Global IaaS market worth $44.5 billion in 2019, says Gartner

The infrastructure as a service (IaaS) space keeps on growing: new data from Gartner has argued the global market was worth $44.5 billion last year, with the hyperscalers further entrenching their positions.

The analyst firm said in a note the worldwide IaaS market grew 37.7% in 2019, with the top five players accounting for 80% of the market, up from 77% the year before.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) remained top of the shop as of the end of 2019, with Gartner estimating a...

By | 10 August 2020 | IaaS

Privacy Shield ruling could lead to dark clouds ahead for hyperscalers, advocates warn

The ending of the Privacy Shield agreement by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) could have serious ramifications for the major hyperscale cloud providers, according to privacy activists.

Privacy Shield is an EU-US agreement which 'provides companies on both sides of the Atlantic with a mechanism to comply with data protection requirements in support of transatlantic commerce', in the words of the framework's website statement.

Max Schrems, a leading privacy advocate,...

By | 7 August 2020 | Data & Analytics

Misconfigurations remain alarmingly common in cloud storage services, says Accurics

Misconfigured cloud storage services are common in the vast majority of cloud deployments, with the issue expected to exacerbate, according to new analysis.

The finding comes from security provider Accurics, whose latest State of DevSecOps Report found that misconfigurations were found in 93% of cloud deployments analysed, with the majority having at least one network exposure where a security group was left wide open.

Most worrying is that many emerging...

By | 6 August 2020 | Containers

AWS beats $10bn in revenues again – albeit slowed growth – while Google Cloud breaks $3bn

Amazon Web Services (AWS) broke the $10 billion revenue mark again for its most recent quarter - albeit with slowed growth - while Google Cloud has seen a 43% year-over-year climb in an otherwise challenging quarter for Alphabet.

AWS recorded $10.8bn (£8.23bn) in revenues for Q220, an increase of just under 29% from this time last year and a rise of 5.8% from the previous quarter. Google Cloud, meanwhile, broke the $3bn mark at $3.01bn (£2.29bn). Total revenues for Amazon and...

By | 31 July 2020 | Amazon

Google Cloud and Orange team up as cloud-telco cauldron continues to bubble

Google Cloud and Orange have announced a strategic partnership utilising edge computing and artificial intelligence (AI) among others as Google's European cloud expansion continues.

The deal, while under the partnership banner, can be seen more as another customer win chalked up for Google. Google will help 'accelerate the transformation of Orange's IT infrastructure and the development of future cloud services, in particular edge computing', according to the press...

By | 29 July 2020 | Applications

Cloud executive demand soars due to Covid-19, data shows

The Covid-19 pandemic has found an accelerated demand for cloud services - and it has also resulted in an increased need for premium executive talent.

According to findings from executive search company Leadership Capital Group, queries for senior cloud executives in the digital realm are up 224% since March.

The company said there was an 'acute need for organisations to execute an effective cloud strategy.' Findings were based on search requests for cloud executives...

By | 27 July 2020 | Economy

Microsoft to migrate Minecraft to Azure, moves away from AWS

Updated July 27 Microsoft is migrating Minecraft away from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and onto Azure according to reports - almost six years after acquiring Mojang, the game's creator.

The Redmond giant told CNBC in a statement that it was in the process of 'migrating all cloud services to Azure over the last few years.'

Microsoft bought Mojang in 2014, with the Swedish game developer saying the price was $2.5 billion. The company had previously utilised AWS for its...

By | 24 July 2020 | Amazon

Google Cloud and Box strengthen partnership around cloud infrastructure and collaboration

Google Cloud and Box have extended their strategic partnership focused on cloud content management, with the storage provider also proving another customer win for Google.

The two companies are extending their alliance, based on improving the experience for users of G Suite with Box, which was first announced in December 2018. Since then, several new features have taken place, including greater native sharing, and reciprocal transfer for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides between Box...

By | 24 July 2020 | Collaboration

Microsoft’s commercial cloud revenues break $50bn for first time – but Azure growth slips

Microsoft has reported revenues of $38 billion (£29.9bn) in its most recent quarter, a year over year increase of 13%, but Azure growth has dipped to 47% from 59%.

Azure went up 47% year over year - Microsoft does not give specific Azure figures, only a percentage increase - while commercial cloud revenue topped $50 billion for the year for the first time.

For Microsoft's three revenue buckets, intelligent cloud - which covers some Azure but with a wider focus on...

By | 23 July 2020 | Economy

Nordic enterprises moving to multi-cloud strategies, says ISG report

Enterprises in the Nordic region are increasingly turning to multi-cloud strategies and seeking help from cloud and data centre providers to achieve their business goals, according to a new report.

The study, from Information Services Group (ISG), looks more towards managed service providers (MSPs), hyperconverged and colocation service providers rather than the likelier public cloud infrastructure giants. As a result, companies such as Basefarm, a Norway-based MSP acquired by...

By | 20 July 2020 | Adoption