Cloud computing has transitioned from a novel concept to an essential enterprise service underpinning business technology today. By providing on-demand access to IT resources over the internet, cloud platforms enable unprecedented agility, scalability and cost efficiency. Companies can spin up vast compute power, platforms and software without massive infrastructure investments.
IDC predicts worldwide spending on public cloud to reach nearly $500 billion in 2022 as more workloads migrate to the cloud. Leading this soaring industry is a pack of pioneering providers who supply cloud infrastructure, platforms and software at a massive scale. This article will provide you with an insider‘s overview of the 10 largest cloud companies.
We’ll analyze their key strengths, offerings, customers and strategies for dominating different cloud niches. By peering behind the curtain, you’ll walk away better grasping both the major players as well as dynamics reshaping business technology as a whole. Let’s start by grounding yourself on exactly what cloud services encompass.
Defining Cloud Services
At a high level, cloud computing involves providing different layers of IT infrastructure and software over the internet:
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) – The base layer that provides access to fundamental computing resources like servers, storage, network and operating systems that customers can leverage to deploy apps and data as needed.
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) – Managed cloud environment for customers to deploy apps and services without building underlying infrastructure. Handles needs like scalability, availability and automation.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) – Completed cloud software applications that customers access via the internet. Provides browser-based access without needing installations or maintenance.
Leading cloud providers offer some combination of these on-demand services at tremendous scale. They operate massive data centers across the globe while using automation and virtualization to maintain reliability and elasticity. Now let’s overview the 10 largest companies fueling business’ transition to the cloud:
10. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
As the corporate successor to the hardware pioneers at HP, HPE maintains a vast technology portfolio spanning IT infrastructure, software and services. Annual cloud revenue clocks in around $815 million.
HPE’s hybrid cloud strategy is rooted in supplying enterprises flexible architecture to run workloads across on-prem data centers and public cloud platforms. Offerings cater to managing traditional apps and emerging edge solutions.
Flagship Offerings:
- HPE GreenLake – Pay-per-use managed infrastructure delivered as a service
- HPE SimpliVity – Hyperconverged infrastructure for virtualization and hybrid cloud
- HPE Ezmeral – Container software for deploying and managing apps across environments
Outlook:
While overshadowed by hyperscale clouds, HPE enjoys strategic wins among mid-sized enterprises seeking workload portability. Acquiring supercomputing pioneer Cray expanded HPE‘s high performance computing (HPC) credentials.
9. VMware
The pioneers of virtualization software for x86 architecture, VMware remains an anchor for enterprises even as infrastructure gravitates towards the cloud. They mesh public cloud access with existing VMware deployments that power most corporate data centers.
VMware spans private, public and edge environments with their software portfolio. This provides a consistent platform for customers at each stage of cloud migration. Annual cloud revenue exceeds $3 billion.
Flagship Offerings:
- vSphere Virtualization – The standard for virtualizing enterprise servers to optimize hardware utilization
- VMware Cloud – SDDC platform to natively run enterprise apps across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud
- Tanzu – Kubernetes container management platform centered around app modernization
Outlook: VMware is entrenched within massive enterprises who rely daily on legacy offerings like vSphere. But growth hinges on further expanding Tanzu for cloud-native apps and negotiating cloud partnerships to перейти safety.
8. Salesforce
The SaaS juggernaut, Salesforce ended its 2022 fiscal year with over $26 billion in total revenue. The company dominates the CRM software marketplace while supplying diverse cloud offerings beyond customer relationship management via strategic acquisitions.
Billing itself as Customer 360, Salesforce arms companies to connect every team, data source and engagement channel to foster holistic customer relationships. AI and vertical expertise accentuate these capabilities for specific industries.
Flagship Offerings:
- Sales Cloud – The #1 CRM platform and flagship productdriving automation and intelligence of sales teams.
- Marketing Cloud – End-to-end marketing campaign management with analytics/intelligence to target customer engagement.
- Service Cloud – Platform supporting customer service teams with case management, knowledge building and contact center capabilities.
- Tableau – Business intelligence solution for easy data visualization and exploration uncovering insights.
Outlook: With various clouds powering every angle of customer obsession, Salesforce appears poised for continued growth. Developer ecosystem on AppExchange and vertical expertise further entrench its positioning.
