30/09/2011

The worldwide public cloud services market will expand in value from £11.4 billion in 2011 to £42 billion by 2016, according to a study.

Research specialist Ovum revealed North America is expected to carry on dominating the market but its share is set to fall from 54.6 per cent to 50 per cent over the same period.

In Western Europe, the public cloud services market is predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.2 per cent to $17.2 billion (£11 billion) in 2016, a share of just over 25 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asia Pacific will experience a CAGR of 33.9 per cent, rising to $12.4 billion in five years, the analysis added.

'The global public cloud services market will explode over the next five years as uptake soars worldwide,' analyst Laurent Lachal stated.

'However, although the market size will see strong growth, the evolution of cloud computing within enterprises, and the IT trends that follow, will happen more slowly.'

Data from technology research specialist Gartner showed income from software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology should reach $12.1 billion this year, up more than a fifth on last year.