EL SEGUNDO, CA — Worldwide spending on cloud-related infrastructure and services will grow by factor of three from 2011 to 2017, according to a new report from IHS. Global business spending for infrastructure and services related to the cloud will reach an estimated $174.2 billion this year, up 20% from $145.2 billion in 2013.

And in a sign of the market’s vigor, spending will enjoy continued strong growth during the next few years as enterprises everywhere race to come up with their own cloud-storage solutions. By 2017, enterprise spending on the cloud will amount to a projected $235.1 billion, triple the $78.2 billion in 2011, as shown in the figure.

“With the cloud touching nearly every consumer and enterprise around the globe, spending for cloud-related storage, servers, applications and content will be dedicated toward building a framework that is rapidly scalable, highly dynamic, available on-demand and requiring minimal management,” said Jagdish Rebello, Ph.D., senior director and principal analyst for the cloud and big data at IHS. “The robust growth will come as an increasing number of large and small enterprises move more of their applications to the cloud, while also looking at data analytics to drive new insights into consumer behavior.”

Spending on cloud services, applications, security and data analytics will account for an ever- growing portion of total information-technology expenditures undertaken by enterprises, valued today at approximately $2 trillion, Rebello noted. And the most engaged among spenders will be those seeking to ensure their continued relevance to consumers in the future.