Cloud Hosting Trends in 2011

Cloud hosting has been buzzing throughout the web hosting industry the last few years. Many larger corporations are already using this type of efficient server/routing/switching configuration, and the extraordinary results are being noticed by the little guy.

As a result, cloud computing technology received much notice in 2010, and more and more hosting companies jumped on the cloud computing bandwagon. 2011 looks to be a turning point year. So what type of trends might you expect to see for cloud hosting in 2011?

Increased demand from general consumers

Cloud hosting technology is still so new that most companies who use this type of server architecture are major corporations or enterprise organizations. Cloud hosting has been too cost-prohibitive for the general consumer such as bloggers, personal websites, or small business owners.

However, with the advancement in technology combined with more and more hosting companies using this type of architecture, the buzz about cloud hosting is growing. Thus many experts predict that more and more general consumers will be taking advantage of cloud hosting plans in 2011.

More Cloud hosting resellers

Even in the shared hosting or dedicated server hosting segment there are a large number of companies who do not manage their own equipment or data center. Rather, hosting companies will contract with a larger company that operates an enormous data center to resell their own brand of hosting service.

This is likely going to be a growing trend in 2011. While cloud technology continues to evolve and grow, not all hosting companies will want to develop their own technology center. Instead, hosting companies will let the cloud experts do what they do best, and simply turn around and sell their own brand of ‘cloud’ hosting to customers.

Simpler pricing structures

Currently there are few cloud hosting companies who offer their service for a flat fee per month. A few hosting companies like SiteCloud.com do offer a single cloud hosting plan for a reasonable monthly price. However, the cloud hosting paradigm is to charge per usage based on the technology selected. It may be a per hour charge or per bandwidth, but cloud hosting customers generally don’t see much consistency in their monthly bills, especially when website traffic spikes.

However, it is likely that more cloud hosting companies will look at how smart phone carriers charge per month. They will start offering an ‘all you can eat’ type of plan, with additional add-ons available, making the cloud hosting pricing much more predictable for business owners.

Increased service and support for cloud hosting

Cloud hosting is so reliable that it typically requires less technical support than a shared hosting configuration. However, cloud hosting clients are still demanding the support and service levels found with shared and dedicated hosting that includes 24 hour contact. Look for more cloud hosting companies to provide better and more focused support for their product. Larger website owners will likely see additional offerings for increased service level agreements (SLAs) that will guarantee the company’s service performance.

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