According to the IDC (www.idc.com) vendor revenue from sales of infrastructure products (server, storage, and Ethernet switch) for cloud IT, including public and private cloud, grew 14.9% year over year in the first quarter of 2017 (1Q17), reaching $8 billion.

Cloud IT infrastructure sales as a share of overall worldwide IT spending climbed to 39% in 1Q17, a significant increase from 33.9% a year ago. Revenue from infrastructure sales to private cloud grew by 6.0% to $3.1 billion, and to public cloud by 21.7% to $4.8 billion. In comparison, revenue in the traditional (non-cloud) IT infrastructure segment decreased 8.0% year over year in the first quarter of the year.

Private cloud infrastructure growth was led by Ethernet switch at 15.5% year-over-year growth, followed by storage (excluding double counting with servers) at 10.0% and server at 2.1%. Public cloud growth was led by storage, which after heavy declines in 1Q16 grew 49.5% year over year in 1Q17, followed by Ethernet switch at 22.7% and server at 8.7%. In traditional IT deployments, server declined the most (9.3% year over year), with Ethernet switch and servers declining 4.4% and 6.1%, respectively.

"After a weak performance during 2016, storage purchases for cloud IT environments had a strong rebound in the first quarter, driving the overall growth in this segment," said Natalya Yezhkova, research director for Enterprise Storage at IDC. "Overall, the first quarter set a strong beginning of the year for the cloud IT infrastructure market. With positive dynamics in purchasing activity by hyperscalers across all technology segments we expect a strong year ahead for the fastest growing public cloud segment. And as end users continue to embrace the benefits of private cloud infrastructures, spending in this segment will also expand."