Gartner has been gazing into its crystal ball once again, and now the smoke signals have cleared the message is simple: get going with a hybrid cloud solution, because half of big enterprises are going to be deployed by 2017.

The analyst house puts hybrid cloud where the private cloud was in 2010; plenty of companies wanting to get on board, but the actual uptake remains low.

But it’s not going to be available instantly: Gartner recommends chief execs should consider the cloud because of its agility rather than lower costs, a complete change of priority for cloud adoption.

“Virtualisation reduces capital expenses, and standards and automation reduce operational expenses,” noted Thomas Bittman, Gartner VP and distinguished analyst. “However, taking the next step of adding usage metrics, self-service offerings and automated provisioning requires investment in technologies without a significant reduction in operational cost.

“With this in mind, the driving …