Various Types of Vendors that Exist in the Software Ecosystem

1. Various Types of Vendors that Exist in the Software
Ecosystem
Pallavi Srivastava
HPGD/AP15/0060
I.T. Project Management
WELINGKAR INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT AND
RESEARCH
YEAR OF SUBMISSION
MARCH 2017

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
“Gratitude is not a thing of expression; it is more matter of feeling."
There is always a sense of gratitude which one express towards others for their help
and supervision in achieving the goals.
This formal piece of acknowledgement is an attempt to express the feeling of
gratitude towards people who helpful me in successfully completing of my project.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Mr. Ramesh Khatri ,my project guide for
his constant cooperation. He was always there with his competent guidance and
valuable suggestion throughout the pursuance of this research project.I would also
like to place of appreciation to all the respondents whose responses and
coordination were of utmost importance for the project.Above all no words can
express my feelings to my parents, friends all those persons who supported me
during my project. I am also thankful to all the respondents whose cooperation &
support has helped me a lot in collecting necessary information
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3. UNDERTAKING BY CANDIDATE
I declare that project work entitled “Various Types of Vendors that Exist in the
Software Ecosystem” is my own work conducted as part of my syllabus.
I further declare that project work presented has been prepared personally by
me and it is not sourced from any outside agency. I understand that, any such
malpractice will have very serious consequence and my admission to the program
will be cancelled without any refund of fees.
I am also aware that, I may face legal action, if I follow such malpractice.
Pallavi Srivastava
Signature of Candidate
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4. Table of contents
➔ Introduction 4
◆ Roles of software companies in an ecosystem 5
◆ Types of Software Ecosystems 6
◆ Types of vendors 7
➔ Background 9
◆ Hardware Vendors 9
◆ Software Vendors 13
● Independent software vendor (ISV) 13
● Top 10 Enterprise Software Vendors 15
◆ Service Vendors 17
● The top 10 IT outsourcing service providers 20
◆ Telecommunications vendors 23
● Top 10 Telecom Vendor Companies of the World
◆ Cloud vendors 30
● SAAS,PAAS and IAAS 33
● Various Cloud Vendors 39
● Stacking up the cloud vendors: AWS vs. Microsoft Azure, IBM,
Google, Oracle 43
➔ Advantages & Disadvantages of Cloud Computing 53
➔ Conclusion 58
➔ Bibliography 59
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5. Introduction
Definition of Software Ecosystems
An economic ecosystem is a set of companies that exchange products or services to
serve a common goal or to achieve higher levels of individual goals.
A ​software ecosystem is an economic ecosystem that forms around one specific
software vendor.
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6. How do the players in the software ecosystem generate value? They do so by
exchanging software products and services. A supplier might license software to the
software vendor, who pays a the license fee to the supplier. The software vendor
licenses software to the customers. The customers compensate for the license grant
with a license fee payment.
This leads to a spider web of products, assets, services and payments
exchanged between the players of the ecosystem.
Roles of software companies in an ecosystem
Software companies can take different roles in the software ecosystem depending
on the goals they have. Using an interaction model from the SOM methodology,
Figure 1 shows examples, which roles a software company can take and what the
interactions between the different roles could be.
Example: ​For the software ecosystem of software vendor SAP AG, examples for the
different types of players are Oracle (supplier of database software), Maxware
(acquisition target), IBM Global Services (System integrator), Siemens (customer
and partner).
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7. Types of Software Ecosystems
Usually the software vendor applies different strategies and tactics for different parts
of the software ecosystem. These strategies and tactics must be aligned with the
business model of the software vendor.
Figure 1 shows the different types of ecosystems that are typically addressed
separately by a software vendor.
➔ First and foremost, there is the ​customer ecosystem​. It contains existing and
potential customers of the software vendor.
➔ Then there is the ​partner ecosystem​, which contains software partners,
which are other software vendors and system integrators, which provide
implementation services for the software vendor's solutions.
➔ An often neglected, but important ecosystem is the ​supplier ecosystem
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8. Types of vendors
Not every organization is the same, neither can every vendor be managed in the
same fashion; so, upon examination, IT organizations find that they typically use four
categories of vendors:
● Hardware vendors that sell or lease physical products and sell related
support, such as repair and maintenance.
● Software vendors that sell commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products, or
offer licenses to an existing product line; where enhancements to products,
maintenance and technical support are also offered.
● Service vendors that can either provide long-term support, such as an
outsourcing annuity based contract; or short-term services, such as staff
augmentation services used to supplement enterprise personnel.
● Telecommunications vendors that supply telephony equipment, networks,
circuits and network services
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9. ● Cloud vendors are nothing but service vendors who fulfil the customer's'
hardware and software requirement through services. They deliver computing
as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and
information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility (like the
electricity grid) over a network (typically the Internet).
Cloud computing, or in simpler shorthand just "the cloud", also focuses on
maximizing the effectiveness of the shared resources. Cloud resources are
usually not only shared by multiple users but are also dynamically reallocated
per demand. This can work for allocating resources to users. For example, a
cloud computer facility that serves European users during European business
hours with a specific application (e.g., email) may reallocate the same
resources to serve North American users during North America's business
hours with a different application (e.g., a web server). This approach should
maximize the use of computing power thus reducing environmental damage
as well since less power, air conditioning, Rackspace, etc. are required for a
variety of functions. With cloud computing, multiple users can access a single
server to retrieve and update their data without purchasing licenses for
different applications. Cloud vendors are experiencing growth rates of 50%
per annum.
There are mainly three variety of cloud services;
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• Software as a Service (SaaS)
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10. Background
Hardware Vendors
Technological advances in the electronic industry continue to revolutionize
communication and access to information like never before. The companies that
design and produce the devices that keep people connected are some of the most
profitable and valuable in the world. Industry behemoths such as Apple, Samsung
and IBM are some of the most recognizable brands, but many less-familiar
companies are experiencing rapid growth under the radar, or by simply riding the
coattails of the top companies.
1) Apple Inc.
Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been at the
forefront of the computer hardware industry since its founding in 1976 by Steve Jobs
, Steve Wozniak and Gerald Wayne. Its hardware products include Mac personal
computers, iPod portable media players, iPad tablet computers, iPhone smartphones
and Apple Watch smartwatches. Apple sells its products through retail and online
stores, direct sales and third-party network carriers, wholesalers, retailers and
value-added resellers. As one of the most recognizable and popular brands in the
world, Apple has sales of $199.4 billion and assets of $261.9 billion, and is the most
valuable company in the world with a market capitalization of $621.6 billion as of
December 2015.
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11. 2) Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is a South Korean electronics company focusing on
producing mobile electronic devices. Since introducing its first flagship Android
phone, the Galaxy S, and the Galaxy Tab, the first mainstream Android tablet,
Samsung has been one of the most successful tech companies in the world.
Samsung makes more smartphones than any other company in the world. It is also
one of the leading producers of HDTVs and home theater equipment. As of
December 2015, Samsung has sales of $195.9 billion, assets of $209.6 billion and a
market capitalization of $187.8 billion.
3) IBM
Founded in 1911, New York-based International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:
IBM) started as a producer of punch-card tabulating machines. IBM launched its first
personal computer in 1981 called the IBM PC, which quickly became the industry
standard. IBM’s failure to compete effectively in the rapidly changing personal
computer industry led to financial problems in the 1980s, but its focus on business
solutions and networking has helped the company remain a major force in the
hardware industry. As of December 2015, IBM has sales of $93.4 billion, assets of
$177.5 billion and a market capitalization of $130.8 billion.
4) Foxconn Technology Group
Foxconn Technology Group is a Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturing
company headquartered in Tucheng, New Taipei, Taiwan. With over 1 million
employees, it is one of the world's largest electronics contractor manufacturers and
the largest producer of Apple products. While Foxconn continues to benefit from the
success of surging sales of iPhones, the company plans to diversify its production.
Rising competition for Apple contracts and improving Chinese labor standards have
cut into company profits. As of December 2015, Foxconn has a market capitalization
of $40.3 billion.
5) HP Inc.
The Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), also known as HP Inc., is one of the
two companies resulting from the split of HP in 2015. The company, headquartered
in Palo Alto, California, produces personal computers and printers. Facing a decline
in the personal computer market, HP decided to streamline operations by creating
two smaller companies. The other company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, focuses on
server and other hardware sales to businesses. By splitting, HP hopes to have more
resources to allocate toward research and development, leading to more innovative
products. As of the split in 2015, HP Inc. has a market capitalization of $21.9 billion.
6) Lenovo
Lenovo Group Ltd. is a computer technology company with headquarters in Beijing,
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12. China, and Morrisville, North Carolina. The company designs, develops,
manufactures and sells personal computers, tablet computers, smartphones,
workstations, servers, electronic storage devices, IT management software and
smart televisions. Its products include the ThinkPad line of notebook computers and
the ThinkCentre line of desktops. Lenovo claims to be the world’s largest PC vendor,
and as of December 2015, had sales of $44.3 billion, assets of $29.3 billion and a
market capitalization of $11.4 billion.
7) Fujitsu
Established in 1935, Fujitsu is the second-oldest technology company after IBM.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Fujitsu designs and manufactures a wide array of
products including personal computers, mobile phones, servers, storage systems,
notebook PCs, tablet PCs and accessories, scanners, printers, optical networking
solutions, broadband transmission, switching technologies, car audio, navigation
systems and mobile communication equipment. As of December 2015, Fujitsu has
sales of $45.1 billion, assets of $26.8 billion and a market capitalization of $10.9
billion.
8) Quanta Computer
Quanta Computer is a Taiwan-based manufacturer of notebook computers and other
electronic hardware. The company is an original design manufacturer (ODM), which
designs and manufactures a product as specified before it is eventually rebranded by
another company. Quanta builds electronics for companies such as HP, Dell, Lenovo
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13. and Apple. It produces laptop computers, smartphones, servers, digital TVs, auto
electronics and wireless devices. Though it has a large data center business of its
own, laptop PCs comprise about 60% of Quanta's revenue. As of December 2015,
Quanta has sales of $30.6 billion, assets of $19.2 billion and a market capitalization
of $9.3 billion.
9) AsusTeK
Based in Taipei, Taiwan, AsusTeK Computer Inc. manufactures and sells
computers, communication products and consumer electronics. Its products are sold
in the United States under the ASUS brand and include laptops, tablet computers,
desktop computers, mobile phones, servers, computer monitors, motherboards and
various computer components. ASUS operates around 50 service sites across 32
countries and has over 400 service partners worldwide. As of December 2015,
AsusTeK has sales of $15.8 billion, assets of $11.1 billion and a market
capitalization of $6 billion.
10) Compal
Compal Electronics, based in Taipai, Taiwan, is one of the world’s leading original
design manufacturers of notebook PCs, computers, monitors and TVs for companies
such as Acer, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, HP and Fujitsu. The company has offices in
China, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States, and its main
production facility is in Kunshan, China. As of December 2015, Compal has sales of
$28 billion, assets of $12 billion and a market capitalization of $3.6 billion.
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14. Software Vendors
Independent software vendor​ (ISV)
An ISV (independent software vendor) makes and sells software products that run
on one or more computer hardware or operating system platforms. An independent
software maker also provides software in the form of virtual appliances that run on
virtual machines. And, as cloud computing becomes more pervasive, a software
maker may also target the cloud as a vehicle for delivering software.
ISVs typically provide software in conjunction with a hardware, software or cloud
platform provider. In the case of hardware, a software producer builds software to
run on a particular vendor's (or vendors') hardware platform and the operating
systems that the platform supports. But an ISV may also incorporate software from a
software platform provider into its offering, embedding database technology from
Microsoft​ or ​Oracle​, for example.
In the cloud world, an ISV may offer its product on a software as a service basis. In
this delivery method, the ISV may sell its software through a public cloud or cloud
marketplace. Examples include ​Amazon Web Services (AWS)​, ​Microsoft Azure and
Salesforce AppExchange
Overall, an independent software vendor list would include companies with a general
or horizontal focus -- a software maker focusing on human resources applications,
for instance -- and companies with a vertical market orientation -- an independent
software producer targeting discrete manufacturing companies. There are also many
ISVs providing highly specialized niche offerings, such as data migration utilities.
Independent software vendor programs
The companies that make the platforms, like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Hewlett
Packard Enterprise, ​Apple​, AWS, Salesforce and others, encourage and lend
support to ISVs, often with ISV programs. In general, the more applications that run
on a platform, the more value it offers to customers. Of course, platform
manufacturers, such as Microsoft and ​IBM​, make applications, too, but don't have
the resources or, in many cases, the special knowledge required to make
applications for every conceivable vertical market or niche requirement.
An independent software vendor program will generally offer a mix of technical and
marketing support for a software maker. Specific benefits may include technology
training, briefings on product development roadmaps, ISV-specific pricing and
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15. licensing terms, product discounts and co-marketing initiatives. A platform provider
may also offer ISVs a seal of approval via software validation programs.
At times, an independent software vendor program may operate within a platform
vendor's umbrella business partner program. Such programs aim to cover a
spectrum of partner relationships and interactions. While ISVs make and sell
software that is added to platforms, original equipment manufacturers use hardware
platform components to build larger products. Value-added resellers incorporate
platform software into their own software product packages. And managed service
providers remotely monitor and manage hardware and software platforms installed at
the end-customer's location, and may also keep tabs on the public cloud platforms a
customer uses.
Blurring lines: Software products in the channel
One development in the independent software vendor space is the convergence of
the ISV business model with other IT channel business models, such as managed
services and cloud consulting services. As the MSP and cloud services markets
become more crowded and competitive, companies look for new ways to
differentiate their services. Some companies have turned to software development
