Gartner is a leading investment research company and they have recently published a report on cloud computing and the financial impact for investors. Gartner’s research predicts a growth in the global cloud computing market to USD $148 billion by 2014 with exponential growth in revenues.

Growth predictions for 2010 are much closer to home with an annual forecast growth rate of 16.6% providing revenues of USD $68.3 billion based on USD $58.6 billion for 2009. The United States has a 60% share in the market (2009 figures), but this is forecast to decline as cloud computing is increasingly adopted around the world (estimated to drop to 50% by 2014, but still a substantial portion of global market share).

Outside of the United States, major cloud computing users include the UK with 29% global share in 2014 (compared to 23.8% for the whole of Western Europe in 2010). Japan accounts for 10% of global revenues in 2010 and is forecast to grow to 12% by 2014.

The budget turmoil currently affecting the UK as it seeks to reduce a record high deficit is having a fundamental impact on the UK cloud computing market with the entire government moving to the platform in order to cut costs. This aggressive adoption of cloud computing is expected to filter back through into the mainstream private sector and provide healthy growth prospects for solution providers in the market segment. Cost cutting is clearly a prime driver in the solution’s growth both in the UK and in the United States.

Moving from geographical regions to industry segments, Gatner’s research highlights the following as being the biggest adopters of the new technology: