According to Gartner Research, cloud computing is defined as a style of computing where scalable and elastic IT-related capabilities are provided as a service to customers using Internet technologies. The worldwide market for cloud services was worth $58.6 billion in 2009 and will be worth $148.8 billion in by 2014.
In a media roundtable yesterday, Microsoft revealed that enterprises are beginning to adopt cloud services and that the IT industry is already transitioning to the cloud.
“œCloud computing has the potential to accelerate the country’s transition to an innovation-based economy with sustainable job growth, and higher wages and standards of living, as well as enable both public and private sectors to become globally competitive,” said Tovia Va’aelua, Business Group Lead for Server and Tools, Microsoft Philippines.
Va’aelua said that there are over 40 million paying users of Microsoft Online Services around the world. With more than 70-percent of Microsoft developers working on cloud-enabling initiatives, the company is focused on evolving its existing products and creating new cloud-based services, taking the needs of the local market into consideration.
A local Supply Chain Solutions provider, Integrated Solutions Technology (IST), is looking at cloud computing to provide their clients a more economic way to host their Supply Chain Solutions and to provide them a more convenient and flexible way to access their Supply Chain Solutions.
“œThe Microsoft Azure Platform offers us no capital expenditure, faster product development and deployment, and online visibility and availability. We are very confident with Microsoft’s global presence because our clients around the world could access our application anytime and anywhere,” said Jie Liu, Business Development Manager, Integrated Solutions Technology.
Microsoft is calling on its partners to join the transition. “œWe are moving more of our products to the cloud and this creates an opportunity for partners as businesses want their solutions delivered through the cloud,” said Va’aelua. “œWe are committed to helping our partners adapt and find the right cloud opportunities.”