Cloud operators have been the star of the IPO world thanks to deals like WageWorks(NASDAQ:WAGE, +188% since IPO), Workday (NYSE:WDAY, +132%) and ServiceNow(NYSE:NOW).

One of the early investors in the cloud space is Emergence Capital.

“Ten years ago when we started our firm, we believed that the Internet would change everything in the way businesses use technology,” Emergence partner Kevin Spain said. As a result, Emergence invested in breakout companies like Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), SuccessFactors, Yammerand Box.

“There are things you can do in the cloud that are not possible with the traditional client-server approach,” Spain said. “For example, you can do things like collaboration. In fact, a company likeLinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) could only be possible with the cloud.”

While Spain remains bullish on the industry, he still recognizes that some sectors are tougher to crack than others. One is enterprise resource planning, especially when it comes to bringing Global 2000 companies onboard. Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) and SAP (NYSE:SAP) still have a hammerlock on the market, and various government sectors like intelligence and defense have been tough to sell into.

Despite this, the market potential is still enormous — and there should be numerous opportunities for investors. Spain discusses this more at length, expounding upon M&A and public offerings for cloud companies, in the video interview below.

Last year, the cloud continued to be red hot. But keep in mind that the industry is far from young. The roots actually go back to 1998, with the founding of NetSuite (NYSE:N). The company made a big bet that enterprises would eventually access software via the Web.

While NetSuite is far from a startup, the company continues to act like one. Just a year ago, the stock price was at $39.60. Now it’s at $69.20.

So I reached out to NetSuite’s CEO, Zach Nelson, to get his take on the cloud and some of the emerging trends. Here’s what he had to say:

Q. What’s your take on 2012?

A. It was a great year for us. NetSuite’s stock was the No. 2 performer compared to our peer software companies. But we were actually No. 1 for the past three years.

There has been a big transition for NetSuite and the industry in general. In 2012, we saw very large companies move business critical processes to the cloud. It’s not just about things like salesforce automation anymore.

As for NetSuite, we are seeing two-tier ERP. This means a large company will rollout an ERP system for a fast-growing subsidiary. We did this for companies like P&G and Qualcomm.

Q. Your thoughts on the dealmaking in the cloud space?

A. A major M&A driver was that big traditional client/server vendors got caught napping. They needed to build a credible story around the cloud and this meant buying companies. But the strategy has not really solved the problem.

Going forward, there will be a changing of the guard in the business software market. Whenever there is a transition like this, the legacy players are usually not the leaders for the next generation. This is not good for companies like SAP (NYSE:SAP) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

The trend to the cloud is evident when you look at the revenues. You can also see this in the stock prices. People are betting with their own wallets. Even the incumbents are betting with their wallets!

Q.  What about some trends for 2013?

A.  One is commerce as a service. I see this as a big trend in 2013 and for years to come. This is why we bought Retail Anywhere. The Point-of-Sale technology combined with our SuiteCommerce platform allows customers to sell through any channel, whether it be online, mobile, or even a screen on the car. Customers want a seamless integrated experience wherever they encounter your brand, and we aim to provide technology to enable that.

I think it is a misconception that retail is dead. If you look at Apple, the main reason for the company’s success was its integrated retail model. It was a big driver.

Now traditional retailers need to find a way to take the Apple approach. The problem is that they could not do it because much of the technology had been built before the cloud era. Apple, on the other hand, built its own system.

Now with Retail Anywhere and NetSuite, retailers can have the same experience regardless of the channel.

Q.  You also think there will be an “Apple Effect” on enterprise software, too?

A.  I think Apple will become the model for the successful next-generation enterprise software company. And it will not just be because of the user interface. That’s just one piece of it.

The other is having an integrated model. Everything works together. This has actually been the vision of NetSuite since 1998. That is, we believe that the winner in enterprise software will be the company with a suite of applications that work seamlessly together. And so far, we are the only one with the technology.

