I've been intrigued recently to see how well the Top 25 countries in something I created called the Tau Index match up with a group known as the "Next Eleven" or N-11 countries.

This latter group was identified by the London office of Goldman Sachs a few years back as the places with the most potential to become the next global economic powers. The Tau Index is a measure that integrates IT spend with a few other factors to determine the world's most aggressive IT deployers.

Countries that made both lists include Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, and South Korea.

The three other N-11 countries - Mexico, Turkey, and Nigeria - did not make my Top 25 but are nevertheless strongly developing economies with solid commitments to IT and its benefits.

Although these countries are all very dynamic right now, it's clear that inclusion on these lists is hardly a measure of stability. My Tau Index includes Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, in addtion the countries listed above. It also appears that Libya and Syria would rate highly, although I haven't been able to label my hands on enough information to rate them. Disruption indeed.

Both lists cover a range of economic development. Both include South Korea, for example, which continues to be a monstrous IT deployer and red-hot economic oven, even as it enters the ranks of highly developed countries.

Both also include Bangladesh - the world's most aggressive IT deployer - as it strives to pull itself out of the bottom third of the world's economic rankings.

The rest of the Tau Index Top 25 and N-11 fall somewhere in-between these two.

I am now engaged in a second phase of my Tau Index work. In particular, I'm seeking to find how widely Cloud Computing in all its forms is being embraced by many key nations in both the Tau Index and the N-11.

My plan is to publish my latest results at Cloud Expo West in Santa Clara, CA in early November. Tweet me up @strukhoff if you're interested in participating in the project or learning more.

Twitter: @strukhoff

• Larry Whistles Past the (Cloud) Graveyard
• Enterprise-Level Cloud Computing: Far-Off Dream or Present Reality?
• F5 Study Shows Cloud Computing Gaining Critical Mass Among Enterprises