Category Archives: 451 Research

451 Research, News & Analysis, Research

Enterprises pay nearly a fifth more to use European cloud – report

Money cloudThe cloud service market in the US is much more competitively priced than in Europe but Latin America gets the worst deals in the world, according to a new study. Europeans pay up to 19% more for the same services when they are hosted in home territory.

According to the new Cloud Price Index report from 451 Research, Americans enjoy the most competitive prices globally. On average Europeans pay between 7 and 19% more, depending on the complexity of the application. Asia Pacific comes second bottom in the price performance study. However, anomalies exist and deals are available to those who shop around, says the report.

The ‘protection premium’, the extra price of hosting services in-country or in-region services, rather than using the cheaper option of US services, is not just the cost of compliance. The extra investment needed by European cloud users is a result of three pressures: the need to meet local regulations, the need to boost performance by bringing apps closer to users and the use of local customer service.

In Europe, soaring local cloud demand, driven by data protection legislation, has created uncertainty about access and responsibility and confused cloud buyers and service providers. The net effect of issues like Safe Harbor, the Patriot Act and the new US-EU Privacy Shield agreement is that european buyers will pay more.

Don’t expect that to change for the better just yet, said Penny Jones, Senior Analyst for European Services. “It won’t be clear what the European Court of Justice thinks about the legislation until they have reviewed a case or two,” said Jones.

Cloud services are even more pricey in Asia Pacific and Latin America, according to the report. Comparable hosting in Asia Pacific and Latin America can cost 38% more than in the US. Taking average prices as a benchmark, Latin America has the most extreme variations in prices, thanks to its limited selection of hosting providers.

There is also an extreme price polarity between the small and large applications in Europe. Users pay double the premium for a large application, composed of computing, storage, platforms and support, in comparison to simpler virtual machines. These discrepancies are the result of skills shortages and an SME market willing to pay more for support on complex applications.

The lesson is that cloud buyers must be more diligent about researching huge price variations according to 451 Research Director Dr Owen Rogers. “One provider charged more than twice the average US price for hosting in Latin America. Another offered an 11% discount for hosting in Europe compared to the US,” said Rogers.

451 Research, Apple Watch, Internet of Things, IoT, M2M, News & Analysis, wearable technology

Four-fold cellular IoT connections predicted by 2019

PrintIT analyst firm 451 Research has forecasted the growth of cellular network-based connections for IoT-devices as anticipation surrounding the tech continues to grow. It also reckons wearable tech as a major enterprise tool will become reality in the next 12 months.

According to the firm, the telecoms industry can expect a nigh on four-fold boom in cellular IoT connections between 2014 and 2019, growing from 252 million to 908 million globally. The firm reckons such growth comes down to several key factors, primarily the ease of access to and reduced costs of hardware and broadband for enterprise customers. Secondly, the maturation of cloud, data management and analytics platforms means machine-generated data can be hosted and utilised quicker than in previous years.

Finally, 451 also attributes increasing M&A activity as a positive influence on the developing IoT market, with the ongoing vendor land-grab driving advancements in technology.

“We continue to be bullish that ultimately the hype of IoT will be proven to be warranted back on business impact,” said Brian Partridge, 451’s research VP. “Over the forecast period we expect that M2M/IoT solution suppliers will find fertile ground in vertical markets such as retail and government that will adopt IoT/M2M to enable strategic digitization strategies such as smart cities and the use of digital signage, mobile point of sale, and connected kiosks to drive the transformation from brick and mortar to ‘click and mortar’.”

Simultaneously, Harbor Research has revealed some numbers forecasting the profitability of IoT applications, claiming 80% of IoT apps will be generating revenue for users within the next three years. At present, its survey suggest, 65% of apps are money making.

451 Research also looked into the use of wearable tech in the enterprise, and said that 39% of the IT decision-makers it quizzed will be deploying wearable tech solutions in the next six months, with another 24% following within a year. Of those deploying in the next six months, 81% identified smart watches as their wearable tech of choice.

“The release of Apple Watch has opened the flood gates governing wearables’ adoption,” said Ryan Martin, who’s an IoT and wearable tech analyst at 451. “Not now that the river is running, it’s less about where it will end and more about where – and when – to start. We expect wearable technology to deliver a key interface and input into the Industrial Internet of Things”.

To go alongside its research, 451 produced this handy market map for the IoT ecosystem.

 IoT Market Map 451

451 Research, Citrix, enterprise mobility management, Jesse Lipson, Mobile, News & Analysis, Scott Ottaway, Software as a service, Vendor

Citrix pitches Workspace Cloud for hybrid cloud service delivery

Citrix is aiming its solutions at hybrid cloud users

Citrix is aiming its solutions at hybrid cloud users

Citrix has unveiled Workspace Cloud, a set of cloud-based tools aimed at bridging the application deployment and management gap between on-premise and cloud infrastructure.

The solution, based on XenApp, XenMobile and XenDesktop technology, is basically an integrated and consolidated set of existing Citrix tools used to stream virtual apps to and manage mobile devices, and share content across devices and services – whether that data is located on-premise or in a cloud platform.

The company is pitching it as a “new control pane” for data across any device, and any infrastructure.

“Citrix Workspace Cloud is the future of on-demand IT. People want access to all their apps and data, and this no longer equates to a desktop. Citrix has created the fastest and easiest way to deploy new resources, simplified infrastructure management, and provided freedom of choice in selecting the right hosting and delivery model,” said Jesse Lipson, vice president and general manager, cloud services at Citrix.

Scott Ottaway, vice president at 451 Research said Citrix’s move to consolidate and integrate it offerings comes at a time when enterprises are struggling to bridge this gap between securing and managing content between a combination of on-premise and cloud platforms.

“When it comes to end-user computing, Enterprise IT is at a cross-roads with multiple challenges around device management complexity, data and application security, and requirements to deliver consumer-like, consistent experiences across any device,” Ottaway said.

“And IT leaders have more pressure than ever to achieve rapid time to market with new IT services, especially new mobile applications,” he said, adding that ensuring infrastructure agnosticism and reducing vendor lock-in will be essential for solutions vendors like Citrix moving forward.