as a way to standout from rivals. An MSP or cloud consultant that creates its own
intellectual property is less likely to become commoditized than a company that
offers readily duplicated services, such as server management, or a company that
resells the same public cloud service that many other companies can supply. On the
other hand, software development calls for skills that may be difficult for a channel
partner to acquire and maintain.
Top 10 Enterprise Software Vendors
After decades of unstoppable growth, the enterprise software market could be
entering a new era of zero expansion or even an extended period of course
correction for the next few years.
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16. The unprecedented development, which became evident in our latest survey of over
3,000 enterprise software vendors and their 2015 results, can be attributed to the
convergence of three significant events that have upended the marketplace – cloud
adoptions, unfavorable exchange rates for US firms, and the overhang of dubious
acquisitions.
The enterprise software market covers a full assortment of commercially off-the-shelf
products ranging from corporate databases to Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP)
solutions and from Cloud-enabled productivity tools to mission-critical vertical
applications.
For more than three decades, these enterprise software products have been the
linchpin to increased workplace productivity by simplifying an array of business tasks
with the help of groundbreaking technologies from easy-to-use accounting packages
to powerful Middleware and from cybersecurity tools to indispensable spreadsheets.
Analytics and business intelligence vendor SAS, for example, posted a record
revenue of $3.2 billion in 2015, a 2.3% rise from 2014, continuing its streak of
uninterrupted topline growth by achieving double-digit or even triple-digit in annual
sales increases especially in its formative years after it commenced its operations in
1976 when it sold $138,000 worth of software.
Now many of these enterprise software vendors are bracing for leaner years ahead.
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17. In 2015, the enterprise software market grew a modest 2.2% to $320 billion in 2015,
up from $313 billion a year earlier, according to our annual survey. The outlook is
less rosy because of a combination of factors including shifting business models in
favor of Cloud delivery and subscription pricing, compounded by the lag effect of
delayed revenue recognition by enterprise applications vendors in order to adapt to
new ways of selling their products.
As shown in Exhibit 1, the enterprise software market is projected to turn in little or
no growth through 2020 potentially dragging down a number of underlying markets
including database, middleware as well as other platform and system infrastructure
technologies.
Enterprise applications written for customer relationship management, human
resources and vertical-industry business processes are expected to fare better as
replacements of legacy systems(many of which were last installed prior to the Year
2000 conversion) will pick up speed in order to take advantage of cloud computing,
mobile content delivery and real-time reporting. In almost every single market
segment, conventional on-premise enterprise software implementations will be
replaced by a growing array of Cloud services.
Exhibit 1: Worldwide Enterprise Software Market 2015-2020 Forecast, $B
Worldwide Enterprise Software Market 2015-2020 Forecast, $B
Year 2015 2020 CAGR, %
Enterprise Applications 193 208 1.5%
Other Enterprise Software 127 109 -3%
Total 320 317 -0.20%
Enterprise Applications cover 16 functional areas from analytics to treasury and risk management, in
addition to those designed for 21 verticals from aerospace to utility.
Other Enterprise Software includes platform and infrastructure products such as databases and
information management systems, middleware and development tools, storage and security
software as well as system software and virtual machines. Operating systems are not included.
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18. Source: Apps Run The World, April 2016
Service Vendors
Service providers are companies that supplies enterprises with various provisions
such as consulting, legal, real estate, education, communications, storage and
processing. Though the term service provider is meant for companies that stand as a
single unit or as an organizational sub-unit, it is more broadly used to describe
outsourced suppliers or third party service providers that mainly covers certain
aspects such as telecommunications, application services (ASPs), storage services
(SSPs) and Internet service providers (ISPs).
The biggest IT services companies in the world are IBM, HP and Fujitsu. Together
they generate $94.1 billion revenues from IT services. HP grew its services revenues
by 45% as a result of the acquisition of EDS, going from 19.1 billion to 27.7 billion
US dollars. The HP-EDS deal pushed Fujitsu to third place, with IT services
revenues of 27.1 billion. Even though HP can call itself the largest IT company in the
world, a title held by IBM almost since the inception of the IT industry until last year,
HPs revenues are more towards hardware sales than IT services; hence IBM Global
Services is still the leading IT services firm, with a lead of over $10 billion over HP.
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19. Unhampered growth
Despite adverse economic circumstances, the ​Top 100 IT services companies grew
their revenues by a healthy 13% on average. This figure includes both organic and
acquisitive growth. Together they generated $445 billion, up from $407 billion in the
previous year. Total employee headcount is around 4.5 million, of which 10% is on
the account of companies that are headquartered in India.
Further illustrating the size of the IT services industry, a staggering number of 91
companies in the Top 100 have revenue figures higher than 1 billion. Microsoft, the
world’s largest software company according to the ​Software Top 100​, ranks 19th on
the ​IT services list​, with services revenues of $6.5 billion.
Country segmentation
Most IT services companies in the Top 100 are based in the United States (56). The
US are followed at a distance by India, (7 companies), Japan (6 companies), and the
UK (6 companies). The European share of companies in the Top 100 is 22%; Asia
delivers 18%. The African continent is represented by one very sizable company:
Dimension Data from South Africa (revenues $3.8 billion).
Fastest growing services company
The fastest growing IT services firm in the list is KPN, a Dutch telecom company,
that boosted its position in the worldwide IT services market by the acquisition of
Getronics. KPN (277% growth) is followed by Blackberry-maker Research In Motion
(52% growth) and Mahindra Satyam, the product of the Satyam acquisition by Tech
Mahindra (46% growth).
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20. Leading Companies in the Services Industry
Rank Company Services
revenues (mln)
1 IBM 39,264
2 HP 27,745
3 Fujitsu 27,102
4 CSC 16,680
5 Accenture 15,985
6 Northrop Grumman 12,454
7 Hitachi 12,318
8 CAP Gemini 11,154
9 NTT Data Corp. 10,498
10 NEC 9,103
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21. The top 10 IT outsourcing service providers
Everest Group’s inaugural service provider awards name Cognizant, Accenture and
IBM the top three outsourcing providers. In addition, Accenture is highlighted as
‘leader of the year’ for continuing to transform itself and HCL as ‘star performer’ of
the year for its embrace of innovative service models.
Outsourcing consultancy and research firm Everest Group recently unveiled its
ranking of top 20 IT service providers, but it wasn’t legacy powerhouses like IBM or
HP that topped the list. Teaneck, N.J.-based Cognizant (now India’s second largest
outsourcing providers) claimed the top spot, followed by Accenture and Big Blue.
Everest Group has been ranking service providers individually based on their
performance in 26 different categories, including key business lines, geographies,
and technologies and categorizing them leaders, star performers, major contenders,
or aspirants in each area. But this was the first year the company consolidated that
information to come up with overall rankings for the global outsourcing industry.
Rounding out the rest of the top five were India’s TCS and Wipro.
Top 10 IT Service Providers of the Year
1. Cognizant
2. Accenture
3. IBM
4. TCS
5. Wipro
6. HCL
7. Dell
8. Infosys
9. CapGemini+IGATE
10.CSC
Source: Everest Group 2016
How the IT service providers were chosen and ranked
Everest incorporates both market success (revenue growth, deals won or
renewed, margins generated) and IT service capabilities in its scoring model.
This year, it recalibrated its methodology to place more emphasis on
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22. innovation, intellectual property and emerging technology capabilities.
“Historically when evaluating development capabilities, we placed a lot of
emphasis on scale—number of employees, scope of coverage, geographic
footprint. But we’ve seen all of that become commoditized in recent years,”
Singh says. “The differentiation enterprises are looking for today is on the
innovation side. So we look at what they’re investing in, how they’re devising
their sourcing strategies, whether they experimenting with new service models
or engagements with their customers.”
While Accenture came in No. 2 overall, it was highlighted as leader of the
year. “Accenture has been a firm which has continually transformed itself,”
says Singh. Historically much of Accenture’s outsourcing opportunities flowed
down from its management consulting engagements. “They were able to
connect with key stakeholder and got invited to the table for transformational
deal for more than a decade,” says Singh. But the firm is also expanding
beyond its consulting legacy into product solutions and an integrated
infrastructure model that will give them at shot at deals that were typically
purview of business process providers, Singh says.
IBM, No. 3 overall, has also rolled with the industry punches. “They went from
total outsourcing in the 80s to platform solutions in the 90s to offshoring and
beyond,” says Singh. “Where we’ve seen EDS and Perot Systems fall by the
wayside and get acquired, IBM has remained relevant. Whether its cloud or
digital transformation, no one has mad the kinds of investments IBM has.
They are defining the paradigms of what’s getting discussed next.” They are,
however, being challenged by increasingly powerful upstarts like Amazon and
Rackspace, notes Singh, “but when it comes to new technology, IBM is
always there.”
TCS and Wipro performed particularly well in banking and financial services,
which account for more than half of their revenues. But Cognizant had the
upper hand on them due to its increased coverage in the increasingly
important areas of healthcare and life sciences.
HCL was honored as “star performer” of the year. “HCL has transformed itself,
particularly on the infrastructure services side, and is getting invited to deals
where in the past only IBM or HP might,” says Singh. The Indian company is
known to have one of the most aggressive sales forces in the industry as well.
“They’re willing to take on assets even though they’re really a remote
infrastructure provider. They’ll take a chance on new outcome based deals,”
says Singh. As a result, they’ve built a solid pipeline of long-term deals. But
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23. time will tell how those agreements perform. “Winning the deals is one thing,”
Singh says. “What we don’t know yet is the quality of the deals they’ve signed
on for. It’s not clear yet whether they’re compromising or they are truly
bringing something new to the table.”
HP Enterprise and IBM jointly came out on top in the cloud and infrastructure
space. “That was very much in line with what we expected,” says Singh. “The
primary reason is innovation and pedigree. They’ve been incrementally
investing to be better in that space than anyone.”
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24. Telecommunications vendors
Telecom providers are broken into 3 tiers which are based on their size and core
competencies:
1. ​Tier 1
A Tier 1 carrier is a provider that has a direct nexus to the Internet and all the
comprehensive networks it uses in order to deliver both voice and data
services to customers. Tier 1 carriers do not borrow network capacity from
anyone else.
Tier 1 premier carriers like ​AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile are
full-service providers who take care of all of a company’s telecom needs.
Considered the largest providers of telecommunications services, Tier 1
carriers are typically able to host, invoice, and thus streamline all of a
company’s wireless services, digital and cable television options, and
broadband internet access through only one vendor. Because they have such
far-reaching and comprehensive networks, true Tier 1 providers never need to
purchase IP transit agreements from other providers.
Engaging in service with a Tier 1, full service telecom vendor will get you
efficient telecom services. All of your company telecom services will be
hosted, and in most cases invoiced, through one vendor. This approach also
leaves the option for bundling, which can save you money on your telecom
services.
2. Tier 2
While Tier 1 providers are the largest carrier, Tier 2 providers are the most
common telecom carriers on the Internet. Tier 2 operates in a similar way as
Tier 1 carriers, except that it engages in the practice of “peering” with some of
the comprehensive networks that are operated by Tier-1 carriers. “Peering” is
when a carrier gets a portion of its network directly from a Tier-1 operator by
piggybacking onto the network already established by the Tier 1 source. Tier
2 networks are providers that specialize in a specific product type – such as
Internet.
Tier 2 networks actually purchase IP transit (or pays settlements) in order to
reach some of the many networks that Tier 1 carriers operate. If you are
seeking a telecommunications provider that can outline core competencies in
a select service area, you would want to consider a Tier 2 provider; however,
it’s important to know that you will be managing multiple vendors with each
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25. offering their specialty products. Examples of Tier 2 carriers are: Sprint,
CenturyLink, XO Communications, and Level 3.
Selecting a Tier 2 telecom provider is a solid option if you need a telecom
vendor that hosts core competencies in a select service area. With this
approach it’s important to keep in mind that you will have to manage multiple
telecom vendors, and in turn, multiple telecom invoices. Although this can be
more to juggle, using tier 2 vendors can be worth the effort.
Niche Market Specialization remains a Tier 2 telecom vendor option and it’s
essentially a division of product type services. You can select a specialized
individual service or product. Niche market specialization is especially helpful
when you’re attempting to establish a competitive advantage, or to position
yourself on the cutting edge of a new product or service.
3. Tier 3
Tier 3 telecom vendors are carriers that concentrate on a regional scope or
niche market product. Examples of tier 3 vendors are Windstream, Time
Warner, and LightPath.
A Tier 3 carrier has no direct access to the network on its own and thus
obtains 100% of its network through a Tier 1 or Tier 2 operator. Like the Tier 2
carrier, the Tier-3 carrier is also typically a smaller, regionally-based provider
that focuses on smaller networks. By purchasing voice and data coverage
from a Tier 1 operator, both Tier 2 and Tier 3 carriers can then re-sell the
services to their customers without those subscribers knowing anything about
the integral details going on behind-the-scenes.
Tier 3 telecom vendors are able to be in sync with a company’s particular
unique needs because they focus on niche markets. Tier 3 carriers consists of
several vendors that focus on a region or niche market product. Examples of
these providers include: Windstream, Time Warner, or LightPath.
A tier 3 option is regional telecom specialization. If the bread and butter of
your business is hosted on a local level, regional telecom specialization can
be your best option. Not only are regional vendors in tune with your service
needs, they’re also privy to local information and techniques that other
telecom vendors outside your area may not know. Regional telecom support
can also offer benefits that national level telecom vendors cannot provide.
It’s a smart option to enlist in a Tier 3 telecom vendor if your company is
seeking an add-on service that your current telecom vendor does not provide.
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26. The world's five largest telecommunications equipment (excluding mobile phone
handsets) vendors, 2016 revenues are:
1. ​Huawei Technologies
2. ​Ericsson
3. ​Cisco Systems
4. ​Nokia Networks​ ( ​Alcatel-Lucent​ )
5. ​ZTE Corporation
The world's five largest router and switch vendor leadership: Global Service Provider
Survey, June 2015:
1. ​Cisco Systems
2. ​Huawei Technologies
3. ​Nokia Networks​ ( ​Alcatel-Lucent​ )
4. ​Juniper Networks
5. ​ZTE Corporation
Top 10 Telecom Vendor Companies of the World
The world’s top 10 ​telecommunications companies each have a market value of over
$50 billion. Servicing the world’s ever-growing telephone and wireless connection
needs, the telecommunications industry is forecast to continue to expand operations
on a global level. More individuals in emerging markets are signing up for telephone
and Internet contracts, while new telecommunications technologies in developed
nations are expanding pre-existing customer bases of providers. While several
company attributes can distinguish the top telecommunications companies in the
world, market value serves as the determining factor that arranges this list of the top
10 telecommunications companies.
25

