On the cloud market share front, Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues to lead the IaaS and PaaS pack, followed by Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and IBM Cloud (formerly SoftLayer). But while the cloud services provider (CSP) giants show various rates of momentum, secondary CSPs are losing market share, according to Synergy Research's February 2017 report, based on findings for 2016.
The market share figures below are not to be confused with the latest Top 25 SaaS Application List, released in early 2017 from Okta. Instead, Synergy’s data focuses more on the IaaS and PaaS sector.
In terms of CSP market share growth, here are the 2016 stats from Synergy Research, released in early 2017:
Take a closer look and you'll find: Amazon Web Services (AWS) market share retains at about 40 percent of the IaaS and PaaS sector -- larger than the next three players (Microsoft, Google and IBM) combined. Synergy didn't break out market share figures for each of those players. But together Microsoft, IBM and Google lifted their IaaS/PaaS market share a combined 5 percent in 2016 vs. 2015.
For the "other" cloud providers, keep in mind that multiple businesses are in transition mode. Both CenturyLink and Verizon are selling off their data center infrastructures to double down on network-centric services. And Rackspace retreated from the public cloud wars to focus mainly on managed services for their-party clouds like AWS and Azure.
Still, company transitions aren't easy. CenturyLink delivered weaker-than-expected financial results yesterday. And Rackspace, acquired by Apollo Group in 2016, plans to cut 6 percent of its U.S. employees, the company confirmed yesterday.
CSP Partner Programs
The four leading CSPs -- Amazon, Microsoft, Google and IBM -- each offer various partner programs. To learn more check out partner conferences like Amazon AWS re:Invent 2017, Microsoft Inspire 2017 (formerly Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference), Google Cloud Next 2017 and IBM PartnerWorld 2017.
