Cloud gains momentum but still not delivering on the
hype
SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland, 14 February 2012 -According to
new research from Acronis, small and medium sized businesses (SMBs)
around the world are planning to adopt server virtualisation in
2012 at a faster pace than large enterprises. However, the survey
also identified widespread backup and disaster recovery
shortcomings for virtual servers amongst SMBs. Meanwhile, previous
enthusiasm for cloud infrastructure has, at least so far, failed to
turn into reality.
IT managers at 6,000 SMBs in 18 countries were surveyed for the
Acronis Global Disaster Recovery Index 2012. They predict that 29%
of their servers will be virtualised by the end of the year, a
growth rate of 21%. This is 50% higher than the pace identified in
a recent Gartner report that predicted virtualisation adoption by
enterprises is to increase by 14% over the same
period.[1]
In the UK, virtualisation adoption is predicted to increase by
63%, with virtual machines accounting for almost a third (31%) of
SMB servers by the end of 2012. A mere 13% of organisations in the
UK still have no virtual servers in their current IT
infrastructure.
Virtual Data at Risk
According to the Acronis survey, UK SMBs cite increased
efficiency, flexibility and speed of deployment as the main drivers
for server virtualisation. However, despite the planned adoption of
Virtual Machines (VMs), the survey identified widespread backup and
disaster recovery shortcomings, including:
- Over half (60%) of UK organisations admit that they don't back up their VMs as often as their physical ones, making them the worst culprits globally;
- Over half (67%) of UK SMBs back up their VMs infrequently, typically weekly or monthly;
- Just 37% back up their VMs on a daily or weekly basis.
Although VMs seem to get short thrift in the backup and DR
department, survey respondents claim that the monetary value of
data hosted on virtual servers is almost identical to that hosted
on physical servers.
Commenting on the findings, David Blackman, general manager,
Northern Europe and MEA at Acronis said: "Virtualisation has become
more affordable and relatively easy for SMBs - the high growth rate
of adoption should not be a surprise. However, as protecting data
is one of the most fundamental requirements for any business today,
it's particularly disappointing that VMs get such poor treatment.
Some businesses are potentially playing Russian roulette with their
virtual backups and, if their luck runs out, will face very real
and potentially very messy consequences."
A cloudy future?
When asked about cloud adoption, the vast majority of UK
organisations (85%) surveyed have some form of cloud-based IT
infrastructure. As a specific category, cloud now represents a
sizeable 20% of all IT infrastructure. However, only 20% of UK
businesses are using the cloud today, despite in last year's survey
50% predicting that usage would increase during 2011. SMBs cited
several reasons for their less-than-expected cloud usage, including
concerns about recovery of data in the event of a disaster,
non-compliance with data protection, bandwidth bottlenecks and
workload and complexity.
2012 cloud usage predictions seem far more grounded with just
over one in four (29%) anticipating that more than 50% of their IT
infrastructure will be cloud-based in 2012. UK SMBs say that cloud
adoption this year will be driven by three factors: lower IT
operating costs, fewer personnel and management resources and
improved reliability of backups. Other cloud findings include:
- Using the cloud for offsite backup is becoming a popular choice with almost a fifth (17%) using it for this purpose;
- Half (50%) of UK organisations still rely on the traditional approach of physically taking backup tapes or disk offsite each day;
- Over a third (35%) of UK companies still don't have an offsite backup strategy in place at all.
Notes to the editor:
The survey was conducted by the Ponemon Institute across 18
countries in September and October 2011. Over 6,000 IT
practitioners were surveyed in small- to mid-market organisations
with no more than 1,000 seats. Details of how the index was
calculated and where each country appears can be found here:
- Full research report
- Compare yourself application
[1] Gartner's Virtualisation Research: Virtual
Machines Will Slow in the Enterprise, Grow in the Cloud, Thomas
J. Bittman and Lydia Leong, 4 March 2011, RA1010182011
About Acronis:
Acronis is a leader in AI-native cyber protection, unifying data protection, cybersecurity, IT operations and hybrid infrastructure to deliver business continuity, security and compliance with less cost and complexity. More than 21,000 service providers trust Acronis to protect over 750,000 businesses in 150 countries. Acronis is headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. For more information, visit www.acronis.com.