27. 1) China Mobile Ltd.
Serving China as the leading provider of telecommunications services by number of
subscribers, China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: ​CHL​) is the top telecommunications company
in the world. With a market value of $280 billion, China Mobile experienced a 22.3%
revenue increase in its data services between 2013 and 2014. Sales of
non-telecommunications products were also robust during the same time frame with
an increase from 39 million RMB to 59 million RMB. Company efforts to make China
Mobile’s marketing budget more cost effective helped to reduce selling expenses by
17.5%.
2) Verizon Communications Inc.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: ​VZ​) is the ​largest telecommunications
company in the United States. Its 2015 market value was estimated at $202.5 billion,
and its sales weigh in at $127.1 billion. Formed in 2000 with headquarters in New
York City, Verizon came about as a result of the merger between Bell Atlantic Corp
and GTE Corp. In 2015, Verizon completed its acquisition of AOL. The sale came
after a 2014 purchase by Verizon of Vodafone’s 45% interest stake in Verizon stock.
To date, Verizon has 110.8 million wireless retail connections and operates in 150
countries.
3) AT&T Inc.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: ​T​) is the second-largest telecommunications company in the
United States with a market value of $173 billion. AT&T provides voice services in
over 225 countries and operates over 34,000 Wi-Fi hotspots. AT&T serves over 110
million wireless subscribers. It expanded its AT&T GigaPower, an ultra-fast Internet
service, to 56 metropolitan locations in the United States, with plans for further
expansion. In 2006, AT&T acquired BellSouth. It purchased DirecTV in May 2014 for
$48.5 billion, which allowed the company to offer customers the option to bundle
more services into the same package.
4) Vodafone Group plc
Vodafone Group plc’s (NASDAQ: ​VOD​) headquarters are in the United Kingdom,
and the company services 446 million mobile customers. Vodafone’s market value is
26

