Multinationals' Deployment of Cloud Services Soars

MNC's Uptake of Cloud Services Increases by Over 60 Per Cent in the Last Year

LONDON, May 17, 2011 - A survey of more than 100 global multinational corporations (MNCs) across
North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific by Ovum for Cable&Wireless Worldwide
reveals that adoption of cloud services is picking up pace among large
organisations, with telecoms providers well positioned to take advantage.
Cloud services adoption is up 61 per cent from April 2010 with 45 per cent of
MNCs already using cloud sourcing for at least some elements of key IT
services.

Asia-Pacific MNCs are reporting the greatest cloud interest, with 63 per
cent uptake across all cloud services categories; networking, communications,
applications, corporate IT systems, as well as data management, security and
backup.

Across the globe enterprises have already moved significant resources to
the cloud and are ready to move more application services. The dominant areas
of cloud services uptake are in data backup and storage, at 51 per cent of
respondents, with an additional 33 per cent reporting their intention to
procure cloud data backup and storage services in the next 24 months. Cloud
uptake is permeating all sectors. Finance and insurance multinationals have
adopted cloud services for some elements of corporate IT systems (56 per
cent), whereas manufacturing is embracing cloud components for networking and
data management (63 per cent and 59 per cent, respectively).

Sectors are also placing different applications in cloud environments.
Professional services single out Customer Relationship Management (CRM) (50
per cent) while finance and insurance places strong emphasis on document
management (50 per cent). Manufacturing places most value on messaging (41
per cent) and CRM (41 per cent).

Evan Kirchheimer, Practice Leader, Enterprise Services, at Ovum comments:
"We believe the majority of MNCs are currently between 'early' and
'adolescent' adoption phases of cloud-based services, with broader and deeper
adoption being contemplated. Greater adoption is dependent on the resolution
of security, governance and reliability and once these concerns are addressed
through standardised, tested offers from service providers, more large
enterprises will feel comfortable positioning cloud as a preferred
procurement option."

Seventy-five per cent of MNCs rate scalability of capacity and matching
capacity to fluctuating demand as the main benefits from the use of cloud
services, with increased speed of provisioning coming in a close third (72
per cent). Cost transparency is regarded as least important with only 24 per
cent citing this as a major benefit. Retail respondents topped the poll in
viewing scalability and matching capacity to demand as major benefits (50 per
cent), while finance and insurance came out top in seeing improved employee
productivity as a major attraction (50 per cent). Manufacturing views cost
transparency as far more important than other verticals (38 per cent vs
average of 24 per cent).

Commenting, Matt Key, Managing Director of Enterprise at Cable&Wireless
Worldwide said: "Our Flexible Computing product enables enterprises to flex
their IT infrastructure up and down very quickly in order to match demand;
this tallies with the research findings that suggest MNCs see this as the
number one benefit of the cloud. Flexible Computing has two distinct
benefits; it enables IT agility and is cost effective.

"As an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) proposition it is an extension
of C&W Worldwide's data centre management and virtualised hosting services
portfolio that is used by many enterprise and UK Government customers.
Flexible Computing is delivered across our next-generation network (NGN),
essentially placing it within the enterprise's own Wide Area Network. This
gives enterprises full control and complete confidence over all their
applications and data. Cloud is featuring in every customer conversation, and
we believe we are ideally positioned to meet a growing demand for cloud
services given our network and strong managed hosting capabilities."

According to the research, telecommunication providers are emerging as
trusted partners and credible suppliers for cloud services, increasing from
37 per cent in 2010 to 49 per cent in 2011. Evan Kirchheimer, Practice
Leader, Enterprise Services, at Ovum comments: "Telecommunications providers'
control of the network over which cloud services are delivered is becoming a
compelling advantage, as it allows them to offer end-to-end service level
agreements (SLAs). This allays many of the security concerns enterprises have
expressed over use of the public internet to access cloud services and
general security, data governance and loss of control."

Methodology

Ovum analysts interviewed CIOs, telecoms managers and/or IT directors
with global responsibility for communications services (fixed, mobile, voice,
data, IT) at 102 multinational corporations during April and May 2011. For
more information on Flexible Computing please visit www.cw.com/cloud.

About Ovum

Ovum provides clients with independent and objective analysis that
enables them to make better business and technology decisions. Our research
draws upon over 400,000 interviews a year with business and technology,
telecoms and sourcing decision-makers, giving Ovum and our clients
unparalleled insight not only into business requirements but also the
technology that organisations must support.

About Cable&Wireless Worldwide

Cable&Wireless Worldwide is a leading global telecoms company providing a
wide range of high quality managed voice, data, hosting and IP-based services
and applications to large multinational companies, governments, carrier
customers and resellers across the UK, Asia Pacific, India, Middle East &
Africa, Continental Europe and North America. Established in the 1860s,
Cable&Wireless Worldwide helps more than 6,000 organisations deliver their
goals. The Group's vision is to be the first choice for mission critical
communications. Reaching 20,500km in length, Cable&Wireless Worldwide owns
the UK's largest fibre network dedicated to business users of telecoms, and
provides ubiquitous nationwide access through a combination of fibre,
digital, microwave, radio and leased circuits. The network has presence in
over 400 towns and cities in the UK, with more than 850 unbundled exchanges
covering 55% of the population. Internationally, Cable&Wireless Worldwide's
global next-generation network (NGN) stretches to more than 500,000km,
including interests in 69 global cable systems, enabling connectivity to 153
countries. The Group's IP-based Multi-Service Platform operates across the
NGN, offering a single environment on which voice and data applications can
be converged to drive business efficiencies. Cable&Wireless Worldwide's
network is uniquely designed with inbuilt resilience. With more than 6,200
colleagues globally, Cable&Wireless Worldwide is committed to delivering
exceptional customer service and developing long term partnerships with its
customers. To find out more, please visit www.cw.com.

    Press contact
    Kate Hamilton
    Hotwire
    kate.hamilton@hotwirepr.com
    T: +44(0)20-7608-2500

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