JEDDAH — The Saudi public sector shows preferences of cloud computing models and the priorities that drive these investments, a new study conducted by Dun & Bradstreet commissioned by EMC revealed. The study noted steadily increasing cloud adoption among public sector entities in Saudi Arabia, with the results of the study showing that 44% of respondents surveyed have already implemented or plan to implement a cloud computing model, 42% stated to have currently implemented a private cloud model, and 22% consider their environment to be a public cloud. Of those respondents who reported a preference for Private Cloud, 70% cited maximized scalability as being the decisive factor. Respondents from the public sector reported that while public cloud models seemed beneficial for increased scalability, the model posed a series of key concerns, with 48% of respondents reported to be concerned about privacy and security associated with public cloud models, 22% cited concerns around ability of public cloud providers to meet SLOs, 16% cited concerns with overall maturity of the cloud computing models and, 14% of respondents reported capabilities around control and organization integration as being a cause for concern. The study also revealed a growing interest in Advanced Hybrid cloud solutions, with 28% of respondents stated they have plans to implement an Advanced Hybrid Cloud model. Respondents reported to be inclined to adopting an Advanced Hybrid Cloud model cited a heightened need for flexibility that a blend of the two models allows, with 42% saying it is because of scalability and growth, 36% cited the flexibility to choose environments that best allow them to meet compliance and regulations for multi region operations as being a key factor, and 22% cited discretionary data storage as being a key factor. In line with its commitment to contribute to the government and community in Saudi Arabia, EMC hosted the third edition of its Annual Arabic Public Sector Mega Workshop to showcase latest technologies and discuss how they can help redefine the future of public services and national administration. Designed to be the first 'All Arabic' technology platform, the event brought together over 100 IT leaders from government agencies in the kingdom to exchange insights on the application of third platform technologies to drive e-government and smart service initiatives across the Kingdom. TalalAbdulaziz Al Bakr, Public Sector Manager for EMC Corporation, Saudi Arabia, said “public sector enterprises in Saudi Arabia continue to stand at the leading edge of technology adoption to offer the national community access to faster, more enhanced services. This study clearly highlights the growing interest by public sector entities to adopt advanced hybrid cloud models that enable them to leverage the security, control and reliability of the private cloud model with the heightened scalability and cost effectiveness of the public cloud. EMC recognizes these needs and with the EMC Hybrid Cloud solutions, we look forward to enabling IT to rapidly deliver the services customers need and want from their government agencies.” — SG
