Canalys reports WW private cloud infrastructure and services revenues for channel partners will total $36 billion in 2011-- from a cloud computing opportunity worth $40Bn in total. 

Meanwhile the analyst estimates WW public cloud business revenues will total $85Bn, as consumers drive public cloud expansion for companies including Google, Microsoft, Baidu, Facebook, Yahoo! and YouTube. 

Canalys conclusion might be somewhat obvious by now-- "Private cloud initiatives provide the obvious choice for channel partners looking to grow new business," as the IT partner community continues being as relevant as ever. 

Enterprise private cloud adoption will accelerate rapidly over the next few years while the industry irons out current concerns (service outages, security concerns and regulatory question marks). 

Channel partners should quickly develop the skills and products offerings necessary to handle this transition, Canalys says-- capturing an early competitive advantage in the process. 

Go Private Cloud Opens $36Bn Door for Channel Partners (Canalys)