The value of Taiwan’s cloud computing services market is expected to reach NT$5.56 billion (US$172 million) this year, up 12.8 percent from last year, and to hit NT$6.21 billion next year, a market research institute said yesterday.
Infrastructure as a Service, which provides co-location and security operation center services, will occupy the bulk of the cloud computing market for this year, with a value of NT$5.07 billion, the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) said.
Meanwhile, Software as a Service, which provides online software solutions such as Salesforce.com CRM and Cisco WebEx, will account for NT$487 million of the cloud computing market this year, MIC said.
Lin Hsin-heng (林信亨), an industry analyst at MIC, said that nearly 35 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan use cloud computing services.
Citing the results of an MIC survey that was conducted between November last year and January, Lin said most SMEs use cloud computing because of its flexibile deployment and low investment risks.
Lin said that companies with fewer information technology engineers tend to employ more cloud computing services.
Cloud computing is a Web-enabled software solution that uses the Internet as a platform for performing tasks on the computer and delivers a range of inter-operable applications. It allows clients who have no knowledge of or expertise in technology infrastructure to complete common business applications online that are accessed from a Web browser.
On Monday, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan’s leading technology research institute, said the government should help small industries with cloud computing to lower costs and promote their products to the world.
ITRI president Johnsee Lee (李鍾熙) said at a venture capital forum that with the trend toward innovative technology growing stronger after the global financial crisis, low-priced products, Internet services and other innovative technologies have become the focus of markets.
Lee said that developing such innovative technologies requires government help, citing Taiwan’s solar energy industry as a good example of achieving a sizable application environment and a complete supply chain with government support.
Upbeat about the business opportunities arising from innovative technology, Lee said low-priced innovative products, such as netbooks, mobile phones, and India’s Tata Nano cars, have become the focus of markets, as well as Internet services like Facebook, online shopping and cloud computing.
As consumers now care more about price, efficiency and energy saving, the changing pattern of consumption and falling demand will force the restructuring of value chains of various industries, a trend suppliers in such value chains should be aware of, Lee said.
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