HypeCycle 2011 – THE CLOUD Gets Own HypeCycle

Every year the Gartner Research Group releases their emerging technology Hype Cycle and its very interesting to observe how different technologies are making their way across the hype cycle – and my particular interest is in watching the progress of Cloud Computing.

In previous blog posts, we observed Cloud Computing moving on toward the Trough of Disillusionment , and I’ve also pointed out the importance of looking beyond the hype peak.

In 2010, we saw that “THE CLOUD” was divided into three entries – Cloud Computing, Cloud/Web Platforms and Private Cloud Computing – when compared to the Hype Cycle released the year before. Below is the Hype Cycle for 2010. You can see that both Cloud Computing and Cloud/Web Platforms have made it over the hype peak and are heading toward the Trough of Disillusionment. And Private Cloud Computing is making its way up to the hype peak.

2010 Gartner Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle

At the end of July 2011, Gartner released the 2011 Hype Cycle and what changed this year was that they devoted an entire Hype Cycle just on “THE CLOUD”. Here it is:

Cloud Computing Gartner Hype Cycle 2011

When comparing the 2011 and 2010 Hype Cycle curves, Cloud Computing has not moved but Cloud/Web Platforms has moved down the curve and is close to the bottom of the Trough of Disillusionment. Private Cloud Computing has also reached the peak of the hype cycle in 2011.

With devoting an entire Hype Cycle curve just to “THE CLOUD”, you can see that the entire enterprise has splintered into many segments which is fascinating. The whole “CLOUD” enterprise is now splintered into a huge number of different cloud specialties/technologies/business models. So as a business thinks about adopting “THE CLOUD” or executing a Cloud strategy, there are so many more options on what segment to bet on that its mind-numbing. And given that many of these segments are 2-5 years or 5-10 years from maturity – all businesses will need to really think about their strategy and figure out where and when to bet. The next 5 years are going to be very interesting as “THE CLOUD” matures.

Here at DiscountASP.NET, although we are focused on advanced shared Windows hosting today, we are also looking at the Cloud landscape and thinking about our own Cloud strategy. Since “THE CLOUD” is still  largely undefined (ask 10 people and you’ll get 10 different definitions)and splintering as observed with the new 2011 Cloud Hype Cycle, we have remained more cautious than jumping into the fray. And we have stayed away from adding more confusion to the market by doing the same thing we’ve been doing but calling it Cloud. So as we observe the changing landscape, we will be making our strategic “Cloud” bets, and of course, we will keep you all informed.

Takehi Eto
VP Marketing and Business Development

7 thoughts on “HypeCycle 2011 – THE CLOUD Gets Own HypeCycle

  1. That is very interesting, impressive.
    One very exciting way I can see Cloud services used for DASP customers will be related to Mobile Smart devices.
    With the new features and capabilities coming to the WP7 phones very soon, available now for the bold, I can already see very important business related features that can tie into a customer’s site, updates for example, notifications, or even the new bonding with social sites that may for a business be very important and even more so once there are ties to their mobile devices that are also synced via the Cloud to their live site and back again to a business site like many have with Facebook. i.e. Customer submitted contests.

  2. Don’t leave it too long DASP – I am using Cloud services from companies I know nothing about. I’d much rather deal with DASP who have built up my trust over many years 😉

    1. Really appreciate the comment Steve. While we remain cautious, be assured that we are actively working on projects which can serve as a foundation for potential future cloud services.

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