Chasing pack about to sink teeth into Amazon's AWS, says Gartner
Google, Microsoft and one more 'very dangerous competitor' are closing fast
Free ESG report : Seamless data management with Avere FXT
Amazon Web Services' position as the leading infrastructure-as-a-service provider is under threat, as competitors target markets the organisation has to date ignored, according to Gartner research veep Lydia Leong.
Leong's expressed her opinion in a double-barrelled blog post, the first instalment of which says the source of AWS's success is that it has catered superbly to developers. Other types of buyers, Leong says, may soon become more influential, allowing infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service players that cater to other types of buyer an opportunity to grow.
In part two Leong says “three very dangerous competitors” are coming after AWS.
The three are Microsoft, Google and VMware.
Redmond will pick up more cloud business thanks to what Leong describes as “deep customer relationships, deep technology entrenchment, and a useful story about how all of those pieces are going to fit together”. Google will eventually convinces enterprises it is not a risk and pinches pinching some startups and HPC customers from AWS. “Interactive agencies that use its cloud platform” will also fuel broader adoption of its IaaS and PaaS products.
On VMware, Leong has good news: Virtzilla's plans to convince its current clientele that ESX everywhere is a good idea will work. The company will therefore emerge as one of the top four IaaS vendors, a big win given its entry to the cloud market was widely considered to sit somewhere between defence and desperation.
Many readers may, at this point, be wondering why Leong has not mentioned OpenStack, or its champion RackSpace. The analyst feels OpenStack's fate will be tied to the fortunes of the companies that offer it. That's not a happy assessment of RackSpace's prospects, but Leong also notes “the real war for market share is just beginning.” ®