Workday’s (NYSE:WDAY) co-CEO and co-founder, Aneel Bhusri, pulled off one of the hottest IPOs last year. The offering price was $28, which spiked 74% on the first day of trading. The shares are now at $52.38.

Founded in 2005, Workday is a cloud-based provider of ERP solutions. And the growth has been sizzling. In the latest quarter, revenues soared by 99% to $72.6 million.

I recently had a chance to interview Aneel. No doubt, he had some interesting things to say. Here’s a look:

Q: What’s your take on the cloud for the new year?

A: The debate between the cloud and on-premise is largely dead. The cloud has become mainstream. Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) proved it for CRM. We did it with HR and financials.

Big legacy players are embracing the cloud, as seen with the recent deals. Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) is pitching Fusion and SAP (NYSE:SAP) is pitching SuccessFactors. For Workday, our competition is not against the legacy technology anymore.

So it will be about whose cloud is better. Is it mobile? Does it use Big Data? The advantage will go to those companies who started from the cloud.

Q: You are also bullish on tablets, right?

A: The iPad is an amazing phenomenon. It is disrupting the enterprise. If you are an average employee, you can do anything for HR and Finance on the iPad. Keep in mind that — by the end of the year — Workday managers and supervisors will be able to run their operations off an iPad.

Tablets are more intuitive than a PC or laptop. They also have more real estate than a smartphone.

So going into 2013, there will be a big focus on tablets for cloud vendors. I also think Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will pay more attention to this trend.

Someone will figure out the right set of hardware for Windows Phone 8 as well. It’s going to make it. I have a Surface and I generally like the features, especially the keyboard.

It could even be HP (NYSE:HPQ) that figures it out. And I actually think the company will have a good 2013. Besides the hardware opportunity, HP is doing interesting things with cloud infrastructure. The company can be an alternative to Amazon.com’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) web services.

Q. How will the economy impact tech in 2013?

A: Talking to CIOs, there is cautious optimism. The big concern remains what is happening in Washington.

But the cloud and Big Data may do well regardless of the fiscal environment. In 2008, Workday grew by 50%.

In a slower economy, companies look for more value. The cloud provides this. So does Big Data. Keep in mind that this technology relies on commodity hardware and open source software.

Global enterprises are aggressively adopting cloud solutions, as seen with the huge success of companies like Workday (NYSE:WDAY) and ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW). But to continue the megatrend, there needs to be heavy investment in security.

And this is the sweet spot for CipherCloud. In fact, the company has announced a funding of $30 million from Andreessen Horowitz.

Founded in 2010, CipherCloud has grown at hyperspeed. The company’s software now protects 1.2 million cloud app users and is available in eight countries.

The mastermind of CipherCloud is Pravin Kothari, who was the co-founder of ArcSight (the company went public and then sold out to HP for $1.5 billion). “From my experience at ArcSight,” he said, “I learned how important it is to remain focused on your strategy and to execute against that strategy. ArcSight was not the first to market in what grew to be a very crowded security space. Yet, as a result of our differentiated technology we succeeded and grew to be a dominant provider.”

OK, so what makes CipherCloud different? According to Pravin: “We offer eight different commercially available products that support the most popular cloud applications in the market: Salesforce, Chatter, Force.com, Google Gmail and Microsoft Office 365, among others. Our customers can use our technology without any changes needed to the cloud application. We preserve search, sort, and reporting operations for users, so there is no loss of productivity or convenience. We let our customers control the keys, so no one can access their data without their involvement. The technology is simple to understand, transparent to the end-users, fast, and easy to deploy.”

Condisder that Andreessen Horowitz has been an early supporter of CipherCloud, having made a seed investment of $1.4 million in the company last year. “When we made the investment, we saw both the market trend of enterprises adopting cloud applications and the increasing requirements for security,” said John Jack, a board partner at Andreessen Horowitz and former CEO of Fortify Software. “The company has made tremendous progress since then. We were delighted with the progress but not surprised given the market requirements.”

