Digital Lifescapes

Hyperscale cloud service providers continue to leverage their low-cost advantage to drive growth. According to the latest worldwide market study by Canalys, Google Cloud was the fastest-growing cloud infrastructure vendor last year -- up more than 90 percent year-on-year -- increasing its share of the total market from 6 percent in 2017 to 8 percent in 2018. The top four hyperscale cloud service providers accounted for 61 percent of the total market in 2018. Amazon Web Services (AWS) remained the leader on 32 percent, followed by Microsoft Azure with 17 percent, Google Cloud in third place with 8 percent and Alibaba Cloud with 4 percent. Hyperscale Cloud Market Development Canalys reports that hyperscale cloud infrastructure services are in a period of sustained growth, with spending up 46 percent in 2018 to more than $80 billion. Expenditure is also forecast to surpass $143 billion in 2020. More businesses are deploying a hybrid multi-cloud strategy, integrating multiple provi...

The worldwide cloud computing infrastructure market had another strong quarter in Q4 2018, as spending grew 46 percent to nearly $23 billion. The total outlay on cloud infrastructure in 2018 exceeded $80 billion -- that's up from $55 billion in 2017 according to that latest market study by Canalys. This investment makes cloud computing services one of the most important sectors in the IT industry, not just by the rate of growth, but also due to its expanding size. Cloud Computing Infrastructure Market Development Amazon Web Services (AWS) remained the dominant cloud service provider in Q4 2018; its market share of customer spend unchanged at 32 percent. Microsoft Azure grew its share to 16 percent against 14 percent in the same period a year ago. Google Cloud reached 9 percent for the first time, while Alibaba Cloud maintained its 4 percent share. IBM, Salesforce, Oracle, NTT Communications, Tencent Cloud and OVH rounded out the top 10 cloud service providers. "Cloud...

Most business technology vendors are already in the process of revamping their traditional marketing organizations to better support their IT channel partners. The ongoing shift to a progressive digital marketing methodology has challenged many leaders, due to the difficulty in re-training their legacy employees. Moreover, demand for marketing talent that is skilled in the development of digital business transformation projects has increased over the last year, yet the available talent pool remains somewhat limited. As a result, the competition for recruiting (and retaining)  digital polymaths is intense -- particularly for those marketers that possess knowledge of hybrid cloud and IT security technologies. Market Development in the Channel The global information technology (IT) channel remains optimistic -- despite predictions of a challenging 2016 -- according to a recent Canalys survey of 260 IT channel partners around the world. 75 percent of partners expect revenue grow...

During 2014, China will remain one of the leading high-growth markets for digital technology. The Chinese Smart Connected Device (SCD) market grew by 45 percent in the third quarter of 2013, according to the latest market study by IDC. However, segment growth was mixed. The market growth rate of smartphones was 64 percent, media tablets were at 77 percent -- but, in contrast, PCs declined by -12 percent. IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker provides an integrated view of three important digital technology markets: Personal computers (notebooks and desktops), smartphones, and media tablets. According to the IDC study findings, overall 2013 saw fast growth for the SCD market in China. "2013 was a game changing year. The consumer SCD install base reached 780 million at the end of 2013, tripling the number of two years ago," said Kitty Fok, managing director at IDC China. In the future, the China SCD market is going to move from an explosive growt...