Periodically we’ll post interesting statistics about the cloud, universal data management, and where Sonian sees all this new technology heading.

This week’s interesting number: 5 Million.

In the Fall of 2009 an estimated 5 million students returned to educational institutions that migrated their collaboration systems (email, IM, etc.) to a cloud-powered hosted service.

Sonian is in the forefront of 5 out of 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2010.

Cloud computing, advanced analytics, green IT and virtualization are all poised to see tremendous growth in the next year because each of these trends ultimately helps customers “do more for less IT budget.”

1. Cloud Computing. Leverage on-demand CPU and storage to solve archival and information governance needs.

2. Advanced Analytics. The cloud is the best place to analyze your terabytes of “dark data” into actionable intelligence.

3. IT for Green. Lower electricity and cooling needs to save money and the planet.

4. Social Computing. Personal and work life as it relates to IT systems are more entwined now than ever before.

5. Virtualization for Availability. Use a “hybrid IT model” – keep some services on-premise and move ancillary to a virtualization layer in the cloud.

A Verizon/Cisco sponsored study by Frost & Sullivan correlates increased employee productivity with the deployment of advanced collaboration systems such as IM, VOIP, document sharing and video conferencing.

The study found “that 44 percent of organizations had deployed collaborative tools (VoIP, document sharing, videoconferencing and IM). The study found that as businesses invest more in these technologies, their return gets proportionally greater.”

The report mentioned other interesting findings beyond the productivity gains. Workers said advanced collaboration reduced stress (by relieving the “constant checking email burden”) and allowed for telecommuting, which improves quality of life scenarios for many people.

80% of organizations have yet to adopt more advanced collaboration tools beyond email, so this will be an exciting space to watch and Sonian’s cloud-powered platform is prepared to help capture all employee generated content regardless of the source.

Today’s troubling financial situation will be the tipping point that drives adoption of cloud compute based services. CFOs will be looking to save money, and the cloud’s model of transparency, pay as you go, and pay for what you consume, is a refreshing change away from expensive monolithic closed proprietary software solutions.

Forrester Research advises CFOs to take a close look at cloud computing for messaging and collaboration and enterprise applications. The payoffs could be noticeable during the current economic downturn.

Sonian is your partner in this seismic shift. We bring the world’s first cloud compute based hosted email archive service to market. We are here to help solve your archiving needs with our unique service.

We’re giving away a pair of Red Sox tickets each day at 2:30, so come on by and we look forward to seeing you at the Amazon booth.

It’s the strongest proof yet that large companies have started to embrace the software-as-a-service delivery model.

The company is Flextronics, a $28 billion electronics manufacturer. CIO David Smoley says “HR should be simple. When you look at the usability of Workday it’s a natural compared with traditional vendors that make it incredibly complex to implement and make changes.”

What Workday does for HR software, Sonian does for hosted archiving: Simple, Secure, Affordable. One click and you’re done.

The market for hosted e-mail mailboxes is poised for rapid growth due
to the economics of cloud computing and the entry of new vendors…. the move to a hosted-delivery model will change the face of IT architectures over the next decade and that e-mail will be at the forefront of this change.

Sonian’s premise from the very beginning is based on this trend: IT will begin to selectively use SaaS services tactically to solve specific pain points like archiving, and over time, move more functions into the cloud. IT has to get comfortable with the idea of hosted versus on-premise, and that comfort and trust will mature over time. The next few years will be very interesting in the SaaS sector. Sonian is doing its part to create an affordable, reliable, secure SaaS experience.

We already know Microsoft has a service called Microsoft Online which offers managed PC desktops and will soon add hosted Exchange and Sharepoint to the menu. For quite a while now, Microsoft has been managing the desktops as a service provider for Energizer Holdings and XL Capital. Now smaller companies will be able to subscribe to these offerings.

It is still unclear where the channel partner fits in this new “direct to customer” world. Microsoft Online doesn’t mean there is no role for its channel partners, but clearly something will have to change in this new SaaS-y world.

According to Pi’s web site, the software Pi is working on is designed to let people control, share, and publish information that is online or locally stored.

Pi has ambitious goals, and the fact they are building this super-personal information manager (S-PiM) shows there is a growing desire among modern knowledge managers (i.e. any of us who use email, digital files for photos, music and record keeping) to have more flexibility in the way we manage and access our digital content. Cloud compute combined with a lightweight rich Internet application is a great way to accomplish this goal.

Apparently EMC agrees, since they have purchased Pi Corp. in an all cash deal.

“We’re saying that success in this new space will require a very different technology base–and a business model–very unlike other parts of the traditional IT landscape,” wrote Chuck Hollis, EMC’s global marketing chief technology officer, in his blog.

The IT landscape is changing rapidly. It’s exciting times to be at the forefront of the next wave of great innovation.