Reliability in the cloud is more valuable than low cost and ease of set up

IT professionals value reliability in the cloud more highly than ease of set up or low cost, according to a survey of 100 IT professionals at Cloud Expo Europe by INTERXION HOLDING NV.

More than a third (36%) of respondents said they placed the most value on reliability, with ease of set up (26%) and low cost (16%) trailing behind. Yet when asked how confident they felt that the service they receive from their cloud provider is reliable, only 30% of respondents agreed that they feel very confident. In fact, one in ten admitted that they do not feel confident they receive a reliable service.

Given this focus on reliability, it’s no surprise that 59% of people would question where a cloud service is hosted, stating that it’s important to them when making a purchasing decision. This is something that new entrants to the market, such as systems integrators (SIs) and telcos, need to bear in mind when launching a new cloud service. Interestingly, two thirds (61%) of respondents said that they would consider buying a cloud service from an SI.

Douglas Loewe, Managing Director UK, Interxion, commented: “This survey confirms what we’ve known for a long time; that trust in the cloud is the key to adoption. As SIs look to develop new business models by offering cloud services, they need to ensure that they choose a stable, secure and reliable location from which to host them. In addition, by testing out new applications in our Cloud Test Lab before they launch, cloud service providers can be confident of meeting the demands of the real world.”

Interxion’s Cloud Test Labs are proof-of-concept environments within its data centres where organisations can test different scenarios risk free and shorten the time-to-market for new cloud services.