Cloud adoption is accelerating exponentially, according to new research from Gartner Inc. which shows the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) segment grew by 33 percent this year to become an estimated $16.5 billion market.

Even better news for cloud providers – the market shows no signs of slowing down, with Gartner predicting an annual compound growth rate of 29.1 percent for the next four years up until 2019.

Despite this news, cloud spending is still dwarfed by the overall worldwide IT spend, which Gartner says will total more than $3.5 trillion this year.

It may not always be that way however, as cloud spending accelerates. As Gartner noted in its report, growth of public cloud IaaS workloads outpaced growth of on-premises workloads for the first time this year. Moreover, one in ten CIOs interviewed by Gartner claim to have adopted a “cloud-first” strategy, while 83 percent say IaaS is a viable option for their businesses.

Gartner says that the cloud sector has really matured, with the breadth of services now available making it more than ready for prime time. It said that just about any workload that can be hosted on an x86 server can now be run up in the cloud.

“Cloud IaaS can now be used to run most workloads, although not every provider can run every type of workload well,” said Lydia Leong, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst.

Even so, companies planning a shift to cloud infrastructure should be extremely cautious in their vendor selection process, due to a shifting marketplace, the analyst firm warned. Speaking at the Gartner Infrastructure, Operations & Data Centre Summit in Sydney this week, Leong said the competitive landscape for cloud IaaS is shifting, with few providers that have the financial resources to invest in being broadly competitive in the market.

“We urge buyers to be extremely cautious when selecting providers; ask specific and detailed questions about the provider’s roadmap for the service, and seek contractual commitments that do not permit the provider to modify substantially or to discontinue the offering without at least 12 months’ notice,” she said.

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