Another year has passed and it is incredible to find ourselves on the cusp of 2012.

While much of the world has been plagued with deepening economic and political strife, many of the business and cultural side-effects of these forces have fueled the unprecedented growth of the Cloud Computing marketplace.

Given the growing uncertainties surrounding today's economic and political environment, it is easy to envision the Cloud movement continuing to gain momentum in the year to come. You can read my predictions for the new year here.

This year marked the tenth anniversary of the founding of THINKstrategies, and next month will be the sixth anniversary of the launch of our first Showplace online directories and best practice resource centers focused on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Managed Services, which merged together to create the Cloud Computing Showplace a year ago.

THINKstrategies and the Cloud Showplace are proud to be helping to facilitate the growth of this exciting market. In addition to providing insight and consulting services to help companies develop, sell, deliver, acquire and utilize leading Cloud solutions, we are very happy with the enthusiastic response to our first foray into the conference business, the Cloud Channel Summit, this past November in Mountain View, CA.

The purpose of the Summit was to provide an intimate forum where executives from leading Cloud vendors and channel organizations could discuss the changing role of the channel in the Cloud, and identify new partnering models for success. The Summit attracted nearly 200 attendees, including 31 speakers, and was supported by 19 industry partners and 17 corporate sponsors.

Based on the success of the event, we are putting plans together to not only host a second Cloud Channel Summit in 2012, but also two new conferences next year focused on Cloud Analytics and another important Cloud issue facing IT and business decision-makers from organizations of all sizes across nearly every industry worldwide.

The success of the Cloud Channel Summit was due largely to THINKstrategies  and Cloud Showplace ecosystem of relationships which gives it a unique industry perspective. 

In 2011, THINKstrategies experienced 25% growth and did business with 88 companies. I published 45 commentaries in third-party publications, including corporate-sponsored blogs. I participated in dozens of webinars and was named a member of the faculty of TechTarget's new Cloud University - an online education program designed to provide practical information and insight to corporate decision-makers seeking to better understand the business implications of today's rapidly evolving Cloud Computing alternatives. 

The Showplace now includes over 1870 companies divided into over 90 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) categories. You can find real-time updates on the Showplace homepage or get our alerts via Twitter.

Over 14,000 people subscribe to this monthly newsletter and over 2000 follow THINKstrategies on Twitter. In addition, you can keep up with the latest Cloud news via THINKstrategies' SaaS/Cloud Daily update, powered by Paper.li.

We also continue to  recognize Cloud companies delivering measurable business benefits to their users through our ongoing Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) and Cloud Computing Business Value (CCBV) Award programs. Contact me if you'd like to determine if your Cloud company qualifies for these awards.

I want to thank everyone who has supported my efforts to promote the business benefits of today's Cloud solutions, and the companies listed to the left who are the most recent sponsors and supporters of the Showplace.

Contact me if you would like to learn about how your organization can become a Cloud Showplace sponsor, or take advantage of THINKstrategies' other services to capitalize on the new Cloud market opportunities in 2012.

Best wishes for a prosperous new year,

Jeff Kaplan

Managing Director

THINKstrategies, Inc.

Cloud Computing Showplace 

Twitter:@thinkstrategies

If you were unable to attend the Cloud Channel Summit, you can see highlights, speaker interviews, videotapes of the sessions, or read my recap of the event on Sandhill.com. 

Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received from the Summit attendees, speakers, sponsors and partners, we are planning to host another Cloud Channel Summit in 2012.

We are also putting plans in place for two more conferences focused on Cloud Analytics and another important Cloud issue of particular interest to IT and business decision-makers in organizations of all sizes across nearly every industry.

We'll let you know our 2012 plans soon. Please contact me if you are interested in speaking and sponsorship opportunities at next year's events.

THINKstrategies and the Cloud Showplace continue to recognize SaaS, PaaS and IaaS providers that are delivering measurable business benefits to their customers through our Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) and Cloud Computing Business Value (CCBV) Award programs.

Congratulations to Skire our the most recent award winners.

Click here to read more about the Cloud Showplace Award programs, other winners, and the rules for applying and winning a BoSS or CCBV Award. 

Here are some of the important Cloud events on our calendar for 2012: