back to article AWS cloud cash share: Bigger than Microsoft, IBM, Google combined

AWS sucked up over one third of all cloudy infrastructure sales globally in the closing quarter of 2016 - more than three of its next biggest rivals could muster together. The total IaaS sector grew by a whopping 49 per cent year-on-year to $10.3bn in Q4, according to analyst house Canalys, as a raft of businesses continued to …

  1. TheVogon

    It won't be too long until Azure overtakes AWS at ~ double the growth rate...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Disagree. Microsoft is growing rapidly right now because they have near total control over their Microsoft footprints (Windows Server, MS SQL, etc). It is easy for them to just tell people that they can run MS SQL on Azure or run MS SQL on prem... same price. 85% of Azure runs Windows platform. They are going to run out of Windows workloads and then growth will slow. Open source and Linux/Unix based workloads will go to AWS and Google Cloud... there is a lot more open source than Windows and there will be an increasing amount in the future. It's not like a bunch of companies are trying to use more Windows Server for new projects.

      If anyone catches them, it will be Google Cloud. Google Cloud is growing at 160% (albeit on a much smaller number than AWS)... and Google just has the best tech.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "85% of Azure runs Windows platform."

        Actually it's about 25% Linux VMs - and 75% Windows - as per Microsoft.

        "They are going to run out of Windows workloads and then growth will slow"

        As above - it runs 25% Linux. As the global server market is 75% Windows (as per Forbes) it seems that they are unlikely to run out of Windows to put on the cloud first - they are getting an OS share that's roughly in line with what is used in on-premises data centres...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "As above - it runs 25% Linux. As the global server market is 75% Windows (as per Forbes) it seems that they are unlikely to run out of Windows to put on the cloud first - they are getting an OS share that's roughly in line with what is used in on-premises data centres..."

          Come on, that is because Linux is free. It is difficult to gain a large market share in dollar terms when you don't charge for your OS. Windows is the last OS standing (outside of really legacy stuff) that still charges for their OS... so it is bound to have a high dollar share. The numbers I have seen in terms of number of servers deployed (as opposed to dollars) have Linux somewhere between 70-90% market share with Windows between 2-20%, depending on your source and measurement type. Linux is growing rapidly.

          1. TheVogon

            "Come on, that is because Linux is free."

            Only if your time has no value. And you don't need support.

            "Linux is growing rapidly"

            But not in general at the expense of Windows Server. Pretty much no one is replacing Windows with Linux.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              "Pretty much no one is replacing Windows with Linux."

              We are, on a massive scale. Not desktops just yet (though Macs have taken off with staff) so there's the typical legacy Windows core of AD, Exchange and Office and a couple of financial apps, but everything else has either migrated already or is being migrated to CentOS.

              It's saving an absolute fortune - less licensing costs, much less time managing licensing (no restrictions on cores, etc - the only company with worse licensing than MS is Oracle), easier deployment and patching, plus we are able to look after more kit per IT staff member.

              Many colleagues I've spoken to in other industries are starting to do the same. It just doesn't show up anywhere obvious outside as there are no purchases being made for all the servers being deployed.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "If anyone catches them, it will be Google Cloud. Google Cloud is growing at 160% (albeit on a much smaller number than AWS)... and Google just has the best tech."

        LOL. You must work for Google? Slurp's cloud is like a desert with tumbleweed blowing about. Pretty much no one uses it. And they have way inferior tech in terms of cloud features and performance to both Amazon and Microsoft.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "Pretty much no one uses it. And they have way inferior tech in terms of cloud features and performance to both Amazon and Microsoft."

          Yeah, you aren't hearing anything about leading tech companies signing major deals to move to Google Cloud Platform this week.... http://fortune.com/2017/02/02/snap-will-spend-on-google-cloud/.... A large number of the top tech firms are on GCP.

          Cloud features is a reasonable statement. AWS and Azure do have broader catalogs than GCP at the moment.

          Performance is unreasonable. GCP easily wins on performance. Just run some tests. If you are looking for reasons why... Google has a global private fiber network with PoP caching. Neither AWS or Azure have that... and, as mentioned, they run a 2 petabit/s data center network which allows them to spin up services in seconds which would take minutes or hours elsewhere. AWS and Azure do not have anything comparable.

          1. TheVogon

            "Yeah, you aren't hearing anything about leading tech companies signing major deals to move to Google Cloud Platform this week.... "

            That's one company. Not companies. And it's pretty rare that I see anything about anyone using Google cloud.

            " large number of the top tech firms are on GCP."

            Not as many as are on Azure or on AWS. And of course when you look at non tech firms then the gap is vast. Microsoft / Amazon need a telescope to see Google in the distance behind them.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "It won't be too long until Azure overtakes AWS at ~ double the growth rate..."

      I think a lot of Microsoft fans said that about Windows Phone too. Any year now...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nice try

    This is an Amazon puff piece. There is really no way to know who is doing what in the cloud race based on supposed revenue numbers. Not to be a Microsoft fanbois here, but they do have Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics 365 as cloud offerings and there are several times more services and significantly more features across all of them than Amazon has with AWS. Cloud is IaaS, PaaS, SaaS plus hybrid and all others pale in comparison to the combined offerings of Microsoft. Just sayin. Downvote if you wish, but it doesn't change reality.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Nice try

      Nice Microsoft puff piece.

    2. TheVogon

      Re: Nice try

      Yes, quite strange that Microsoft are quoted together with IBM and Google. I suspect that deducting those 2 would not make much difference to Microsoft's numbers...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Nice try

      That is a Microsoft fanboi sentiment.

      Dynamics is an also ran. It leads at nothing. Not even close to SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, etc in revenue or product quality.

