By all accounts, cloud computing is the technology most businesses and individuals are eager to integrate in the way they do things. Whether it is students using applications or enterprises analyzing big data, cloud computing is being used by more and more people every quarter. The 2014 predictions for technology by International Data Corporation (IDC (News - Alert)) revealed one of its top ten was the growth of cloud computing. The company predicts the market for this technology will exceed $100 billion in 2014, a 25 percent growth over the previous year.

The growth is being driven by a dramatic increase in the number of datacenters coming online to meet the global demand. The demand for cloud-based solutions is increasing and cloud infrastructure service will lead providers to differentiate themselves by their offering. This will eventually lead to stronger competition as developers capable of creating comprehensive cloud-based solutions continue to fuel the growth in the market. IDC predicts that by 2017, more than 80 percent of new cloud apps will be hosted on six PaaS platforms.

The other predictions IDC made include:

• Emerging markets will drive 35 percent of the worldwide IT revenues at close to $740 billion, and for the first time will account for more than 60 percent of worldwide IT spending growth. The prediction also includes the doubling of smartphone shipments in these markets.
• Global IT spending will grow to $2.1 trillion in 2014 or five percent year over year, which will be driven by 3rd platform technologies growing 15 percent a year and getting 89 percent of IT spending growth.
• The 3rd platform era will introduce new services including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and from generic PaaS to data-optimized PaaS. 
• The growth of smart mobile devices will continue with tablets growing by 18 percent and smartphones by 12 percent.
• The growth of big data technology will continue with a 30 percent increase in spending to more than $14 billion. Big data analytics is also set to grow by 21 percent over 2013 to more than $4.5 billion.
• The integration of social technologies will continue within enterprise applications over the next 12-18 months. By 2017, 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies will have an active customer community, and by 2016, 60 percent will deploy social-enabled innovation management solutions.
• The market for datacenter equipment will be driven by cloud service providers.
• The 3rd platform will disrupt market leaders across the board by delivering the next generation of competitive advantage apps and services.
• The expansion of the 3rd Platform will continue to expand beyond smartphones, tablets, and PCs in 2014 to the Internet of Things (IoT).

"The 3rd Platform's impact was felt throughout the ICT industry in 2013 as a high-profile CEO lost his job, a major IT player went private, numerous vendors endured cash-cow stagnation, and billion-dollar bets were placed on 3rd Platform technologies,” said Frank Gens, senior VP and chief analyst at IDC. “In 2014, we'll see every major player make big investments to scale up cloud, mobile, and big data capabilities, and fiercely battle for the hearts and minds of the developers who will create the solutions driving the next two decades of IT spending. Outside the IT industry, 3rd Platform technologies will play a leading role in the disruption (or "Amazoning") of almost every other industry on the planet."