McAfee expects 10-15% revenue from cloud computing solutions

NEW DELHI: Online security software maker McAfee on Thursday said that it expects 10-15 per cent of its global revenue to come from cloud computing solutions over the next few years.

Cloud computing allows companies to use services, softwares or applications on a pay-per-use model without actually owning any hardware infrastructure or licence. This helps companies save on setting up IT infrastructure or purchasing licences.

"Currently, about 5-10 per cent of our global revenues come from cloud computing solutions. But, looking at the growth, it will easily contribute to 10-15 per cent of our revenue over the next couple of years," McAfee senior president and general manager (Content and General Manager) Marc Olesen told reporters in New Delhi.

McAfee provides security software solutions to individuals as well as enterprises. Its total net revenue for 2009 stood at $1.92 billion.

The total revenue from global cloud services is expected to reach $148.8 billion by 2014 from $58.6 billion in 2009, according to research firm Gartner.

"We are seeing an acceleration of adoption of cloud computing and cloud services among enterprises. However, security of the data remains a crucial concern," Olesen said.

McAfee provides solutions and certification to cloud computing services providers such as Amazon, offering protection against spamware and other online threats, he added.

Financial services and manufacturing industries are the largest adopters of cloud services, while communications and technology industries are also leveraging cloud computing.

"As these sectors have a lot of important data and applications, the security of such data is important. Any glitches will result in huge financial losses as well," Olesen said.