28. $88 billion. From 2012 to 2014, ​Vodafone acquired three companies: Cable &
Wireless Worldwide, Kabel Deutschland and Ono. The company’s Standard & Poor's
long-term credit rating is A-. Mobile in-bundle sales account for 42% of Vodafone’s
group service revenue, while 27% of revenue comes from mobile out-of-bundle
sales. Vodafone is the most valuable brand in the United Kingdom and hosts mobile
operations in 26 countries.
5) Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation
Founded in Japan where fast Internet connections are plentiful, Nippon Telegraph &
Telephone Corporation (NYSE: ​NTT​) has a market value of $71.5 billion. Fiber
connections are highly valued in Japan, and Japanese companies are known to
spend heavily to attain the newest Internet technology. This environment has helped
boost Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation’s prevalence. Unlike other
telecommunications companies, Nippon derives much of its business from fiber
Internet connections rather than bundle packages. Increasingly, the company is
looking to sales of its cloud computing services to expand its customer base.
6) Softbank Group Corp.
Softbank Group Corp. started in 1981 as a packaged software distributor and has
since created a domestic telecommunications segment that services Japan’s mobile
communication, device and broadband needs. The company’s market value is $70.3
billion. Softbank owns an 80% stake in U.S. phone services provider Sprint in
addition to managing Yahoo! Japan. In 2015, Softbank purchased IBM’s licensing for
its robot "Watson" to create a Japanese android called "Pepper," with plans to sell
the robot to retail customers. Softbank announced the robot can read human
emotions. The first 1,000 units of Pepper robots sold out in November 2015.
7) Deutsche Telekom AG
Deutsche Telekom AG services 151 million mobile customers with a presence in
over 50 countries and 228,000 employees. The German company has a market
value of $85 billion, and more than half of its revenue is generated outside of
Germany. Telekom seeks to build efficient networks that meet future broadband
needs. The company’s third quarter 2015 report announced that ​net profits were up
almost 60%, while revenue was up by 9.3%. In 2013, Telekom became the first
telecommunications company to present a smartphone with the Firefox OS. In 2015,
the company launched a standardized European network, implementing three of 10
countries in a cross-border infrastructure development.
8) Telefonica S.A.
Telefonica S.A. (NYSE: ​TEF​) originates from Spain and serves 325 million
customers, with its customer base that is largely concentrated in Latin America.
27

29. Telefonica’s market value is $72.3 billion. Its products and services include cloud
computing, mobility services, data centers, enterprise voice and security services.
Telefonica markets three brands with different target audiences. Movistar serves
Spain and Latin America; O2 serves the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, the
Czech Republic and Slovakia; and VIVO serves Brazil. Over the past two years,
Telefonica has focused on investment as a means of expanding business. The
company acquired e-Plus, GVT and Digital+.
9) America Movil
As of December 2015, Mexican company America Movil (NASDAQ: ​AMOV​) serves
72,633 wireless subscribers, boasts a wireless market share of 68% and provides
services to 289 million mobile customers. Total coverage of ​America Movil’s mobile,
fixed lines, broadband and television services reaches 892 million customers
worldwide. With a market value of $74.5 billion, the company’s access lines business
increased by 1.4% over a one-year period by the second quarter of 2015. In July
2015, America Movil launched its eighth satellite, Star One C4, at the Kourou Space
Center in French Guiana.
10) China Telecom
China Telecom is a state-owned company that provides fixed-line telephone services
to 194 million customers. Its mobile services reach 62.36 million and broadband
reaches 61.75 million. The company’s market value is $53.9 billion, and company
headquarters are located in Beijing. Holding company China Telecom Corporation
Limited (NYSE: ​CHA​) experienced a public offering in 2002 in Hong Kong and New
York City. China Telecom’s second holding company, China Communications
Services Corporation Limited, launched its Hong Kong IPO in 2006. China Telecom’s
commercial brands include E-surfing, E-surfing Navigator, E-surfing E Home and
E-surfing Flying Young.
28

