Cloud services market to surpass dollar 326 million in 2012, Gartner

The cloud services market in India is projected to grow 32.4 per cent in 2012 to total $ 326.2 million (about Rs 1,665 crore), according to IT research and advisory firm Gartner.

Software as a service   (  SaaS)  is the largest segment and is forecast to grow to $ 115.6 million in 2012, while infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is estimated to grow from $ 35.2 million in 2011 to $ 42.7 million in 2012, it said.

Cloud computing enables companies to use software, applications and various services on pay-per-use basis, without the need to set up and own IT infrastructure.

Business process services also known as business process as a service, or BPaaS, is the next-largest segment primarily because of the inclusion of cloud advertising as a sub-segment, it said.

BPaaS is forecast to grow to $ 112.1 million in 2012, up from $ 90.3 million in 2011, it said, adding cloud compute services will become the largest single segment within the public cloud services market in India growing to $ 140.8 million, and accounting for about 14 per cent of total public cloud services spending in the next four years.

Worldwide public cloud services revenue is on pace to total $ 111 billion this year, it added.

Gartner noted that high growth rates will occur in emerging markets, including the top three growth countries of India, Indonesia and China. However, 81 per cent of spending increases will come from North America and Western Europe.

For cloud services providers, this will require a strategic approach when considering both high-volume and high-growth markets. Both will be important in the development of sustained, global strategies, it added.