Western European Dedicated Private Cloud, 2011–2016: Hardware, Software, Networking, and Services

The European market for IT for private cloud is already a significant market worth $2.8 billion in 2011, and IDC forecasts it will grow to $7.9 billion in 2016, at a CAGR of 23.2%. This includes different growth patterns for servers, storage hardware and software, networking, system management, and services to build the cloud. This comprehensive study analyzes trends in each of the segments and their mutual influence.

"IT for the private cloud is very important for all kinds of vendors," said Mette Ahorlu, research director, European Services, IDC. "Clients will want to own clouds on their own premises but also buy hosted solutions. There is a major opportunity for vendors with a strong and clear message to clients and for those that can bring the right partners to the table. There is significant interest, but there is still a lot of uncertainty around cloud, and clients need help to make the right choices. We advise both users and vendors to think carefully about the approach to ensure they get the benefits but avoid the pitfalls that can be there as well."