      Microsoft IaaS is not competitive. No one uses it unless they have a ton of Windows. AWS and Google are miles ahead, technically... and it revenue in AWS's case.... Look at what other tech companies (companies who understand the technology) buy, entirely Google or AWS. Both AWS and Google offer better performance, resiliency and price. I would enjoy hearing how Azure has "more services and significantly more features" than AWS.

      PaaS - I don't see any Microsoft differentiation here. Nothing innovative like Google's AppEngine.

      The story of Microsoft is the same as ever - Windows and Office. They have used their Windows presence a decade ago to get people to buy MS SQL and now they are pushing them to put it on Azure... All traces back to Windows and Office though, or really just Windows as Office's size sprang from Windows control in the 90s.

      1. RudderLessIT

        Re: Nice try

        "Microsoft IaaS is not competitive. No one uses it unless they have a ton of Windows"

        Who doesn't? Do you know of any organisation that doesn't run Windows/Win Server/AD/Exchange? What's the ratio of those that do?

        "AWS and Google are miles ahead, technically..." Based on what? Functionality? No. Price? Not always.

        "Both AWS and Google offer better performance, resiliency and price." Now, is that not a fanboi comment?

        "The story of Microsoft is the same as ever - Windows and Office" So, you haven't seen Azure, have you?

        Choose one of the big three; or choose a smaller local service. Stop making posts like this.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Nice try

          "Who doesn't? Do you know of any organisation that doesn't run Windows/Win Server/AD/Exchange? What's the ratio of those that do?"

          Several of them. Salesforce, Workday, Netflix, Uber, eBay, Spotify, Snap, etc. Most large companies created post-2000, especially tech companies. Granted, that is still a relatively small amount of the overall market, but it's a growing amount. Most large organizations are trying to move to open source. It is not going to happen overnight, but it is definitely the direction at most large organizations.

          "AWS and Google are miles ahead, technically..." Based on what? Functionality? No. Price? Not always.

          Look at AWS's catalog of services as compared to Azure. It isn't even close. AWS has hundreds more services than Azure.... An example of technical superiority - Google runs a 2 petabit network core in their data centers. They invented all of the tech, right through the networking custom protocol. One of the reasons why their performance is outstanding.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Nice try

            "Most large organizations are trying to move to open source."

            Generally only to replace large midrange systems. Microsoft's share of the server OS market is still growing!

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Nice try

              "Generally only to replace large midrange systems. Microsoft's share of the server OS market is still growing!"

              Yeah, that is because Linux is free. You don't generate a lot of license revenue with a free OS. Their share of market share in dollars is up because Windows is the last widely used paid OS. There are a huge number more Linux servers deployed than Windows and that number is going up... way up due to cloud.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Nice try

            "Look at AWS's catalog of services as compared to Azure." I have " It isn't even close" So, I guess you haven't and that is what lead to this next most laughable opinion based on pure moronic assumption . "AWS has hundreds more services than Azure" In which specific parallel universe?

            Disclaimer - I have accounts on AWS, Azure, BlueMix, Google, VMware and have used several other cloud offerings as well - Digital Ocean, Profit Bricks and web hosters. Oracle is next for me and what they are doing seems promising. Kind of hard to bullshit somebody that can actually log in and look at what's available, and, well, you know, factually compare.

            One more " They invented all of the tech" . Written with authority and, oh my, so easy to say, so hard to prove.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Nice try

              "One more " They invented all of the tech" . Written with authority and, oh my, so easy to say, so hard to prove."

              Here you go. Just Google "Google Jupiter Network". It's not that difficult to prove. - http://highscalability.com/blog/2015/8/10/how-google-invented-an-amazing-datacenter-network-only-they.html

              "AWS has hundreds more services than Azure" In which specific parallel universe?"

              In the universe is which you look at AWS marketplace and Azure marketplace... and AWS has hundreds more services than Azure. Azure has come along way in adding services, but AWS is still clearly ahead in terms of number of services available.

              "Disclaimer - I have accounts on AWS, Azure, BlueMix, Google, VMware and have used several other cloud offerings as well - Digital Ocean, Profit Bricks and web hosters."

              Good story, bro.

          3. RudderLessIT

            Re: Nice try

            "Look at AWS's catalog of services as compared to Azure. It isn't even close. AWS has hundreds more services than Azure...."

            http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/azure-vs-aws-cloud-comparison,2-870-2.html

            Hint: do a search for the word "none" (as in, this service is not available) and count how many appear in Azure and then in AWS.

            I am really embarrassed for you.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Nice try

              "Hint: do a search for the word "none" (as in, this service is not available) and count how many appear in Azure and then in AWS. I am really embarrassed for you."

              I'm obviously not talking about the broad category services, like storage, database, compute, etc. Every cloud provider covers the basic services. I'm talking about the number of services in the "catalog".... i.e. AWS marketplace vs Azure marketplace. AWS marketplace has far more services than Azure. Wow, how is that confusing?

          4. TheVogon

            Re: Nice try

            "An example of technical superiority - Google runs a 2 petabit network core in their data centers. "

            No they don't. The ENTIRE fabric of their network backbone has a 1 Petabit bi-directional throughput capability if you read and actually understood the document that you linked to! (So enough to support ~ 100,000 servers with single 10Gbits connections. Microsoft's Xbox Live infrastructure alone beats that hands down, let alone the rest of Azure...

            "They invented all of the tech, right through the networking custom protocol."

            Microsoft built everything on NVGRE, so it works with standard industry leading switches...

            " One of the reasons why their performance is outstanding."

            But it isn't - If you look at cloud benchmarks, they lag behind Microsoft (fastest) and Amazon (mostly next fastest) on storage and cloud network benchmarks. Microsoft do use some custom hardware though: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/18/windows_server_2016_to_inherit_azures_load_balancer_data_plane/

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