On-site survey shows a majority of Interop attendees are exploring their cloud options, but many also admit the cloud represents management challenges.
Network Instruments’ on-site survey of more than 100 Interop attendees shows that interest and adoption of cloud computing is on the rise, but IT managers recognizes the technology brings challenges.
Attendees at Interop Las Vegas definitely have their head in the clouds this week as a majority of IT managers polled on the show floor reveal they have cloud services running on their network. But as excitement over the technology continues to grow, the potential pitfalls also need to be considered, according to Network Instruments.
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Network Instruments polled Interop attendees about challenges they see coming in the network management world as technologies such as cloud computing top the minds of corporate executives. Forty-one percent of 104 show goers polled in Las Vegas this week reported that they already have cloud computing services running on their network. Specifically, 41% have implemented software-as-a-service (SaaS) via Salesforce.com or Google Apps and 29% said they had deployed private clouds. About 20% of those surveyed said they use a form of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.
Among the cloud computing benefits cited by those polled were lower infrastructure costs (33%) and greater flexibility for IT departments to respond to business changes (30%). Three percent reported they saw no benefits to adopting cloud computing services.
Yet the survey also delved into the challenges various forms of cloud computing and SaaS offerings could represent. According to Network Instruments, 22% of those polled at Interop said they lacked the tools necessary to monitor and manage cloud activities. Fifteen percent indicated troubleshooting concerns that involved a lack of knowledge in managing cloud issues, and 12% worry about being unable to resolve delay caused by cloud service providers, the survey found.
Another area of concern among attendees was costs. According to Network Instruments, 27% of those polled feared Internet bandwidth costs would exceed their forecasted budget and 12% said they believed their company was too small to reap the rewards of cloud computing. Yet another 11% indicated no concerns or worries with rolling out cloud services.
“Many Interop attendees we are speaking with embrace cloud computing, but are migrating without fully realizing the visibility and management challenges this shift presents,” said Stephen Brown, product manager for Network Instruments, in a statement. “It was significant to note the number of organizations without adequate monitoring technologies and network resources in place. Cloud implementations can be fraught with challenges that consume troubleshooting time and bandwidth, jeopardizing the organization’s ability to realize cost savings promised by these services.”
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