(28-Sep-11) Many companies find once they're into cloud computing, they keep getting pulled deeper as they try to achieve the critical mass necessary to reach the promised cost savings vendors have assured the cloud could deliver.

That was among the messages delivered by the London, Ont.-based Info-Tech Research Group at the analyst firm's recent technology trends and predictions event in Toronto. Rob Dreyer, vice-president of research with Info-Tech, said it can be hard to get to that critical mass necessary to achieve real infrastructure savings by moving to the cloud. Most organizations dip their toes into the cloud strategically, moving certain processes or functions, but that's often not enough to allow them to start retiring on-premise servers.

“In a way, cloud encourages us to commit to more cloud,” said Dreyer. “You need to commit to more cloud to get that infrastructure critical mass savings.”