So called 'security roadblocks' will hold up the burgeoning public cloud infrastructure market, claims a report by Barracuda.
Public cloud is set to grow at three times the rate of the overall IT services market, but the same number of respondents to a survey (70%) in 2017 and 2020 claimed they are heavily or partly restricting public cloud adoption due to security concerns.
The average percentage of IT infrastructure running in the cloud stands at 45% today, says the report, rising to an estimated 76% in five years and even higher (84%) in the US.
EMEA is further behind at just 36% today, but will reach around the same percentage as APAC in five years (72%).
There is good news for partners, however, with 95% of global respondents saying they are looking to third party providers to help them overcome adoption barriers.
However, a sizeable minority (42%) will only do so if these providers offer full integration, highlighting the need for security providers to ensure their products fit seamlessly into the major cloud platforms.
Chris Hill (pictured), Regional VP for Public Cloud, Barracuda Networks, commented: “Considering the abundance of sophisticated cyber attacks that face organisations every day, it is no surprise to see that such a large percentage of business decision makers are still cautious when committing to public cloud IT infrastructure.
"However, organisations can and should take comfort in knowing that if their data and applications are properly protected using proven firewall defence services, and users are gaining access with the assistance of SD-WAN technology, there is no reason that public cloud should be deemed any less secure than traditional data storage or software infrastructure.”