London, June 27, 2012 — IDC expects the western European private cloud market to grow at a CAGR of 23.2% for the next five years to $ 7.9 billion in 2016, according to a new, industry-first study from International Data Corporation (IDC) looking in-depth at private cloud from hardware, software, services and networking points of view.

"The growth of private cloud is even more impressive in the context of the parlous economic situation," said Mette Ahorlu, research director, IDC European Services. "It's driven by the need for cost savings and efficiency and with a longer perspective of creating increased flexibility, and is across the board — from hardware, to software, to management, networking and services. Creating a private cloud has an impact on all aspects of IT infrastructure."

Further key findings include:

• Most enterprises are still in early phases of cloud adoption, typically testing out cloud and perhaps rolling out one or a few cloud services to the full range of relevant users, but not deploying cloud on a really large scale.

• There is growing interest in pre-packaged private clouds, pre-configured with servers, storage, network and management that speed up implementation and reduce need for services.

• The cloud computing approach is to become a critical part of the IT strategy for the majority of EMEA organizations in the next two to three years.

• While security, compliance and data location are barriers to public cloud they become drivers for the adoption of the private cloud.

• Partnering between technology companies and service companies is important to help create transparency in a complex market where clients think there are too many moving parts.

• Hosted private cloud is not nearly as popular as clouds on customers' premises, but hosted private cloud will grow even faster and revenue will exceed on-premises clouds by 2016

• While the market is serviced by traditional IT providers and outsourcing companies, telecom providers have also seen it as a great opportunity to expand their businesses: cloud is fundamentally a network-based offering, it commoditizes well and scales to a mass market customer base, and builds on the kind of support and billing relationships that telcos are used to.

Western European Dedicated Private Cloud. Hardware, Software, Networking and Services (IDC #SR03U, June 2012) provides an extensive and in-depth analysis of the Western European private cloud infrastructure market, looking at all components going into building private clouds by enterprises and service providers, offering private clouds as a service, and managing and accessing private clouds . It also presents user requirements, recommendations for end-users and vendors, market size, and forecast information for servers, storage hardware and software, networking equipment and IT services for 2011 to 2016.

About IDC

IDC is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries worldwide. For more than 44 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.

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