There’s plenty of hype going on in the cloud, pushing virtualization methodology, seeking the promise of streamlined enterprise processes to securely save data, make it accessible, and save money along the way.  With more virtual machines than physical machines, a huge consumer surge driving demand for cloud-based products and services, and an economic shift relying on the cloud for survival in the future, it’s also important to take a step back and look at what’s actually going on in the cloud.

Zenoss, open-source IT management tool and provider of Dynamic Service Assurance, has conducted a survey, receiving participation from over 200 of its clients in order to determine their perspectives on the cloud.  How are they using the cloud, and what are their biggest concerns?  What areas need improvement, and what aspects of the cloud should be avoided all together?

With clients including Rackspace, VMware, LinkedIn, Motorola and Deutche Bank, Zenoss is able to get a good sample data set for this particular study.  Some of the more interesting findings include 70% of participants preferring tools that manage all their infrastructure needs, rather than point solutions that address one aspect of virtualization or another, as well as 50.8% indicating a lack of specific management tools for their cloud computing (33% utilize the tools that come with their hosting provider).

One finding that was mirrored by another survey result taken by Juniper Networks and Altor at VMworld is the prioritization of security as the number one concern for cloud computing.  Zenoss found that after security, the next major concern was management, with only 28.8% indicating that they use automation to start and stop cloud instances.

The findings do confirm much of what has been thought about the cloud, particularly regards to safety concerns.  For many cloud services, established or fresh on the scene, the promotion of a particular differentiating factor deals with one aspect of security or other concerns within these growing cloud structures.  As businesses learn more about the cloud, cloud providers can in turn determine which features to focus on in order to appeal to their clients.