30. 29

31. Cloud vendors
A cloud allows users to access application, information, and data of all sorts on an
online level rather than by use of actual hardware or devices. A company offering
reliable cloud technology allows for computing to be done in a much more shared
way, as a cloud provides a service rather than a product. Users get and share their
information in a way that can allow them to access and give access to the whole
world or any groups of people within their cloud.
Cloud Computing is a general term used to describe a new class of network based
computing that takes place over the Internet, basically the Cloud computing is the
online storage for the users. When we think of computer resources in the cloud, we
usually think of public clouds, such as the ones offered by Google Drive, Dropbox ,
SkyDrive, Box, etc. But the cloud computing is not just these public clouds it has also
private cloud computing and the Hybrid cloud computing .
30

32. Public Clouds:
This type of cloud computing is the traditional model that everyone thinks of when
they envision cloud computing. In this model, vendors dynamically allocate
resources on a per-user basis through web applications. Drop Box ,SkyDrive and
Google drive are most popular venders.
Private Clouds:
With infrastructure or applications shared by millions of clients worldwide, through
the Internet. Cloud computing has proven to be a good alternative for companies,
because it reduces costs and generates flexibility. But security and availability issues
still need to be resolved. That is why more and more companies are choosing
Private Clouds. it provides more secure platform to the employees and costumers of
an organization. For example Banks, In banks all the employees and costumers can
access the bank data which is assigned to them particularly.
Hybrid Cloud:
Hybrid cloud is the combination of the of the Public cloud and private cloud. In this
type of cloud services the internal resources, stays under the control of the
customer, and external resources delivered by a cloud service provider. A hybrid
cloud lets an organization keep its sensitive data secured on the organization’s own
network. And like the public cloud, a hybrid model lets an organization take
advantage of a cloud’s almost unlimited scalability. It’s a way to solve some of the
trust issues of the public cloud while getting the public cloud’s benefits.
Basic Structure of the Cloud computing
Cloud vendors are experiencing growth rates of 50% per annum. There are mainly
three variety of cloud services;
● Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
● Platform as a Service (PaaS)
● Software as a Service (SaaS)
31

33. Infrastructure as a Service cloud computing companies
1. Amazon​'s offerings include S3 (Data storage/file system), SimpleDB
(non-relational database) and EC2 (computing servers).
2. Rackspace​'s offerings include Cloud Drive (Data storage/file system), Cloud
Sites (web site hosting on cloud) and Cloud Servers(computing servers).
3. GoGrid​'s offerings include Cloud Hosting (web site hosting on cloud) and
Cloud Storage (Data storage/file system).
4. IBM​'s offerings include Smart Business Storage Cloud and Computing on
Demand (CoD).
5. AT&T​'s offerings include Synaptic Storage as a service and Synaptic
Compute as a service.
Platform as a Service cloud computing companies
1. Googles AppEngine​ is a development platform based upon Python and Java.
2. force.com​'s offers a development platform based upon a proprietary
programming language called Apex.
3. Microsoft Azure​ provides a development platform based upon .Net.
Software as a Service companies
1. Google offerings in the SaaS space include Google Docs, GMail, Google
Calendar and Picasa.
2. IBM provides LotusLive iNotes, a web based email service that provides
messaging and calendaring capabilities to business users.
3. Zoho​ has vast suite of online products similar to Microsoft office suite.
32

34. Methodology
SAAS: SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE
Cloud application services, or Software as a Service (SaaS), represent the largest
cloud market and are still growing quickly. SaaS uses the web to deliver applications
that are managed by a third-party vendor and whose interface is accessed on the
clients’ side. Most SaaS applications can be run directly from a web browser without
any downloads or installations required, although some require plugins.
Because of the web delivery model, SaaS eliminates the need to install and run
applications on individual computers. With SaaS, it’s easy for enterprises to
streamline their maintenance and support, because everything can be managed by
vendors: applications, runtime, data, middleware, OSes, virtualization, servers,
storage and networking.
Popular SaaS offering types include email and collaboration, customer relationship
management, and healthcare-related applications. Some large enterprises that are
not traditionally thought of as software vendors have started building SaaS as an
additional source of revenue in order to gain a competitive advantage.
SaaS Examples: Google Apps, Salesforce, Workday, Concur, Citrix GoToMeeting,
Cisco WebEx
Common SaaS Use-Case:​ Replaces traditional on-device software
Technology Analyst Examples:​ Bill Pray (Gartner), Amy DeMartine (Forrester)
33

35. PAAS: PLATFORM AS A SERVICE
Cloud platform services, or Platform as a Service (PaaS), are used for applications,
and other development, while providing cloud components to software. What
developers gain with PaaS is a framework they can build upon to develop or
customize applications. PaaS makes the development, testing, and deployment of
applications quick, simple, and cost-effective. With this technology, enterprise
operations, or a third-party provider, can manage OSes, virtualization, servers,
storage, networking, and the PaaS software itself. Developers, however, manage the
applications.
Enterprise PaaS provides line-of-business software developers a self-service portal
for managing computing infrastructure from centralized IT operations and the
platforms that are installed on top of the hardware. The enterprise PaaS can be
delivered through a hybrid model that uses both public IaaS and on-premise
infrastructure or as a pure private PaaS that only uses the latter.
Similar to the way in which you might create macros in Excel, PaaS allows you to
create applications using software components that are built into the PaaS
(middleware). Applications using PaaS inherit cloud characteristic such as scalability,
high-availability, multi-tenancy, SaaS enablement, and more. Enterprises benefit
from PaaS because it reduces the amount of coding necessary, automates business
policy, and helps migrate apps to hybrid model. For the needs of enterprises and
other organizations, Apprenda is one provider of a private cloud PaaS for .NET and
Java.
Enterprise PaaS Examples:​ Apprenda
Common PaaS Use-Case: Increases developer productivity and utilization rates
while also decreasing an application’s time-to-market
Technology Analyst Examples: Richard Watson (Gartner), Eric Knipp (Gartner),
Yefim Natis (Gartner), Stefan Ried (Forrester), John Rymer (Forrester)
34

36. IAAS: INFRASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE
Cloud infrastructure services, known as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), are
self-service models for accessing, monitoring, and managing remote datacenter
infrastructures, such as compute (virtualized or bare metal), storage, networking, and
networking services (e.g. firewalls). Instead of having to purchase hardware outright,
users can purchase IaaS based on consumption, similar to electricity or other utility
billing.
Compared to SaaS and PaaS, IaaS users are responsible for managing applications,
data, runtime, middleware, and OSes. Providers still manage virtualization, servers,
hard drives, storage, and networking. Many IaaS providers now offer databases,
messaging queues, and other services above the virtualization layer as well. Some
tech analysts draw a distinction here and use the IaaS+ moniker for these other
options. What users gain with IaaS is infrastructure on top of which they can install
any required platform. Users are responsible for updating these if new versions are
released.
IaaS Examples: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco Metapod, Microsoft Azure,
Google Compute Engine (GCE), Joyent
Common IaaS Use-Case: Extends current data center infrastructure for temporary
workloads (e.g. increased Christmas holiday site traffic)
Technology Analyst Examples: Kyle Hilgendorf (Gartner), Drue Reeves (Gartner),
Lydia Leong (Gartner), Doug Toombs (Gartner), Gregor Petri (Gartner EU), Tiny
Haynes (Gartner EU), Jeffery Hammond (Forrester), James Staten (Forrester)
35

37. Various Cloud Vendors
Cloud services are firmly established in the fabric of IT staff operations as a
necessary and growing ingredient of enterprise computing.
Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)​, the most basic form of cloud, is still a key building
block, but it is rapidly being supplemented by additional services.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)​, originator of large-scale public infrastructure
self-provisioned by the user, is an example of a basic IaaS gaining layers of services
on top. ​Database-as-a-service (DaaS) is almost a requirement for a competitive,
large-scale supplier today.
In addition, services such as real-time data streaming (AWS Kinesis) and an
event-triggered software management service (AWS Lambda) become the building
blocks of applications needing large-scale compute and storage to handle real-time
customer interactions.
36

