The desire to simplify IT operations is driving adoption of cloud computing, according to a new report from research firm IDC. The report predicts that $3.6 billion will be spent on public cloud servers in 2015, with $5.8 billion spent on private cloud infrastructure.

IDC analyst Katie Broderick said that cloud computing can simplify data centre management, making IT departments service organisations for the rest of the company. “Offloading some of the more mundane tasks to the cloud (public or private) and freeing up manpower to focus on adding value to the business is critical to driving cloud adoption,” Broderick said.

The report also found that public clouds tended to be built on less complex server hardware than private clouds, with an emphasis on efficiency and cost control. “The reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) for public clouds tends to be built into the software layer (through failover and virtualisation),” the report said.

However, the study found that private clouds tend to be run on better hardware, and rely more heavily on that hardware for RAS capabilities.

More than 570,000 servers will be shipped for deployment into private clouds in 2015, according to IDC, representing a five-year compound annual growth rate of 22.4%.