7. Cisco
While not exclusively a direct cloud provider, Cisco holds privileged status supplying the infrastructure enabling enterprise cloud adoption. The networking leader offers essential data center, cloud networking and edge solutions.
Cisco’s focus centers on enabling multi- and hybrid cloud environments for organizations. Flagship platforms abstract infrastructure complexities to help companies plug into the cloud with consistency and control. Annual cloud-driven revenue exceeds $6 billion.
Flagship Offerings:
- Cisco Nexus Cloud Switches – Data center switches purpose built for multi-cloud connectivity with security, scalability and VXLAN support. Provides uniform policy across diverse sites.
- Cisco Intersight Cloud Management – Unified SaaS management plane allowing infrastructure automation, proactive optimization and visibility across public/private cloud & data center resources.
- Cisco Cloud ACI – Unifies access policies to securely interconnect across AWS, Azure and cloud networks quickly using declarative intent. Extends on-prem ACI fabric to multi-cloud.
Outlook: Cisco will continue enjoying strategic advantage as the critical piping integrating major cloud platforms. But it needs to court developers better and flesh out observability/visibility offerings long-term.
6. Oracle
Oracle supplies a diverse portfolio of IaaS and SaaS offerings geared predominantly towards enterprises. Prominent PaaS options include autonomous databases, cloud ERP/HR/CX suites and Java Cloud Services. Flagship Gen 2.0 Cloud Infrastructure provides high performance for mission-critical workloads – a key Oracle differentiator.
With decades serving enterprises worldwide with leading database and ERP software, Oracle Cloud enjoys pre-built synergies shifting existing customers to the cloud. Tools ease migration of legacy Oracle workloads to cloud with added automation and intelligence.
Flagship Offerings:
- Oracle Autonomous Database – Self-driving cloud database manages provisioning, tuning, scaling and more without admin intervention. Runs transaction processing, data warehouses and graph database workloads.
- Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP/HCM/CX – Flagship cloud applications for enterprise resource planning, human capital management and customer experience needs.
- Oracle Exadata Cloud – Enables lift-and-shift for on-prem Oracle DBs with same availability, performance and control expectations.
Outlook: While innovating, Oracle must onboard developers better and shake some enterprise bureaucracy perceptions. But existing customer pull and databases-to-cloud clarity form a foundation to build upon.
5. Alibaba Cloud
While lesser known in Europe or the Americas, Alibaba Cloud rules the roost in Asia Pacific. It provides Chinese businesses and global expansion ventures cost-effective, scalable computing. They specialize in ecommerce, retail and logistics verticals.
Dominance as China’s top cloud provider is largely fed by parent company Alibaba Group’s sprawling domestic ecosystem spanning online shopping, financial services, logistics and more. Flagship machine learning offerings aid smart city and transportation solutions.
Flagship Offerings:
- Elastic Compute Service (ECS) – Scalable and secure virtual machine compute capabilities with burstable CPU performance.
- ApsaraDB – Suite of managed relational and NoSQL database options finely tuned for cloud.
- Data Lake Analytics – Massively parallel data warehouse optimizing Petabyte-scale big data analytics at low cost.
- Machine Learning Platform for AI – End-to-end machine learning platform allowing non-experts to easily use AI for business needs.
Outlook: Global expansion outside China remains challenging despite forging partnerships abroad. But Alibaba Cloud seems poised to dominate Asia Pacific for the foreseeable future given rapid regional development.
4. Google Cloud Platform
Under the Alphabet umbrella, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) provides the same infrastructure powering Google’s ubiquitous consumer products to enterprise customers. GCP signals Google’s pivot towards business services with an eye on capturing share amid rocketing cloud adoption.
GCP differentiates itself by enabling data-driven decisions for customers leaning on Google’s analytics and machine learning expertise. Offerings target modern companies centered on application development, open source software and harnessing data as a strategic asset.
Flagship Offerings:
- Compute Engine – Rapidly boot Windows/Linux VMs with auto-scaling capabilities using Google infrastructure.
- BigQuery – Serverless data warehousing for running lightning fast SQL queries against petabyte-scale data.
- Kubernetes Engine – Fully managed Kubernetes containers environment streamlining deploying distributed apps on infrastructure.
- AI Platform – Managed ML environment to easily build models, train them on Google infrastructure and deploy into production.
