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Gartner Says Cloud Spending on the Rise

• By Jeffrey Schwartz
• 09/24/10

Cloud computing services accounted for 12.5 percent of overall IT budgets, according to a research report released this week by Gartner.

The report found that 39 percent of those surveyed allocated portions of their IT budgets for cloud computing, while 44 percent of those surveyed said they procured services from outside providers. Of those, 46 percent said they will increase that spending in the next budget year by an average of 32 percent.

Gartner said it surveyed more than 1,500 IT professionals throughout 40 countries between April and July of this year. Another key finding of the report revealed that one-third of spending came from last year's budget; another third was new spending; and 14 percent was diverted from a different budget category.

"Overall, these are healthy investment trends for cloud computing," said Gartner analyst Bob Igou, in a statement. "This is yet another trend that indicates a shift in spending from traditional IT assets such as the data center assets and a move toward assets that are accessed in the cloud." 

Igou, who authored the study, pointed out that 24.1 percent of budgets covered data center systems and business applications, 19.7 percent for PC and related gear, 13.7 percent for telecom costs, and 30 percent for IT personnel.

For the next budget year, the report found, 40 percent will increase spending on development of cloud-based applications and solutions, while 56 percent will spend the same amount. Forty three percent said they will increase spending on implementation of cloud computing for internal and/or restricted and 32 percent will increase spending on such environments for external and/or public use.