38. While Amazon remains the market leader, it is increasingly challenged by Microsoft,
with its large customer base of Windows developers and its ​Azure Cloud's strength
in ​platform-as-a-service (PaaS)​. With PaaS, customers get a development
environment on which they may build their next-generation applications. That
environment then assists them in deploying those applications to the host's IaaS.
Once you begin a cloud deployment, there are a range of questions you'll need to
address. These include:
● How do you monitor the cloud?
● How do you forecast and interpret and understand your cloud service bill?
● How do you make choices that make the most efficient use of the cloud?
The cloud ecosystem includes a host of cloud service provider partners and third
parties offering a wide range of services to help you address the above questions.
Companies seeking to remain competitive in an e-commerce-based world are at the
forefront of the shift to cloud. Their businesses demand the ability to handle big data
and real-time events and the capability to respond with scale to a sudden escalation
of traffic on a website.
No matter your business model or industry vertical, chances are you've already
made strides into the cloud and are looking at additional resources. With that in
mind, we offer a roundup of 25 cloud-based options from companies large and small
-- offering public cloud services, as well as cloud management and orchestration
services.
This overview is intended to guide you in your cloud journey, and is not meant to be
a qualitative evaluation of the various offerings. The listings are in alphabetical order
and include each company's Twitter handle for convenience.
25 Cloud Vendors Worth Noting
Alibaba Cloud
Twitter: ​@Alibabatalk
Alibaba Cloud, also known Aliyun, offers an Elastic Compute Service that looks a lot
like Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud. But it is strictly Chinese-controlled and
37

39. Chinese-managed. It is headed toward becoming one of the world's largest suppliers
of cloud services.
Amazon Web Services
Twitter: ​@awscloud
Amazon Web Services (AWS), originator of IaaS in 2006, is the largest cloud service
provider by a margin of 6X. It offers services from 11 regional locations around the
world, each with multiple, discrete data center units or "availability zones," each
capable of serving as a failover site.
Apptio
Twitter: ​@Apptio
Apptio offers a SaaS-based technology business management system designed to
help IT organizations understand the cost of services being provided to the business.
Apptio also has tools to monitor and measure the cost of the same IT services
coming from the cloud.
Bluelock
Twitter: ​@Bluelock
Bluelock is a regional cloud supplier based in Indianapolis, with data centers there
and in Las Vegas. It offers VMware-oriented IaaS with a disaster recovery service
that can supply recovery services outside the East Coast hurricane corridor.
CloudHealth Technologies
Twitter: ​@CloudHealthTech
Offerings include the CloudHealth Platform for monitoring workload performance on
AWS, which allows automation of some cloud tasks. Its tools also provide billing
details that a ​generic Amazon bill​ lacks.
CenturyLink
Twitter: ​@CenturyLink
38

40. CenturyLink is a telecommunication carrier that has started offering infrastructure
cloud services through its acquisition of managed services provider Savvis and Tier
3 cloud services. It's placed an emphasis on Cloud Foundry development services in
the form of its AppFog PaaS. It also acquired a NoSQL database system that is
offered as its Orchestrate service.
CGI IaaS
Twitter: ​@CGI_Global
CGI offers IaaS along with professional consulting to help you move legacy systems
into IaaS.
CSC Agility Platform
Twitter: ​@CSC_Cloud
CSC offers IaaS, but since its acquisition of ServiceMesh, it is increasingly focused
on functioning as a cloud service broker. It will serve as a front-end for customers
seeking to use its own or other public clouds.
DigitalOcean
Twitter: ​@digitalocean
DigitalOcean is a New York-based cloud service provider oriented toward supplying
low-cost service to developers, with rapid spin-up of a customer's initial container or
virtual machine. Its infrastructure relies heavily on solid state drives for speed of
operation.
Dimension Data
Twitter: ​@DimensionData
Dimension Data offers IaaS and a variety of other vertical platform-type services,
including public cloud technologies to work with SAP and Microsoft cloud
technologies.
Fujitsu K5
39

41. Twitter: ​@FujitsuAmerica
Fujitsu K5 IaaS is a relatively new secure, trusted IaaS oriented toward OpenStack,
VMware, and bare metal operations.
GoGrid
Twitter: ​@GoGrid_Status
GoGrid, a pioneer in cloud computing founded by John Keagy, preceded AWS in
offering a grid compute service before self-provisioning IaaS had been given a
name. GoGrid was acquired by Datapipe in January 2015. Datapipe continues to
operate GoGrid's specialized big data-oriented cloud service.
Google Cloud Platform
Twitter: ​@GoogleCloud
The Google cloud consists of two parts: its App Engine PaaS, which is popular with
startups, and its Compute Engine, IaaS. It is also noted for its container
management system, which at its core is the open source Kubernetes system.
IBM Cloud
Twitter: ​@IBMcloud
IBM has said it is committed to a future unified OpenStack architecture, but hasn't
combined the two parts under one umbrella yet. It is committed to establishing
40-plus global data centers.
Joyent Cloud
Twitter: ​@Joyent
In mid-June, Joyent became part of Samsung, which was seeking a cloud service
provider through which to offer enhanced mobile services. Where most clouds use
Linux and Windows Server, Joyent uses its own open source flavor of Solaris called
SmartOS and features an advanced container management system called Triton.
Kaavo
40

42. Twitter: ​@Kaavo
Kaavo offers management tools to help IT handle virtual machine or container
workloads across public, private, and hybrid clouds.
Microsoft Azure
Twitter: ​@azure
After becoming available in beta the previous November, Azure was launched as a
PaaS in February 2010, equipped with Microsoft software and tools. It was later
expanded into IaaS and SaaS. It will host Linux and other open source code in
virtual machines in multiple data centers around the world.
New Relic
Twitter: ​@NewRelic
New Relic offers application performance monitoring SaaS solutions for apps
on-premises and apps in the cloud.
Oracle Cloud
Twitter: ​@OracleServCloud
Oracle Cloud now offers IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. It's promising to give AWS a run for
its money when it comes to pricing. Its SaaS includes a full complement of business
applications.
Pantheon
Twitter: ​@getpantheon
This up-and-comer offers tools for website management and container management.
It's designed for websites built using Drupal or WordPress. Its container-based
platform is built on a distributed, horizontally scalable infrastructure.
Rackspace
Twitter: ​@Rackspace
41

43. Rackspace is now focused primarily on its managed cloud business, where the
provider takes responsibility for both the server and the system running on it. But
Rackspace also acts as a broker to the AWS and Microsoft Azure clouds as well as
its own OpenStack public clouds.
SAP Hana Cloud Platform
Twitter: ​@SAPhcp
SAP Hana Cloud Platform offers a variety of services, but is geared mainly around a
PaaS making use of the Hana database system-as-a-service and related
development tools.
Verizon Cloud
Twitter: ​@vzenterprise
Verizon entered the public cloud business the same time as CenturyLink, acquiring
managed service provider Terremark. The company is emphasizing mobile services
and public/private cloud, or hybrid, operations.
VirtuStream Cloud
Twitter: ​@virtustream
EMC's VirtuStream Cloud is an OpenStack implementation intended to fill the role of
public cloud, private enterprise cloud, and a joint-operations hybrid cloud. EMC
acquired Virtustream in 2015.
VMware vCloud Air
Twitter: ​@vCloud
VCloud Air is a matching environment for the VMware virtualized enterprise data
center, but it is recast in a self-provisioning and virtual-networking public cloud
format.
42

44. Stacking up the cloud vendors: AWS vs. Microsoft Azure, IBM, Google, Oracle
It's not easy tracking the girth of public cloud providers amid run rates, as-a-service
sales projections, and a lack of transparency. Here's how AWS stacks up against
Microsoft Azure, IBM, Google, and Oracle.
Amazon Web Services continues to lead the cloud pack as it delivered a 2016
operating profit of $3.1 billion on revenue of $12.22 billion, up from $7.88 billion in
2015.
While analysts will fret about Amazon's e-commerce business and growth ahead,
you need to realize that AWS is the profit engine. To wit:
● AWS' 2016 operating income was $3.11 billion on revenue of $12.22 billion.
● AWS' annual operating profit margin was more than 25 percent.
● Amazon's North American e-commerce operating margin was 2.95 percent.
And it's also worth noting that Amazon discloses actual revenue -- not a run rate. On
that score, it's worth a tip of the cap on Amazon transparency when it comes to
43

