Cloud services provider Skytap announced that its customers have used its Skytap Cloud service to launch more than 1 million virtual machines.
In
what may be a definitive sign that cloud services are here to stay, cloud services
provider Skytap has announced that its customers have provisioned more than 1 million
virtual machines on Skytap Cloud, the company's hosted infrastructure offering.
Skytap's
primary offering, which the company classifies as a hybrid cloud, is designed
to provide end users with the ability to quickly create cloud-based virtual
environments using self-service tools and automated procedures. The virtual
environments can be configured to provide applications, networking,
collaboration capabilities and other capabilities to allow businesses of any
size to create ad hoc desktop and network services with little or no support
from IT staffers.
In
a conference call, Brett Goodwin, vice president of marketing and business
development at Skytap, said, "Enterprise demand for simple and secure
cloud computing has accelerated over the past year, and it's clear the market
is poised for rapid growth as we head into 2012."
With
this claim of more 1 million provisioned virtual machines, Skytap is poised to
become a major player in the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) market.
However, Skytap is far from alone, at least when it comes to IaaS and desktops
as a service (DaaS); several other companies are either ramping up or currently
offering both IaaS and DaaS to growing customer bases. Those potential
competitors include Desktone, Vyatta, Integral Networks, Virtual Computer and
RES Software.
Even
so, Skytap is bullish on its success and confident in its market space. "Launching
over 1 million virtual machines is a testament to the success and tremendous
business value that our customers derive from their use of Skytap Cloud," Goodwin
said.
The
DaaS and IaaS markets are poised for rapid growth, especially when one
considers how popular user state virtualization is as a subset of the
technology. The 451Group, an industry research firm, is predicting that the
user state virtualization market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of
61 percent through 2014.
The
potential growth of the market is further indicated by a recent study from ABI
Research, which states that the worldwide market for such hosted virtual
desktops is forecast to grow from about $500 million in 2009 to a cumulative
total of nearly $5 billion in 2016. North America and Europe will make up the
majority of the market for virtual desktops throughout the forecast period.
While
Skytap's achievement is impressive, it may only be the tip of the iceberg for a
market that is primed for growth.
Frank J. Ohlhorst is the Executive Technology Editor for eWeek Channel Insider and brings with him over 20 years of experience in the Information Technology field.He began his career as a network administrator and applications program in the private sector for two years before joining a computer consulting firm as a programmer analyst. In 1988 Frank founded a computer consulting company, which specialized in network design, implementation, and support, along with custom accounting applications developed in a variety of programming languages.In 1991, Frank took a position with the United States Department of Energy as a Network Manager for multiple DOE Area Offices with locations at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPL), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), FermiLAB and the Ames Area Office (AMESAO). Frank's duties included managing the site networks, associated staff and the inter-network links between the area offices. He also served at the Computer Security Officer (CSO) for multiple DOE sites. Frank joined CMP Technology's Channel group in 1999 as a Technical Editor assigned to the CRN Test Center, within a year, Frank became the Senior Technical Editor, and was responsible for designing product testing methodologies, assigning product reviews, roundups and bakeoffs to the CRN Test Center staff.In 2003, Frank was named Technology Editor of CRN. In that capacity, he ensured that CRN maintained a clearer focus on technology and increased the integration of the Test Center's review content into both CRN's print and web properties. He also contributed to Netseminar's, hosted sessions at CMP's Xchange Channel trade shows and helped to develop new methods of content delivery, Such as CRN-TV.In September of 2004, Frank became the Director of the CRN Test Center and was charged with increasing the Test Center's contributions to CMP's Channel Web online presence and CMP's latest monthly publication, Digital Connect, a magazine geared towards the home integrator. He also continued to contribute to CMP's Netseminar series, Xchange events, industry conferences and CRN-TV.In January of 2007, CMP Launched CRNtech, a monthly publication focused on technology for the channel, with a mailed audience of 70,000 qualified readers. Frank was instrumental in the development and design of CRNTech and was the editorial director of the publication as well as its primary contributor. He also maintained the edit calendar, and hosted quarterly CRNTech Live events.In June 2007, Frank was named Senior Technology Analyst and became responsible for the technical focus and edit calendars of all the Channel Group's publications, including CRN, CRNTech, and VARBusiness, along with the Channel Group's specialized publications Solutions Inc., Government VAR, TechBuilder and various custom publications. Frank joined Ziff Davis Enterprise in September of 2007 and focuses on creating editorial content geared towards the purveyors of Information Technology products and services. Frank writes comparative reviews, channel analysis pieces and participates in many of Ziff Davis Enterprise's tradeshows and webinars. He has received several awards for his writing and editing, including back to back best review of the year awards, and a president's award for CRN-TV. Frank speaks at many industry conferences, is a contributor to several IT Books, holds several records for online hits and has several industry certifications, including Novell's CNE, Microsoft's MCP.Frank can be reached at frank.ohlhorst@ziffdavisenterprise.com