Survey indicates larger companies increasing cloud efforts

A growing number of large organizations are replacing their outdated, expensive data storage and management technology with cloud solutions, according to recent research.

Conducted by a cloud-based file storage company, the research showed that, in the 12-month period ending in March 2011, large companies trialed its solution 2.5 times more than in the year prior.

According to the research, smaller businesses were still more likely to test the cloud on their networks, with that number tripling in the same period. However, the trend among larger companies is encouraging, as those with more extensive IT resources have long been more reluctant to migrate to the cloud.

Meanwhile, smaller businesses that got involved with the cloud at an earlier stage are moving ahead rapidly, according to the study. In one 24-hour period, small businesses involved in the study conducted more than 4.5 million file operations. This growth has spurred other technological advances, as 15 percent of these smaller businesses used a mobile device to access their files, according to the report.

These trends in enterprise file storage have gained momentum during the past two years. According to IDC, the storage software market grew 10.6 percent in 2010, up from 3.2 percent growth in 2009.