LONDON, June 5 /PRNewswire/ --

- NTT Europe Online Report Finds While Cloud Computing is Not High
Priority, Demand Remains Strong for Online Software and Service Delivery
Among UK Enterprises

Sixty-seven per cent of Chief Information Officers and Chief Financial
Officers in UK enterprises say they are either not planning to adopt cloud
computing (35 per cent) or are unsure (32 per cent) of whether their company
will adopt cloud computing during the next two years, according to a major
new report from managed hosting (http://www.ntteuropeonline.com/) specialists
NTT Europe Online.

NTT's 'Cloud or Fog?' 
(http://www.ntteuropeonline.com/cloud_computing.html) report, which polled 
200 CIOs and CFOs at large UK businesses, found that decision makers placed 
cloud computing at the bottom of their top ten strategic investment 
priorities for the next 12 months. Many were still grappling with the 
concept - 46 per cent of respondents felt definitions of cloud computing 
remained unclear.

Despite this, 60 per cent said their organisation was more likely to
invest in software and services delivered online as a result of the
recession. Eighty-five per cent of CIOs and CFOs are looking for more
flexibility in their software licensing agreements and 68 per cent said they
will avoid long term IT contracts - benefits widely acknowledged to be
delivered by the cloud computing model.

"Decision makers at large UK companies clearly see the benefits of
investing in online delivery of software and services however many are
unconvinced about taking the plunge with a cloud computing model in the next
two years," said Rob Steggles, Marketing Director Europe at NTT Europe
Online.

"Unfortunately cloud has become a technical sell rather than a business
and operational discussion, which is where the value really lies. There is
certainly demand for online software and service delivery within a secure
hosted environment or using a 'private cloud' infrastructure, but in a
practical sense the classic shared cloud computing model seems not to be on
the board's agenda."

Seventy-seven per cent of respondents said their organisation was not
using cloud computing, citing security, concept immaturity and uncertain
reliability as the primary reasons for not adopting it. To consider a move to
a cloud computing model, 40 per cent of CIOs and CFOs would demand between 10
and 20 percent cost savings to justify the investment.

While the UK executives said their top three strategic IT priorities in
the recession were IT security, servers and storage, and network
infrastructure investment, the NTT 'Cloud or Fog?' report far from rules out
future investment in cloud computing. Forty-five per cent of CIOs and CFOs
said they believed cloud computing was not just hype, and 44 per cent of
those businesses using or planning to use cloud computing said they expected
to invest between 6-15 per cent of their IT budgets on cloud computing
(http://www.ntteuropeonline.com/) in the next two years.

For those using or considering investing in a cloud computing model, the
systems most preferred to place in the cloud were content management systems,
sales/CRM applications, and those applications deemed 'non-business
critical'. However, many cloud computing adopters felt financial and
accounting systems should never be put into the cloud (55 per cent).

Commenting on the findings of the Cloud or Fog? report, Daniel Marion,
ICT Senior Manager at UEFA Media Technologies said: "The fact this report
reveals some confusion over definitions of cloud computing doesn't surprise
me. The term is used to market a wide variety of very different products and
services and it can be difficult to get past the complexity of the technical
specifications and focus on the business benefits. However, the operational
case for IT, software and services delivered online is compelling and we will
continue to look at ways in which these types of services offer value to our
organisation."

NTT Europe Online's Steggles adds: "Given the model's lack of maturity,
it's understandable that businesses are waiting to see how cloud computing
pans out for early adopters. What is quite evident from our research is that
CIOs and CFOs are crying out for the capex vs. opex benefits that can be
delivered by cloud-based and managed hosted solutions. If the security and
reliability concerns can be ironed out, cloud computing has a bright future -
but until then, it will continue to be a work in progress."

NTT Europe Online's 'Cloud or Fog?' report is available for download at
http://www.ntteuropeonline.com/cloud_computing.html

About the research

Undertaken by market leading research company, Vanson Bourne, NTT Europe
Online's Cloud or Fog? report was based on in-depth research with 200 Chief
Information Officers and Chief Financial Offices from large UK organisations
across multiple sectors with over 500 UK employees and turnover ranging from
GBP100m to GBP69bn. While individuals who took part in the research were
based in the UK, the majority of the companies involved have international /
global footprints.

About NTT Europe Online

NTT Europe Online provides managed hosting, security and application
management services to businesses globally. These services provide the
reliability, availability, security and scalability needed to underpin
business success online.

NTT Europe Online is certified to ISO27001 for Information Security
Management and, as part of NTT Communications, has the global reach and scale
to support businesses of all sizes. NTT Communications is the global data and
IP services arm of the Fortune Global 500 telecom leader, Nippon Telegraph &
Telephone Corporation (NTT).

For further information visit http://www.ntteuropeonline.com