New InformationWeek Reports Research Finds 64% of IT Pros Juggling 2 to 5 Cloud Providers

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- InformationWeek Reports (http://reports.informationweek.com), a service provider for peer-based IT research and analysis, announced the release of its latest research report.  2012 State of Cloud Computing encompasses analysis of results from InformationWeek's annual survey on cloud computing and guides readers in selecting, integrating and monitoring the services their employees depend on. More than 500 business technology professionals, all from companies with 50 or more employees, responded to this poll.

Research Summary:

Just 27% of respondents say they have no interest in cloud services compared with 32% in our 2011 survey. However, fully 47% of adopters are custom coding direct to internal systems using individual cloud vendors' APIs, a recipe for downtime and out-of-control complexity.

Findings: 

• 71% of our survey respondents using cloud computing services review vendors' general SLAs, then negotiate terms.
• 51% cite security defects in the provider's technology itself as a top concern, when thinking about risks related to using cloud services.
• 27% rate the general performance of their cloud-based applications better than same apps hosted in-house vs. 19% saying performance was sub-par.
• 14% have had to replace or fire a cloud provider.

The report author, Mike Healey, serves as president of Yeoman Technology Group, an engineering and research firm.

For full access to the research data, members can download now: http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/5/8658/Cloud-Computing/research-2012-state-of-cloud-computing.html?cid=rpt_press_rls

"It's pretty clear that the norm for most companies will be a hybrid cloud, with a mix of external providers and sensitive or critical applications kept in-house," says Lorna Garey, content director of InformationWeek Reports. "But service providers are making strides in terms of security and performance. IT teams that don't at least evaluate are doing their companies a disservice."

For more information:
Art Wittmann    
VP & Managing Director, InformationWeek Reports
415-947-6361
awittmann@techweb.com

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