Ovum Software (www.ovum.com) has published three "Trends to watch reports" on cloud computing and reveals that 2013 will see cloud computing continue to grow rapidly. 

In the report, Laurent Lachal, senior analyst, Ovum Software notes that  "Cloud computing promises to tackles two hitherto irreconcilable IT challenges: the need to reduce costs and the need to boost innovation."

"It takes a lot of effort from vendors and enterprises to actually make it work, and they will succeed in making it work in 2013, both on their own and as part of increasingly complex ecosystems," he says.

Indeed, cloud computing in all its guises (public, private, and hybrid) is building momentum, evolving fast and becoming increasingly "enterprise-grade." But it's in its early days for vendors and enterprises.

"Cloud computing has barely reached the adolescence phase and it will take at least another five years for cloud computing to mature into adulthood," Lachal says.

2013 will also see the emergence of cloud computing ecosystem. Public clouds are increasingly approached not only as technology delivery platforms but also as "ecosystem hubs" for cloud service providers and consumers.

"They offer a new way to accelerate participation in the rapidly evolving social networking and mobile solution ecosystems of the Internet age," Lachal says. "Some industry sectors are benefiting from the 'data centre as a hub,' an increasingly cloud computing-centric ecosystem of partners that assembles in a key location or data centre such as around financial exchanges, web and online services, or media content."