NTT Communications Study: Enterprises See Key Benefits in Deploying Cloud Services with Virtualized Network

An international study on cloud computing infrastructure announced today by NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com), the global cloud services provider and wholly owned subsidiary of NTT, revealed a high level of interest in cloud computing services that include a virtual network. The results of the study will be presented by IDG Enterprise jointly with NTT America tomorrow at the 2012 CIO 100 Symposium & Awards Ceremony at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. NTT Communications is a corporate sponsor of the event, which draws hundreds of CIOs and senior IT executives from around the globe to share their IT strategies for driving business growth, as well as honor the top 100 innovative IT organizations.

The Global Market Pulse: Cloud Computing Infrastructure Study, commissioned by NTT Communications and conducted by IDG Research Services, confirmed that today’s enterprises continue to be enthusiastic about cloud computing services and report high levels of satisfaction with the effectiveness of their cloud investments in enabling flexibility and improved scalability. However, among the most critical network performance issues around cloud adoption, the study found capacity limitations, possible downtime when changing network configurations and lead-time to change network configurations topped the list, with more than 70% of IT decision makers citing these as areas of concern. NTT Communications’ OpenFlow-based virtualized network services provide remedies for these issues, and further expedite cloud adoption among enterprise users. Cloud services that include a virtualized network don’t require physical location-based network configuration changes as they expand capacity, freeing enterprises from costly IT procurement for that purpose. By leveraging open protocols such as OpenFlow, virtualized networks enable enterprises to expand network bandwidth on demand, allowing them to pay for only what they need at any given moment. Changes to capacity and routing over virtual networks are made via software command, negating the need for physical changes at the location of the routers.

Taking a closer look at cloud services that include a virtualized network, the study shows forty percent (40%) of respondents worldwide report a high level of familiarity with virtualized network services, and that most respondents (91%) are interested in learning more after seeing a description of virtualized network services (53% extremely or very interested and 38% somewhat interested). According to the study, common drivers for using cloud services – performance, reliability, cost efficiency, flexibility – remain high on IT decision makers’ list of deliverables by a cloud service embedded with a virtualized network; however relatively lower expectations for network-related deliverables – such as better bandwidth utilization and simplified network management – indicate IT decision makers are still thinking about virtualization primarily as a technology for servers, not networks. The same trend is seen in terms of satisfaction with cloud investments. The study found that simplified network management is largely unrecognized as a cloud benefit, suggesting relatively low maturity of the technology. Given the gap between benefits of simplified network management and the low expectations / satisfaction levels for the technology, the research findings support NTT Com’s assertion that there is huge potential for businesses to realize simplified network management as the real benefit of cloud services that include a virtualized network service.

Contacts

NTT America Contact:
Christopher Davis
Senior Director of Corporate Marketing
NTT America
214-915-1354
cdavis@us.ntt.net
www.us.ntt.com
or
NTT America Media Contact:
Christine Carlson
Wireside Communications
Agency of Record for NTT America
804-612-5394
ccarlson@wireside.com
www.wireside.com

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