2015 DaaS Predictions: Business-Specific DaaS, Hosted Workspaces Will Thrive

By Ken Oestreich, Senior Director of Product Marketing in Citrix’s Cloud Services

Some said 2014 would be the year of Desktops-as-a-Service (DaaS). And maybe it was — given the aggressive moves and announcements from multiple vendors that raised its visibility. But in 2015, we’ll see even more significant, measurable market traction in high-value DaaS segments, while the market for commodity segments that compete purely on price will stall.

Research from the Citrix Service Provider Center of Excellence shows customers and services providers are seeing growth in hosted desktops and workspace resources that are business-ready and customized for specific vertical markets. Our global DaaS market report revealed that 87 percent of DaaS service providers anticipate market growth in these spaces, with the vast majority specifically citing the need to offer combinations of desktops, apps, storage and other services. Survey results did not, however, indicate demand from customers wanting to replace PCs and VDI with a “commodity” DaaS infrastructure.

Who Is — And Will — Be Using DaaS?

The real growth engine for DaaS and hosted services through 2015 is the smaller business — less than 500 seats — that tends to have small, if not entirely outsourced, IT departments. IT management is simply not a core competency, yet they run specialized businesses with market-specific needs, applications, mobile work styles, and compliance rules. Furthermore, research from AMI estimated another 2.8 million seat addressable market for business-specific DaaS from small and medium-sized businesses alone.

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