Commenting on research showing that the cloud computing market will reach almost $20 billion in the next three years, Zscaler says that that the fact that Platform-as-a-Service is expected to rise from its current level of 24% with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 41% over the next three years signals that IT professionals are increasing their level of understanding about the security challenges the cost-effective data storage and handling platform now offers.
The reality about cloud computing, says Kapil Raina, Director Product Marketing of Zscaler’s Direct-to-Cloud network for advanced security and uniform policy enforcement, is that these challenges have been met for some time, but that the message about how these issues can be solved – using a combination of governance strategy and security technologies – is only now starting to get through to the management professionals that matter.
“Whilst 451 Research’s analysis shows us that Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) accounted for more than half of the market revenue in 2012, it is clear that PaaS is now the key growth area, with IaaS tracking not far behind. We can confirm this trend, as our own Security Cloud now processes over 10 billion transactions a day with near-zero latency to secure more than 10 million users in 180 countries,” he said.
“The fact that we have more than 4,000 global enterprises already using Zscaler’s technology to securely enable their business for mobility, cloud and social media, simplify their IT operations, consolidate point security products highlights the clear advantages and cost benefits that cloud computing brings to almost any business,” he added.
The Zscaler executive went on to say that 451 Research analyst Yulitza Peraza’s comments that public cloud adoption continues to face a number of hurdles – including security concerns, transparency and trust issues – is quite understandable, but a Direct-to-Cloud Network, based on SAAS technology can securely enable the productivity benefits of cloud, mobile and social technologies without the cost and complexity of traditional on-premise appliances and software.
The long standing response to technical and security issues, he says, has always been `technology is the answer, now what was the question?’ but as the 451 Group’s research clearly shows, these questions are starting to become a lot easier to solve, as organisations better understand the challenges they face when migrating their systems to the cloud.
“Our observations suggest, says Raina, that one of the key advantages of a cloud platform – which this report may have overlooked – is the ability to enjoy a highly integrated secure Web, email, policy enforcement and bandwidth optimization platform, rather than having to manage various sets of unique infrastructures,” he said.
“This not only reduces the operational burden required to manage and maintain the systems, also allows the business to benefit from the synergies offered by a consolidated service. Enterprises should not be forced to deal with disparate reporting that fails to recognise attacks crossing from one protocol to another,” he added.
“Using a Direct-to-Cloud network approach allows managers to gain a complete view of the threat landscape and immediately take action based on actionable information to keep their organisation secure without having to mine data from multiple platforms.”
For more on Zscaler: http://www.zscaler.com
For more on the 451 Research report: http://prn.to/14yaPcr
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