Looking Ahead: Predicting Industry Trends in 2015

Mike Klein

What does 2015 have in store for the data center and cloud computing industries? We sat down with Online Tech co-CEOs Yan Ness and Mike Klein to get some of their informed predictions:

Mike Klein

Klein on the changing customer requirements for cloud and data centers:

“One of the most significant trends in the cloud and data center market in 2015 will be the way companies in industries outside of healthcare, retail and finance will start to incorporate security and privacy into their cloud requirements —making security and privacy the rule in 2015 rather than the exception. In the past, that level of security has typically only been seen in the project requirements that cloud companies and data center companies get from healthcare customers. But in 2015, the expectations and requirements on security and privacy will expand dramatically because companies across many verticals will need to better protect critical information, including HR-related employee files, confidential documents with intellectual property and confidential communications. Our industry needs to be prepared for every customer to have the same standards for security and confidentiality as companies that operating under HIPAA.”

Yan Ness

Ness on the growth of the cloud and data center industry in the Midwest:

“In 2015, a lot of the growth in the cloud and data center industry is going to be outside of the traditional geographic markets. Yes, there will still be a lot going on in Silicon Valley and New York/New Jersey and the other top six U.S. markets, but I think the biggest story will be elsewhere. There are a tremendous number of projects in secondary markets that don’t typically get the headlines in the data center and cloud industry, and the Midwest will be a hot spot that people should be watching. Midwestern cities like Detroit and Indianapolis and Minneapolis are getting major investments for cloud and data center infrastructure, not only because of the growth in the local economies there but also because these locations are very appealing for disaster recovery because they are such safe locations to save data.”

Klein on the growth of hybrid clouds:

“Another trend that is going to gather a lot of steam in 2015 is the implementation of hybrid clouds. More and more companies will be looking to extend their internal private clouds outward and integrate them with enterprise-grade off-site clouds from hosting providers—and this process will be particularly challenging for companies that must meet security and privacy regulations like those related to PCI, HIPAA and Safe Harbor. Few cloud providers have experience with hybrid cloud implementations that can meet that level of security and data protection, so many cloud provides will be playing catch-up on how to support this next wave of major cloud projects.”

Ness on security and privacy taking center stage:

“Security and privacy have always been important parts of the conversation for data center and cloud projects, but they are going to be center stage in 2015 in a way that has never happened before. The Sony Pictures hacking incident is going to be a big catalyst for this, because it is such a high profile example of the vulnerability that corporations face in protecting their data. No longer will those issues be limited primarily to discussions of healthcare data or classified government data. In 2015, security and privacy will be a top priority across every industry, and providers who aren’t ready to meet these needs are going to be at a major disadvantage.”

Cheers to 2015!