Cloud computing technology solution providers have predicted that Viet Nam's information technology industry will witness a sudden change in the awareness and application of the technology in the businesses sector and Government in 2012.

According to Vo Tan Long, General Director of IBM Viet Nam, last year the awareness of cloud computing in Viet Nam made remarkable progress. Significant changes were realised with support from the mass media, businesses and Government agencies.

Many businesses and organisations had seen this growing trend and started using cloud computing technology such as Quang Trung Software and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said Long.

Long added that those who were already using the new technology were mainly focused on infrastructure resources, corporate administration and software testing and development.

Mai Quynh Hoa from Microsoft Viet Nam said that last year, domestic businesses and the Government had taken positive steps by transferring old technology to cloud computing. Many seminars on infrastructure and the applications of cloud computing were also conducted in the country.

Aman Neil Dokania, Deputy Director of HP's Business Solutions Division, said cloud computing was becoming more influential in Viet Nam. However, it was also new and the application process needed more time for deployment and testing.

The new technology provided an opportunity for enterprises in developing countries like Viet Nam to save costs on information technology infrastructure development.

The application of cloud computing did not require organisations and businesses to hire skilled IT experts, and last year many positive changes occurred in the country's IT sector, he said.

Steve Chang, Chairman of Trend Micro, said according to a report compiled by research group Gartner, cloud computing around the world had reached growth of 17 per cent annually with the participation of over 50 per cent of businesses and organisations. Gartner also pointed out that the total value for cloud computing services posted last year reached nearly US$2.4 billion and was expected to reach $8.1 billion in 2013. IBM, Microsoft and HP all said that Viet Nam was on its way to joining the global trend of using this new technology.

Hoa said cloud computing technology would become favoured by Vietnamese businesses in the near future, while Long said that the market in Viet Nam would grow about 3.5 to 4 times by 2015, and in 2012 alone, growth of 50 per cent was estimated.

However, the experts also noted that the majority of Vietnamese businesses were hesitant to take up cloud computing before they saw the results of it application. 

Source: VNS