Cloud service global spend expected to hit £141bn by 2017

"New cloud paradigm" to underscore management and consumption of data

Global spending on cloud infrastructure and services is expected to reach $235.1bn (£140.5bn) by 2017, according to IHS Technology.

And spending this year alone will increase by 20 per cent compared with 2013, up from $145.2bn last year to $174.2bn in 2014.

Overall, the organisation suggests that spending will triple between 2011 and 2017.

"The robust growth will come as an increasing number of large and small enterprises move more of their applications to the cloud, while also looking at data analytics to drive new insights into consumer behaviour," said IHS analyst Jagdish Rebello.

"With the cloud touching nearly every consumer and enterprise around the globe, spending for cloud-related storage, servers, applications and content will be dedicated toward building a framework that is rapidly scalable, highly dynamic, available on-demand and requiring minimal management."

IHS talks of a "new cloud paradigm" that will underscore company management and consumption of data.

However, the company also warns the industry that, while spending is clearly rising, there are a number of factors not yet properly addressed in the IT industry to smooth the arrival of cloud.

Security, mobile data use and privacy remain major concerns and inhibitors to growth, says ISH, that must be tackled.

While Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Google are now all operating huge and largely successful cloud operations, the real competition will be between smaller, more bespoke services as Barracuda, Dropbox and others as they vie for position and grow via acquisition - both friendly and hostile.

IHS calculated that there were some 630 million customer subscriptions to cloud platforms in 2013, and estimates that this will rise to 730 million this year.