What is Cloud Infrastructure?
Cloud infrastructure refers to the hardware and software that supports cloud computing, such as servers, virtualization software and networking. Managed service providers offer cloud infrastructure products and services to companies via a pay-as-you-go subscription model.
As organizations continue to move workloads to the cloud, their spending on cloud infrastructure has steadily grown. Organizations are expected to spend $44.2 billion on IT cloud infrastructure this year, according to an IDC analysis. The overall spending on cloud infrastructure will increase by 18 percent this year, while the overall spending on on-premises IT infrastructure is expected to decline by nearly 3.5 percent.
The benefits driving cloud adoption vary depending on a company’s size. For instance, a Fortune®100 company — which is more likely to have its own data centers than a small regional business — could realize larger cost savings by moving most or all of its operations from its own data centers to a multi-cloud environment.