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The Public Cloud is Winning, Cisco Study Finds

November 24, 2015

By Mae Kowalke - Transforming Network Infrastructure Contributor

Data centers are out, and the cloud is in. That’s the takeaway from the recent Cisco Global Cloud Index report for 2014–2019.

By 2019, roughly 86 percent of all workloads will be handled by the cloud, according to the Cisco report. Growth of cloud workloads is expected to grow by more than 200 percent from 2014 to 2019, while traditional data centers are expected to decline by 1 percent each year until 2019.

This is not just a move from private data centers to private clouds, either. Cisco data indicates that the public cloud workload is estimated to have a compound annual growth rate of 44 percent between 2014 and 2019, compared with only 16 percent growth per year among private clouds. By 2019, 56 percent of all cloud workloads will be on the public cloud, with only 44 percent in a private cloud environment.

Netflix is an example of why the public cloud is winning over data centers and private cloud deployments.

The company recently closed down its last data center in favor of public cloud use through Amazon’s Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure and Google’s cloud platform.

Netflix has long uses AWS for cloud infrastructure, but the open-source Spinnaker software it has developed has enabled Netflix to close down its private infrastructure because use of the public cloud no longer is exposing the firm to the whims of just one company.

Spinnaker can deploy software simultaneously across both Amazon Web Services’ and Google’s platforms, with full-feature compatibility across both cloud providers. This enables Netflix to leverage the public cloud but without all the risks of putting its infrastructure in the hands of just one partner.

Because Netflix can safely use more than one public cloud, the need for complete control is no longer necessary. Data centers can be abandoned in favor of more robust public cloud use.

This is a significant change, and it highlights why businesses are moving to the public cloud over in-house operations.

While there still is some benefit to private clouds and traditional data centers, the advantages of cost, scale and simplicity make the public cloud a clear winner now and going forward.

Edited by Maurice Nagle

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