The market for cloud computing has continued to mature over the course of 2011 and a recent market forecast from TechAisle projected a worldwide spend of US$11 billion by small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) on cloud computing solutions.

According to the report, published late last week by the technology firm, the end of 2011 will also see some 138 million employees at SMBs using some form of the cloud. In countries where the cloud is more developed, such as the United States and United Kingdom, SMBs will have about one in four employees working in the cloud.

"TechAisle expects SMBs, especially in developed countries, to use cloud services along with their on-site solution until they become more comfortable with 24/7 availability of the cloud in a reliable and secure manner and are able to server their mobile employees," a statement from the company read.

Broken down by category of cloud solution, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) have been tipped by the company to achieve the fastest growth rates - projected at 26 per cent for the year. Business productivity solutions followed closely in the rankings, however, with growth projected at 24 per cent for the year.

Tech Aisle also identified a distinct trend in how SMBs adopt various cloud solutions. The firm said businesses tend to adopt storage and security through the cloud first, then email and finally the more industry-specific applications available for their operations.

Written by Jason Morton
 

Research tips global SMB cloud spend to be $11bn