Microsoft’s Biggest Client, or Just a PR Stunt? – Part II This is the concluding part of a two-part article. For the first part, please see Microsoft’s Biggest Client, or Just a PR Stunt? – Part I . There is another possibility at play here. If Microsoft manages to sell the viability of its cloud offerings to the Indian government, this freebie can actually result in paying contracts in other areas. And as we all know, governments are big spenders, even on information technology (See: How Much Can the US Government Save By Going to the Cloud?). Getting buy-in is important
Rackspace
Cloud Infographic: What Type Of Cloud Hosting Do You Require? Source: VandelayDesign
What Prompted Sony’s Move from Amazon to Rackspace? From HP’s announcement to invade its territory (See: HP Seeks to Give Amazon Competition with a New Public Cloud Service) to the loss of a big client, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is facing multiple challenges to its hegemony. While HP’s move may still be some weeks away, the decision by Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), which manages popular games such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, decision to move some of its cloud workload from AWS to Rackspace OpenStack will have immediate repercussions to revenue, and
Why Did Amazon Cut Cloud Computing Rates? Part I Last month, Amazon had announced a considerable reduction in S3 cloud storage rates. Effective 1 February 2012, the following rates apply in the US Standard region: Information on rates for other regions – US West (Oregon), US West (Northern California), EU (Ireland), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Tokyo) and South America (Sao Paulo) – are available at http://aws.amazon.com/s3/#pricing. The Sao Paulo operations are a recent addition to the Amazon portfolio (See: Amazon Expands Cloud Footprint with Brazil Operations). According to Amazon, this price decrease translated to a 12% reduction in costs
Gartner Introduces: New Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud IaaS I’m happy to announce that the new Gartner Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure as a Service has been published. (Client-only link. Sorry; I’ll link a public reprint when one is available.) This is a brand-new Magic Quadrant; our previous Magic Quadrant has essentially been split into two MQs, this new Public Cloud IaaS MQ that focuses on self-service, and an updated and more focused iteration of the previous MQ, focused on managed services, called the Managed Hosting and Cloud IaaS MQ. It’s been a long and interesting and sometimes controversial journey. Threaded throughout this whole Magic Quadrant are the
Ninefold and Rackspace Battle for Australian Startup Mind Space Last month American cloud computing service provider Rackspace, in an effort to expand its presence in the Australian market, announced a deal with early stage venture capitalists Pollenizer to offer Australian start-ups free hosting worth $2,000 a month for their first year of operations. Now, Rackspace’s Australian rival Ninefold has announced an identical scheme, also in partnership with Pollenizer and another incubator Starmate. While Rackspace’s offer had been introduced in the US much earlier as the Rackspace Startup Program (See: Why is Rackspace targeting Startups? ), it’s something new in Australia.
Ubuntu Cloud: The Reseller Opportunity As market conditions remain uncertain, your customers are looking for new, more cost-effective ways to do business. This is dramatically increasing demand for cloud computing solutions that promise big savings on in-house infrastructure and management. By supporting your customers’ journeys into the cloud, you can generate new service revenues and take on the role of a trusted cloud adviser. Specifically, you can: • Support customer migrations from dedicated to cloud-based infrastructure • Deliver consultancy for building and deploying public and private clouds • Provide capacity planning, infrastructure management and monitoring services • Roll out authentication
What Ails The Rackspace Stock? Rackspace US, Inc. (NYSE: RAX), a IT hosting company based in San Antonio, Texas, has long been a darling of the cloud computing industry. Established in 1998 and gone public in 2008, Rackspace is one of the early success stories of the cloud computing revolution. However, its recent stock performance, in spite of revenue increases, has given investors cause for worry. Here’s an analysis of the situation. The following table from stock analysis website The Street brings into focus the relative non-performance of Rackspace in stock ROI as compared to other parameters. Like many tech