45. evaluating your cloud provider. Now that Amazon is out of the way, it's worth noting
the big cloud providers and where they stand in the horse race based on earnings
reports over the last two weeks.
Naturally, AWS has a run rate too. Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said on the
company's fourth quarter earnings conference call:
“We feel we've got a very broad base of customers from startups to small
medium businesses to large enterprises to the public sector. We are
continuing to see strong growth across all those sectors. The business is now
a $14 billion annualized run rate. We have been pretty clear that this business
is all about creating new functionality for customers.”
Here's a look at the standings among cloud giants.
Microsoft cited a commercial cloud annual run rate topping $14 billion. The catch?
It's not easy to figure out what the run rate includes. Officially: Commercial cloud run
rate is calculated by taking revenue from the last month of the quarter for Office 365
commercial, Azure, Dynamics 365, and other cloud properties and multiplying it by
12. Got that?
Nevertheless, Microsoft has a bunch of cloud assets that are combining to be a
formidable unit. Microsoft is a clear rival to Amazon Web Services, but a different
animal entirely. Microsoft Azure plugs into hybrid clouds well. It's not a big leap from
products like Windows Server to Azure and Active Directory is almost like a cloud
gateway drug. CEO Satya Nadella said:
“Our commercial cloud annualized revenue run rate now exceeds $14 billion,
and we are on track to achieve our goal of $20 billion in fiscal year 18.
Customers choose the Microsoft Cloud for the following reasons: They want a
trusted, global, hyper-scale cloud provider that meets enterprise grade needs.
They want hybrid support that is architected into the hyper-scale service as
well as the cloud servers. They want higher level services to help build their
own digital capability across IoT and Enterprise App development, advanced
analytics, and AI capability. Moreover, and most importantly... CIOs, CSOs,
44

46. BDMs and developers are all seeing the benefits from the operational
consistency, productivity and security across their entire digital estate
spanning Windows 10 cloud security & management, Office 365, Dynamics
365, Enterprise Mobility and Azure.
That take sounds swell, but I'd love to see Azure's actual sales a quarter and
fiscal year broken down based on infrastructure-as-a-service. Transparency
grade: C. Maybe.”
IBM during its fourth quarter cited an as-a-service run rate of $8.6 billion, up 53
percent from a year ago. IBM's as-a-service run rate includes software-,
infrastructure- and platform-as-a-service. IBM said its fourth quarter run rate for
as-a-service was $1.8 billion for its cognitive solutions unit (Watson), $1.1 billion for
its global business services segment; and $5.8 billion for its technology services and
cloud platform business. The spin on IBM's cloud transparency is that it is combining
cognitive computing and cloud in more engagements.
Transparency grade: B. IBM gives you enough to work with to divine its cloud and
Watson transition, but you have to follow the bouncing technology and marketing ball
through the various divisions.
45

47. Google is cited as a cloud contender and key player in the market. And Google's
Cloud Platform combined with apps and machine learning is a powerful notion. Yet,
Google Cloud is mixed in with the other category when it comes to earnings.
Google pushes ahead to make its cloud better for Windows enterprise users
Other revenue for Google in the fourth quarter was $3.4 billion, up 62 percent from a
year ago. Google said it saw strong performance from hardware, Google Play, and
Google Cloud.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on the company's earnings conference call:
“In 2016, we made huge strides building out our product offerings across all
areas of Google Cloud Platform or GCP. We routinely hear from customers
that we have now moved well beyond table stakes, and we have truly
differentiated offerings in four key areas, data analytics and machine learning,
security and privacy, tools for application development, and the ability to
create connected business platforms leveraging our recent acquisition of
Apigee.”
For 2016, Google's other category had revenue of $10.07 billion. We don't know
what the split is between Play and Cloud and hardware. My guess is that Play
accounts for the bulk of sales for now with a heavy dose of Google Apps.
Transparency grade: D.
And the rest of the pack. Oracle for the six months ended November 30, reported
total cloud revenue of $2 billion, up 11 percent from a year ago. Oracle breaks out
software-, platform- and infrastructure-as a-service. Toss in NetSuite going forward
and Oracle will be able to boast run rates along with the big guns. The transparency
between the as-a-service flavors is welcome.
New findings from Synergy Research highlight the cloud market is still dominated by
AWS, Google, Microsoft and IBM, as the pack is seemingly struggling to gain ground
46

48. in the race for market share.
AWS still leads the way in the segment, accounting for roughly 31% of the global
market share, with IBM, Google and IBM collectively accounting for the next 22%.
The next 20 players in the market, companies such as HPE, VMWare and Alibaba
for example, account for a collective 27%. AWS year-on-year growth was estimated
at 57% while Google and Microsoft both demonstrated more than 100% growth over
the same period.
“This is a market that is so big and is growing so rapidly that companies can be
growing by 10-30% per year and might feel good about themselves and yet they’d
still be losing market share,” said John Dinsdale, Chief Analyst at Synergy Research
Group. “The big question for them is whether or not they are building a sustainable
and profitable business. This can be done by focusing on specific regions or specific
services, but the bulk of the market demands huge scale, a broad footprint, very
deep pockets and a long-term corporate focus.”
Worryingly for the rest of the pack outside of the top four, the gap would appear to be
growing as AWS, Google, Microsoft and IBM are pulling further ahead. The 20
companies outside the top four averaged year-on-year growth of approximately 41%,
though Synergy claim the cloud segment grew more than 50% over the course of
Q1.
The team estimate the quarterly cloud infrastructure service revenues, which include
IaaS, PaaS and private & hybrid cloud, has now surpassed the $7 billion milestone,
with the US accounting for roughly 50% of the worldwide market share.
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49. 48

