As the role of cloud computing is growing significantly in its ability to deliver business applications, many IT decision makers are facing challenges with their existing network infrastructure to support the migration of their business applications to the cloud. An international study announced recently by Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) revealed that without the proper cloud migration strategy, more than one third (38 percent) of IT decision makers would rather get a root canal, dig a ditch or do their own taxes than address network challenges associated with public or private cloud deployments.
These research findings provide insight into the current state of cloud networking and the chasm between IT expectations and network realities. The survey also examines the experiences of IT professionals regarding the level of difficulty and time required to update their networks and migrate their applications to the cloud.
Click through for results from a cloud computing survey conducted by Cisco.
Almost two in five (39 percent) of those surveyed said they dread network challenges associated with private or public cloud deployments so much that they would rather get a root canal, dig a ditch or do their own taxes.
At the same time, nearly three quarters (73 percent) feel they are confident with enough information to begin their private or public cloud deployments. However, the remainder (27 percent) feels they have more knowledge about how to play Angry Birds than the steps needed to migrate their company's network and applications to the cloud.
In a clear sign that many IT organizations are still considering and planning cloud migrations, nearly one quarter (24 percent) of IT decision makers said that over the next six months, they are more likely to see a UFO, a unicorn or a ghost before they see their company's cloud migration starting and finishing.
Without proper processes and planning, more than one quarter (31 percent) said they could train for a marathon in a shorter period of time than it would take to migrate their company's applications to the cloud.
A majority (76 percent) predict their cloud applications are likely to be breached, yet only one quarter (24 percent) are confident to the point in which they believe the odds are better for them to be struck by lightning than have their cloud applications breached by an unwanted third party.
Presently, only five percent of IT decision makers have been able to migrate at least half of their total applications to the cloud. By the end of 2012, that number is expected to significantly rise, as one in five (20 percent) will have deployed over half of their total applications to the cloud.
In order to successfully move more applications to the cloud, the majority of respondents cited a cloud-ready network (37 percent) as the biggest infrastructure element required for further cloud deployments, ahead of a virtualized data center (28 percent) or a service-level agreement from a cloud service provider (21 percent).
During the cloud migration process, data protection security (72 percent) was cited as the top network challenge or roadblock responsible for preventing a successful implementation of cloud services, followed by availability/reliability of cloud applications (67 percent), device-based security (66 percent), visibility and control of applications across the WAN (60 percent) and overall application performance (60 percent).
If given the choice of only being able to move one application to the cloud, most respondents would choose storage (25 percent), followed by enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications to manage HR, customer relationship management, supply chain management and project management systems (20 percent). Email (16 percent) and collaboration solutions (15 percent) followed.
When asked which applications have been moved, or are planning to be moved to public or private clouds in the next year, the majority of IT decision makers cited email and Web services (77 percent), followed by storage (74 percent) and collaboration solutions such as Web conferencing and instant messaging (72 percent).
When asked to anticipate the length of time the transfer of applications such as Web conferencing, storage and email would take to either private or public clouds, most respondents anticipated a private cloud migration to take longer than a public one. In addition, when asked to estimate the average length of time it would take to complete the cloud migration for their applications, most IT professionals indicated the deployment would take less than six months.
When asked about their plans to deploy virtual desktops, 79 percent of IT decision makers cited it as part of their current or future plans. 25 percent are already using virtual desktops, with 35 percent planning to do so within the next year. 20 percent plan on deploying virtual desktops within one to three years.
Among the top barriers to keeping virtual desktop deployments from taking place, respondents cited cost (46 percent) as the primary obstacle, followed by bandwidth requirements (45 percent), virtual desktop (VDI) performance caused by WAN latency (37 percent), integration of native with virtual desktops (34 percent) and the overall complexity of the deployment (33 percent).
When asked the reason behind their move to the cloud, 52 percent of respondents claimed it was an imperative made by their business or CIO to in order to improve costs, productivity and agility; 41 percent said they're simply following the industry or their peers; and 30 percent are doing so because of customer requirements.
Cloud service providers are the main source of intelligence or information about cloud services (25 percent), followed by industry analysts (16 percent), industry peers (15 percent) and infrastructure vendors (14 percent).
Nearly two in five participants (39 percent) said they would not trust their own personal information — such as medical records and Social Security numbers — with the cloud provider they are currently using.
More than half (52 percent) of IT decision makers said they have a better overall application experience at home with their personal networks than they do at work.
