The future belongs to companies that combine leading technology with innovative business models, writes Wikibon Analyst Brian Gracely in “Unpacking the Public Cloud Market”. Recent Wikibon Public Cloud research  predicts that 33 percent of all IT spending will move to public clouds within ten years as leading organizations leverage cloud along with mobile devices, open source and real-time and Big Data, to revolutionize their businesses. By 2026 Wikibon predicts that public cloud will reach $500 billion in overall revenues, up from $56 billion last year.

While infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) are getting most of the press, Wikibon research shows that software-as-a-service (SaaS) actually has more than twice the revenue of IaaS and more than 20 times the revenue of PaaS today. The SaaS market remains fragmented, while the IaaS market is consolidating around 10-12 large-scale clouds, Gracely says. These major players are investing $2-$4 billion each per year and are focused on delivering next-generation features that the SaaS companies need.

Security innovation will be critical for the future both of the public cloud and traditional companies leveraging the new technologies. The old edge-perimeter security paradigm is no longer valid, Gracely asserts. IT decision-makers should look for companies that can deliver security across any end-point and any application pattern.

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