Organisational mindset; not technology confidence presents the biggest hurdle to hybrid cloud adoption in Europe, New Study Sponsored by VMware warns

London, UK, 18th February 2011: Mind-sets within the IT department and not the confidence in technology could hinder the adoption of public cloud computing, a new white paper sponsored by VMware, Inc. (VMW: NYSE), the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, revealed today.
According to the IDC study, "Accelerate Hybrid Cloud Success: Adjusting the IT Mindset" the next 24 months promise to be the turning point for the adoption of cloud computing in Europe, with one in three companies seeing it as a ‘vital’ component of their IT strategy this year. Commercial spending on public cloud services in EMEA is projected by IDC to reach $18.8 billion by 2014.

However, adoption of cloud computing as a real alternative IT delivery model will only be accomplished if the technological and internal organisational barriers are overcome, warns the study. Most of the technology doubts over the private cloud have already been removed and fewer organisations now see security, performance and availability – the main requirements for public cloud adoption – as key concerns holding them back. Instead it is issues within the organisation that could hold back adoption.

The white paper highlights these internal hurdles, which range from the psychological barriers in knowing that data and applications reside physically ‘somewhere else’; the blurring roles between infrastructure and application managers, leading to potential opposition within the IT department; and the pressure facing CIOs and IT staff to deliver IT services that are as effective and cost-efficient as those offered by external service providers.

"The technology barriers to the cloud where IT can be delivered as a service are genuinely being removed but this is only the first step on the journey to the cloud for most organisations" said Fredrik Sjostedt, Director, Product & Solutions, EMEA, VMware. "While VMware advocates hybrid cloud computing to bring the agility and economics of the cloud, with the security, control and service levels enterprises require, we also know we need to help organisations change the way they think about their IT in order to shift the way they implement it inside their business. Transforming the culture is as important as implementing the technology."

The white paper, available for download, addresses the hurdles facing IT departments and CIOs and provides CIOs with practical advice on the steps they should take when expanding their virtualization strategy and planning for a hybrid cloud environment. These steps include looking at the entire IT infrastructure to see what benefits and potential disruptive effects the technology will have across the organisation; getting the timing right; planning carefully; keeping business service management in the loop and evolving the roles of the IT staff.

"With the cloud approach as a way to deliver IT gaining momentum in Europe, CIOs will have to gradually introduce a change in mind-set within the IT department to reflect the changes this brings to the role of IT staff and the skill set needed," said Chris Ingle, Associate Vice President, Research and Consulting, SIS Group, IDC. "The good news is that there are some very straightforward and practical steps for CIOs to take to ensure their journey to the cloud is as smooth and effective as it should be."

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Notes to Editor
The white paper, published in February 2011 (#IDCWP32S), is based on a number of primary and secondary sources. These include IDC Worldwide Server and Server Virtualization Trackers, IDC qualitative research, and results from a number of independent end-user surveys conducted by IDC over the last few years. Among the research used, of particular importance is the Worldwide and Regional Public IT Cloud Services 2010–2014 Forecast (IDC #223549, June 2010), IDC's first consolidated forecast of public cloud spending by category and region. Other main sources are the IDC Storage End-User Survey (500 Web-based interviews, including major European countries), conducted in early 2010; IT Datacenter Management Survey (300 interviews in France, Germany, and the U.K.), conducted in Europe at the end of 2009; and the IDC Datacenter Automation Survey, an online survey carried out in 2008 involving 164 IT professional in Europe and whose main topic was the perception of datacenter automation and its impact on business output. About VMware
VMware delivers virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable IT organizations to energize businesses of all sizes. With the industry leading virtualization platform – VMware vSphere® – customers rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, improve agility, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2009 revenues of $2 billion, more than 190,000 customers and 25,000 partners, VMware is the leader in virtualization which consistently ranks as a top priority among CIOs. VMware is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com

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Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, projections for and barriers to the adoption of public cloud computing, projections of future spending, and changes to the means by which organizations may deliver IT services. These forward-looking statements are subject to the safe harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ii) delays or reductions in healthcare or information technology spending and government subsidies; (iii) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures, industry consolidation, entry of new competitors into the virtualization market, and new product and marketing initiatives by our competitors; (iv) our customers’ ability to develop, and to transition to, new products and computing strategies, (v) the uncertainty of customer acceptance of emerging technology; (vi) rapid technological and market changes in virtualization software and platforms for cloud and desktop computing; (vii) changes to product development timelines; (viii) our ability to protect our proprietary technology; (ix) our ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; and (x) the successful integration of acquired companies and assets into VMware. These forward looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value and effect as well as other risks detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K that we may file from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. VMware assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.