Outlook: While GCP trails rivals in raw market share currently, its technical edge and focus should appeal to modern companies ready to leverage big data & ML. Partnerships with enterprise-centric vendors also aim to boost standalone credentials among traditional sectors.
3. IBM Cloud
While pivoting heavily towards high-value segments like cloud, analytics and security, IBM maintains broader focus as a global technology provider. Offerings bridge services, infrastructure and next-generation needs via hybrid cloud offerings and strategic partnerships. IBM Cloud pulls in over $20 billion annually.
Known for willingness to meet customers on their terms, IBM Cloud positions itself as glue integrating legacy infrastructure with public cloud interoperability. This Swiss stance resonates for enterprises averse to vendor lock-in from AWS or Microsoft Azure.
Flagship Offerings:
- IBM Cloud Satellite – Provides Red Hat OpenShift service mesh to deploy managed services on cloud providers, on-prem data centers and edge locations.
- IBM Cloud Pak – Integrated software solutions built on Red Hat OpenShift intended to help enterprises modernize apps and processes across hybrid cloud environments.
- IBM Watson AIOps – Leverages AI to enhance IT Operations using automation, problem remediation and anomaly detection. Identifies noise hampering system management.
Outlook: Banking on OpenShift and Red Hat, IBM Cloud must continue partnerships with hyperscalers to expand ecosystem and reach. But multicloud management capabilities should retain customers equally wary of big tech and jumpstarting transformation.
2. Microsoft Azure
The flagship of Microsoft’s cloud push, Azure provides integrated cloud computing services spanning infrastructure, platform, storage, databases, analytics and more. Tight integration with Microsoft products provides baked-in synergies for the enterprise.
Surpassing 50% annual growth, Azure trails only AWS in the IaaS/PaaS race as more workloads shift from legacy Windows Server environments to Microsoft’s cloud. Partnerships also expand Azure’s hybrid cloud reach to cover other major players.
Flagship Offerings:
- Azure Virtual Machines – Windows or Linux VMs with per-second billing. Integrates with Visual Studio and PowerShell.
- Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) – Fully-managed Kubernetes containers environment streamlining modern distributed apps on Azure.
- Azure Cosmos DB – Distributed, highly scalable database service for IoT, gaming, retail and web apps needing flexible schemas and fast reads/writes.
Outlook: Tight integration across Microsoft’s stack and hybrid cloud capabilities lead Azure’s charge towards #2 status after AWS. But growing competition from Google Cloud and market newcomers could disrupt its momentum longer-term.
1. Amazon Web Services (AWS)
The cloud pioneer, AWS originated the concept of delivering IT infrastructure over the internet. Launched officially in 2006, AWS maintains market leader today across IaaS and PaaS while continuing a feverish pace innovating new services.
AWS operates the world‘s largest cloud computing infrastructure that companies leverage for storage, compute, databases, analytics, machine learning and more. Over 200 cloud offerings create a universe
of practical solutions serving everyone from enterprises to startups.
Flagship Offerings:
- EC2 – Resizable compute capacity in the cloud allowing businesses to boot VMs on demand for versatile needs.
- S3 – Scalable cloud storage for backups, archives and disaster recovery. Integrates with wide array of AWS data services.
- Lambda – Serverless, event-driven computing platform executing code in response to system triggers and events.
- DynamoDB – Managed NoSQL database delivering reliable performance at any scale along with built-in security and backup.
Outlook: Already dominant, AWS shows no signs of slowing innovation across cutting-edge arenas like serverless, containers and machine learning. First-mover advantage and ability adapting to shifts lead the market.
Key Takeaways
And there you have it – a comprehensive overview of the 10 cloud giants steering business technology‘s future according to their unique visions.
- AWS maintains outright leadership status thanks continuing innovation and aggressively expanding industry segments.
- Microsoft Azure seems firmly positioned at number 2 given tight integration across Microsoft’s stack and hybrid cloud capabilities.
- Legacy titans like IBM and Oracle leverage existing customer bases transitioning enterprise workloads to cloud.
- Meanwhile Google Cloud courts modern technologists and data-driven decision makers with strengths around analytics and machine learning.
As the cloud permeates IT infrastructure, these providers and others will continue strategically positioning themselves to capitalize. Those able to balance agility and control while adapting their models to market feedback can reshape tech‘s competitive landscape for decades ahead.
