Cloud computing projected to gain increasing traction in 3 to 5 years

Cloud computing is coming - perhaps not as the next big thing in IT right away, but as another tool in ITs bag of tricks.  Industry sources believe that over the next three to five years cloud computing is likely to get an increasingly bigger space in computational models managed by IT departments, as it works in tandem with traditional computing and virtualisation.

Today the bulk of what the IT department offers in large enterprises involves the areas of traditional computing and virtualisation, with a little bit of public cloud as in the case of case of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications for areas like human resources, customer relationship management and e-mail.

To add further to ITs problems, public cloud usage may also be present in the form of the unsanctioned use of third-party cloud sites by various business functions. According to experts this will change over the next three to five years, and the private cloud will be a large part of the pie, along with virtualisation and the public cloud.

What is remarkable about the progress of the cloud model is that the lines between virtualisation and the private cloud would start to blur according to experts.

Meanwhile, according to V Srinivasa Rao, past chairman, PMI Team India and head of Oracle practice at Mahindra Satyam, India needs to change gears to become a global delivery leader in cloud computing. Rao added that, ''In the cloud computing space, we need a technical specialist who knows about technology and infrastructure aspects of cloud computing, besides the need to build a best in class service delivery engine which enables delivery of projects faster and better and in a cost effective manner.''

Rao was speaking at the conference on Project Management in Cloud Computing under the aegis of the Project Management Institute (PMI) in Chennai on Saturday