Of course, the market potential is enormous. Keep in mind that a report from Gartner predicts that about 25% of enterprises will use some type of cloud information protection technology by 2016.

Spotify – a top player in online music streaming, is about to close a round of financing that will set its value around $3 billion.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Spotify wants to raise more than $100 million in its latest deal. The $3 billion valuation at that mark would be a nice step up from last year’s financing, during which Spotify was valued at $1 billion — though it looks like it’s short of Spotify’s goal of being valued at more than $ billion. In light of the plunges in IPOs like Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) and Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN), however, the enthusiasm for hot social deals is waning.

Spotify, founded in 2006, might generate as much as $900 million in revenues for this year. The company charges $10 per month for its service and has more than 15 million subscribers.

It’s unclear how much Spotify has to pay music labels for its content, but considering deals at other streaming services, the amount’s likely substantial, which means the company’s margins probably are tight.

Spotify also has a few entrenched competitors, including Pandora (NYSE:P), iHeartRatio and Rdio. And really throwing a wrench into things might be Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), which is planning to launch its own streaming music service.

In early August, Eloqua (NASDAQ:ELOQ) came public at $11.50 a share and has since gone on to hit over $19. The company is a top player in the emerging market for cloud-based marketing automation (the focus is on B2B customers). In the latest quarter, revenues climbed by 30% to $23.8 million.

I had a chance to talk to the company’s CEO, Joe Payne, who is a veteran of the software space. Before Eloqua, he was an executive at companies like VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) and MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR).

Here’s what he had to say:

Q: How was the IPO process?

A: It was great. To get ready, I did talk to a bunch of CEOs to make sure I understood the process itself.

As for the roadshow, I actually felt sorry for my CFO. He had to hear my presentation over 70 times!

Q: What were some of the recurring questions from investors?

A: One was about the market, which is brand new. Investors wanted to get a good idea about what we do and about our customers. They also wanted to see how we fit versus Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) and the email players.

Q: Why the success for Eloqua?

A: The way people buy has certainly changed for consumers. They often first go to the Internet before making a purchase.

The same thing is happening with B2B sales. The problem is that there has been little innovation with the process. So with Eloqua, we help with things like forums, webinars and white papers. We can then track the activity and help to find real buyers, not just tire kickers.

Q: If the economy slows down, how might that impact your growth rate?

A: No company is immune from a recession. In 2008, we felt the pressure and our growth rate slowed down.

But we have some advantages. First of all, we are a key part of helping companies drive revenues. This is something you do not want to turn off during a recession.

The other factor is that our subscription model is attractive to customers. They are essentially renting software, not making a big commitment to buy it. In other words, our approach is less risky for the CIO.

You know the commercial …

“The police often question him just because they find him interesting.”

“One-third of his body weight is gravitas.”

“His business card simply says ‘I’ll call you.’”

Yes, he’s the most interesting man in the world.

But he’s actually not the guy from the Dos Equis commercial. Instead, the real deal is Oracle’s (NASDAQ:ORCL) Larry Ellison.

Just take a look at his interview on CNBC yesterday. In it, he mentioned his personal credit line of $4.5 billion (backed by his stock holdings). According to Ellison: “I’ve got a line of credit just in case I go shopping and something catches my eye.”

And he has already drawn about a billion of it. Of course, he shelled out about $500 million for the Hawaiian island, Lanai. He plans to turn it into some type of Jurassic Park laboratory for sustainability. Cars will be electric, energy will come from solar, farming will be organic and drinking water will somehow come from the ocean.

Oh, and Ellison has also been on a buying binge for old-style mansions. The reason? He he wants to turn them into museums!

OK, so what’s next? Ellison says he would love to buy the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Lakers. Although he did mention it would be “a very expensive way to get floor seats.”