50. The Much-Needed Business Facet for Modern Data Integration
Data integration has always faced complex technical issues. Obviously the
technically savvy will always be needed for many aspects of data integration, and
require solutions that can handle complex problems. But this approach isn't enough
for what businesses need and want today from Modern Data Integration. Making
room for business ubiquity – business user participation and input – continues to be
a challenge.
SaaS and cloud services are important technologies for modern data integration.
SaaS in particular has brought into play ease-of-use and focused workflows to help
non-technical users move through pre-built integrations. More vendor solutions are
improving user experiences and solution efficiency, for both technical and
less-technical users. There is increasing development of streamlined UIs, powered
by sophisticated technologies behind the scenes, thus speeding data integration
tasks.
There seem to be more discussions addressing business data needs, connecting
data integration more directly to desired business outcomes via business processes.
Including business users in more areas of data management has seen growth both
in "lip service" and actual implementations. For the majority of vendors, a business
user remains a tech-savvy power user. So we still have miles to go before business
ubiquity in data integration includes more types of business roles.
The Much-Needed Business Facet of Modern Data Integration
Business ubiquity is not limited to direct participation by business users, but includes
the overarching notion of ​Business​ informing all activities around data integration
functions. This means empowering all sorts of business roles to work in partnership
with IT, to inform, validate, and provide context to data integration processes.
Business roles can help determine if data integration functions will deliver the right
data, and will know where problems are likely to occur.
The Modern Data Integration technology platform should provide access points for
business users, as well as templates for practices and processes that help
organizations engender useful, dynamic and continuous collaborations between
business and IT – and the growing involvement of business roles at many levels.
Collaborative approaches are usually iterative and involve processes that are both
human-based and technology-based. Modern data integration solutions should
include all appropriate collaborative aspects.
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51. Modern Data Preparation
We're seeing growing attention on tools that more quickly connect business users to
the data they need, without much intervention from IT. Data integration is not an
easy-peasy undertaking for anyone. But we can break out components that are more
amenable to business user access and participation, such as data preparation.
There is real value in moving these tasks from IT to business users who can connect
data to business processes, usage realities, professional knowledge, and pertinent
requirements.
Self-service data preparation solutions include the integration of disparate data
sources. These solutions address all of the functions that make the data
business-usable and reliable: profiling or exploring, cleansing (which should follow
organizational data quality guidelines), enrichment, and so on.
Business users working with data preparation solutions can achieve greater agility to
respond to new data sources, new business initiatives, narrow windows of
opportunity, impending competitive threats, and unexpected market changes – all of
the realities of fast-changing and highly digital business worlds.
Business Use of Data Profiling
Data profiling started off as a technology and methodology for IT use. But data
profiling can be an important tool for business users to gain full value from data
assets. When given the right tools and practices for data profiling, business users
should quickly identify inconsistencies and problems for data, before it is used for
reporting and intelligence purposes. It's also a sensible way for business users to
understand more about the data they utilize in applications, processes and analytics.
From such "data intelligence", business users can have a greater understanding
different data sources to be able to ask the right questions for BI and analytics
projects. They'll also know if they have the right data and all of the data that they
need to answer their questions.
Business Data Libraries for Ready-to-go Data
Data libraries are another aspect of improving business-IT collaboration. Modern
data integration solutions are doing a better job of attaining the holy grail of
business-ready data: directories or libraries of available data views, particularly the
data that results from a variety of integrations. This data could be accessed by IT or
business users, with the safety net of role-based constraints built in. Such business
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52. data libraries greatly aid reusability, as well as allow business users to utilize the
data sets that they need, but may not know how to generate.
Modern Data Governance for Data ​and​ Application Integration
Today's myriad of data sources, data integration tools and approaches, means that
data governance is mission critical to ensuring trustworthy and business-usable data.
As data and application integration processes overlap more and more in modern
data integration, data governance now must oversee all integration approaches, as a
centralized function.
Because of the new world of modern data integration, there is more pressure on data
governance functions to accept new realities involving business users and self-serve
data solutions. Organizations must establish guidelines and processes to directly
manage when it's beneficial for business users to perform data prep or integration –
or when then work is best done by technical teams due to complex technical
requirements.
Modern Data Quality
For modern data integration evolution to work well for business user participation,
data quality is paramount. More and more organizations understand that data can be
a valuable asset, that intelligence can be derived from a variety of data sources, and
that analytics of many kinds can greatly benefit decision making, future direction,
competitiveness, and innovation. But many organizations aren't well-prepared to
tackle the work that must be done to ensure that data is reliable, timely and relevant.
One reason data management and data quality are so important is that a lot of data
that can be useful to the enterprise has a very short shelf life. So business processes
and activities must be able to tap into data as soon as possible. But that data is only
useful if it has high quality. All of the amazing new technologies of modern data
integration solutions will mean nothing if the data is unreliable, and therefore
unusable.
Business Ubiquity – Organizational Symbiosis
Business users increasingly have the ​potential​ to utilize powerful capabilities to
explore, manipulate and merge new data sources without IT support. There is
obvious advantage to organizations to fully support and empower business users to
work more directly in many aspects of data management.
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53. Modern data integration solutions should not only support business ubiquity, but can
also benefit from it. Vendors can achieve this by making sure that these solutions:
● Provide natural access points for business users backed by built-in
guidance to make sure these users don't misstep
● Document and support collaborative processes between IT and business
roles in ways that improve data integrations
● Participate in building a comprehensive plan for business user participation
and help execute it
● Trace and monitor metrics that are established to connect data integration
processes to business outcomes and impact
● "Know" that technology is only part of what is needed to create, implement
and reap value from data integration processes
● Support agile change involving both IT and business ro
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54. Advantages & Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
Advantages of Cloud Computing
● The cloud computing is very good method of computing it saves lots of money
which we spends to buy the extra hard disks and softwares.
● It also make the backup of your data.
● The main advantage of the cloud computing is that it saves lot of time which
we are spending to install the new softwares on our system. These makes this
system great to use.
Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
● But, as this system has many advantages at the same time there are some
disadvantages also that are the security of the data in the public clouds and
we don’t know anything about the system when the system fails to
reinstatement we have to report the service provider than the service provider
will take the required action.
We think that the advantages of this computing methods are more than its problems
and even the researchers and developers are working the problems of this
computing method.
Why Clouds are so beneficial to the data sharing world
The main reason that the future of cloud computing will be as powerful and
expansive as it portends to be is that cloud technology is extremely beneficial. For
one thing, the extreme agility and accessibility of a cloud is far superior to the use of
current technology. No matter where in the world someone happens to be, or what
device they are using, they can access their cloud and continue to do their work or
share their information.
Not only that, but cloud technology is extremely cost effective, and a company could
end up saving thousands by choosing this option. For the reliability a cloud offers,
the security it provides, and the performance it boasts of, the cost of a cloud makes it
an incredible option for individuals and corporations alike. The future of cloud
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55. computing is bright, and wise people of any kind should begin to get on board with
trusted cloud computing providers like Apprenda.
Five telecom provider benefits of offering cloud computing services
Competition, cost pressures, and the demand for services and applications anytime,
anywhere, and on any device are forcing telecom service providers to consider
alternative delivery models to acquire and deliver IT services demanded by their
customers. Service providers regard their networks as a strategic asset capable of
driving incremental revenue and increased profitability, but how do they extract
maximum value from that asset?
This is where a cloud computing services model has an advantage for service
providers over their current enterprise IT models. With a cloud computing services
model, service providers can insert themselves into the value chain by redefining
their roles to expand beyond connectivity and provide Web-based application
delivery services.
Here are five reasons why service providers should capitalize on cloud computing for
their business and for their customers:
The value proposition of cloud computing
Cloud computing has the potential to affect service providers' total operational costs
by reducing the hardware and software requirements of their current networks and
platforms. Network architectures that build on optimization and consolidation are a
key interest -- also, increasingly, a requirement -- for all service providers. Cloud
computing platforms also enable enterprises to provision an infrastructure and add
computing capacity on demand. This elasticity promotes rapid deployment of
solutions and allows service providers to scale their infrastructure based on demand
and consequently to improve time to market for new services.
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56. Web-based applications promote IT independence
With more employees scattered in global offices or telecommuting, Web-based
services and applications are perfect for the rapidly changing enterprise workplace.
Service providers can increase their revenue and market share and capitalize on
Web-based application services by communicating and promoting the tangible
business benefits to their customers. Mobile communication, accelerated
developments in broadband networking, open source technologies, and Web 2.0
have made on-demand services more reliable and affordable. Using cloud-based
services, businesses can store more data than on private computer systems,
allowing them to save on the processing power and hard disk space required for
desktop software while giving them access to an unlimited number of applications.
Additional benefits for businesses -- and selling points for service providers -- include
lower costs, improved system performance, reduced software cost, instant software
updates, data reliability, universal data access, and hardware/device independence.
Growing cloud-based managed services market produces revenue
The managed services market is one of the fastest growing segments in the IT
industry, and service providers are uniquely positioned to capitalize on it. Cloud
computing offers service providers an ideal model for developing managed services
because they already have the scalable engine to build scalable services. By
assuming an end-to-end position (application to end user) in the cloud computing
value chain, the service provider can improve and add significant quality of service to
user-to-application experiences. This network-based approach to service assurance
can position service providers to capitalize on the software revenue market related to
the use of the applications -- a market that network providers have yet to fully
explore and utilize.Increasing carriers' data center efficiency and operations
With typical data center costs running approximately 25% of total IT budgets, service
providers are under pressure to find cost-efficient business solutions and models to
operate their data centers. A cloud computing data center model enables rapid
innovation, scalability and support of core enterprise functions, resulting in significant
economies of scale. OpEx and CapEx savings are realized through the
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57. standardization of systems and software components. A cloud computing data
center reduces the need for additional hardware, software and facilities, as well as
automation of server, network, storage, operating systems and middleware
provisioning, and security issues, all of which are costly and time-consuming
functions.
A cloud computing platform also increases the utilization of servers, which can range
from 20% to 70%, resulting in a decrease in required infrastructure. This hardware
reduction translates to a dramatic drop in some associated operations expenditures:
rack space, real estate, power and cooling. And let's not forget the cost savings
associated with continuity and data center longevity. The average life expectancy of
a large data center is 12 years. With the cost of developing a data center at
approximately $500 million, cloud computing becomes both a business and
operational value.
Differentiating service providers from the pack
The current economic climate has forced service providers to take a hard look at
their business models and how they differentiate themselves from their competitors.
The old business model was about cost-per-bit, but in the new paradigm, service
providers realize they have to focus on what makes them stand out. Delivering
cloud-based consumer and business-critical applications with solid service-level
agreements (SLAs) will not only allow service providers to differentiate themselves
but will maximize the value of the network while promoting a new business model.
Moving to a cloud-based platform poses challenges and concerns for service
providers. Dealing with standards, security, performance, data compliance aligned
with procedures and operations, and availability issues are just a few of the
organizational and technical challenges they'll have to address to make cloud
computing a true value proposition. Service providers can leverage their reputations
and solid performances to offer reliable, comprehensive and secure cloud services.
Most importantly, service providers can show value by strongly emphasizing that
cloud computing allows enterprises to focus on other aspects of their businesses
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58. without having to concentrate resources on IT, server updates, and maintenance
issues -- a win-win service offering for both service providers and their customers.
And last but certainly not least, by ensuring the value of services delivered via cloud
computing, service providers not only deliver business value to their users but
increase and extend their sustainability.
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59. Conclusions
What the future Cloud Computing holds?
➔ With cloud computing and the technology behind it there are many potential
opportunities and capabilities.
➔ Cloud computing can open a whole new world of jobs, services, platforms,
applications, and much more.
➔ There are thousands of possibilities beginning to form as the future of cloud
computing starts to really take off.
For instance, vendors and service providers can get on board to develop new
and different ways of selling their goods and services to the cloud users
through the cloud technology.
It opens up a whole new platform for designers and web developers. Businesses and
organizations can organize themselves and conduct business much more affordable
and professionally. Social networking and keeping in touch with friends gets a great
deal easier as well.
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