The IaaS market expanded by almost 30% in 2017, growing from $18.2 billion to $23.5 billion over the year, as more and more businesses embraced cloud services.
Over 20% of IT budgets are now being spent on cloud-based services, according to the latest research from analyst house Gartner, as many organisations are looking to the cloud for business critical operations.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) dominated the global IaaS market at the end of last year, with Microsoft, Alibaba and Google making up the top four.
"The top four providers have strong IaaS offerings and saw healthy growth as IaaS adoption is being fully embraced by mainstream organisations and as cloud availability expands into new regions and countries," said Sid Nag, research director at Gartner.
"Cloud-directed IT spending now constitutes more than 20% of the total IT budget for organisations using the cloud. Many of these organisations are now using the cloud to support production environments and business-critical operations."
Benefitting from the rise in cloud service adoption, the top four made up 73% of the total IaaS market and 47% of the combined IaaS and infrastructure utility services (IUS) market.
Microsoft, which came a distant second to AWS, still managed to record growth of 98% on its Azure IaaS offering, with revenue surpassing $3.1 billion in 2017.
Alibaba's massive 2017 growth of 63% saw it beat Google to third place and reflected the company's successful investment in research and development.
"This reflects a fundamental change in what and how organisations are consuming technology. Some legacy infrastructure offerings, such as IUS, are seeing lower and slower uptake that impacts the combined IaaS and IUS market," added Nag.
"Additionally, a groundswell of demand for cloud-skilled personnel is forcing technology providers to change how they compete to meet this exploding demand."
Picture: Shutterstock
-
Bigger salaries, more burnout: Is the CISO role in crisis?In-depth CISOs are more stressed than ever before – but why is this and what can be done?
-
Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25News Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
The Wiz acquisition stakes Google's claim as the go-to hyperscaler for cloud security – now it’s up to AWS and industry vendors to reactAnalysis The Wiz acquisition could have monumental implications for the cloud security sector, with Google raising the stakes for competitors and industry vendors.
-
Microsoft’s EU data boundary project crosses the finish lineNews Microsoft has finalized its EU data boundary project aimed at allowing customers to store and process data in the region.
-
Microsoft hit with £1 billion lawsuit over claims it’s “punishing UK businesses” for using competitor cloud services
News Customers using rival cloud services are paying too much for Windows Server, the complaint alleges
-
Microsoft's Azure growth isn't cause for concern, analysts sayAnalysis Azure growth has slowed slightly, but Microsoft faces bigger problems with expanding infrastructure
-
The Open Cloud Coalition wants to promote a more competitive European cloud market – but is there more to the group than meets the eye?Analysis The launch of the Open Cloud Coalition is the latest blow in a war of words between Microsoft and Google over European cloud
-
Data center constraints pinch as Microsoft reports soaring AI demandNews The firm’s CEO Satya Nadella remained confident that supply and demand would start matching up later in the fiscal year
-
Microsoft slams Google’s ‘shadow campaigns’ as feud over cloud regulation escalatesNews Google is being accused of creating an “astroturf” organization that is driven by ulterior motives
-
Microsoft just announced its biggest ever investment in ItalyNews The investment from Microsoft aims to ramp up cloud infrastructure and deliver training initiatives to upskill a million people
