IT demand for cloud services will generate $9.4B in new server sales

Spending on public and private clouds will generate $3.6 billion and $5.8 billion, respectively, in server spending by 2015, IDC forecasts. While there has been much written about public clouds, many IT organizations are setting up their own infrastructure to provide employees with access to their data anytime, anywhere and on anything.

No matter which cloud, many businesses today face huge security and privacy risks because of the volume of data taken outside on laptops, smartphones and other mobile devices. What's the point spending thousands, even millions of dollars, on network security, only to let crown jewels of information roam freely on mobile devices?

Cloud computing lets business pull back data to the server, while letting employees enjoy the benefits of accessing it from mobile devices anywhere.

"These evolutionary, and revolutionary, changes in IT deployment and business attitudes are having a profound impact on traditional IT environments" Katie Broderick, IDC senior research analyst, says in a statement. "Cloud computing can dramatically simplify administrating and managing many companies' datacenters and position IT as a service organization for the rest of the company".

Public clouds are generally being built around simpler server infrastructure, according to IDC. The analyst firm forecasts 1.2 million servers shipped in 2015, with compound annual growth rate of 21.1 percent.

By comparison, businesses are investing in more robust hardware for their private clouds, choosing advanced CPUs, lots of memory and optimizing for high bandwidth usage. While IDC forecasts just 570,000 private cloud servers shipped in 2015, they will generate substantially more revenue and CAGR of 22.4 percent.

"Off-loading some of the more mundane tasks to the cloud (public or private) and freeing up manpower to focus on adding value to the business is critical to driving cloud adoption," Broderick says. "But, up-front costs are real, and choosing the right vendor to manage or deploy an environment is equally important".