalys Channels Forum offers keynotes from industry leaders, regional
break-outs and best-practice workshops. Channel partners also have the opportunity
to meet privately with senior vendor executives.
Over 2,000 one-to-one meetings are expected to take place
at this year’s event, in addition to group networking opportunities at the Gala
Dinner and the Forum’s many interactive sessions.
By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]
