Many large organisations across New Zealand have deployed some degree of virtual private clouds (VPC) or hybrid cloud models, according to a new IDC report.

Cloud for Business – Big Bang Principle but Evolutionary Execution says the New Zealand market has moved off the cloud hype cycle as organisations start to recognise that cloud is simply another sourcing option in the outsourcing mix.However, it notes that most have only implemented limited deployments and the models often exclude the required cloud attributes such as consumption-based metering or automated self-service provisioning."The typical pattern suggests that organisations will use private cloud builds as a stepping stone to tap into broader public cloud environments, as technology capabilities mature and security concerns are addressed,” says Rasika Versleijen-Pradhan, IDC’s senior IT services analyst, New Zealand IT services market.IDC says the trend is clearly depicted by vendors profiled in the report – Datacom, Gen-i, HP, IBM and Unisys – who have all taken similar approaches to the market; moving clients to private/VPC to improve operational efficiencies, and using public cloud services if and when it suits clients."To remain competitive many of these traditional IT service providers have simultaneously launched managed services, firstly as a means of adding higher value beyond the basic Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), where the hardware is quickly commoditising. Secondly, to take the management of these increasingly complex hybrid environments away from the client,” says Versleijen-Pradhan.IDC says as the market matures IT service providers will need to make further investments in tool sets such as architectural design, policy, management, security, IT service management frameworks and networking, to enable them to transform and deliver a viable cloud model.