Cloud computing is the talk of the technology industry, and focus has been on the technology incumbents such as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM). The concern is how they are managing the brutal and beautiful shift to the cloud. The New York Times’ Steve Lohr took a look at these cloud leaders and revealed what they are up to what that might mean to the investment community.
The shift to cloud computing might not be a step that every technology company is ready to make, even the so-called incumbents, but it is necessary because a failure to make an early move can lead to costly business consequences.
According to a Synergy Research Group report cited by the New York Times, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s cloud revenue in the second quarter was up 164%, trailed by International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) with 86% increase. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) followed at a distant 49% growth, almost in-line with the market average of%.
However, despite the huge percentage gains by rivals in cloud revenue, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is still ahead in terms of revenues. The company boasts $962 million in cloud revenue for the second quarter, a huge margin from Microsoft’s $370 million and IBM’s $259 million, according to Synergy Research Group data.
“The fear factor is clearly at work now in the fast-growing market for cloud computing. The latest quarterly reports from technology companies and market research show that two of the fastest movers in the emergent cloud business are the incumbent giants of traditional software, Microsoft and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM),” Lohr said in his article in the New York Times.
In the shift to the cloud, especially in the pursuit of bigger revenue in the emerging market, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) are bundling more in their cloud offering than does Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). While Amazon’s cloud offering includes computing, storage and basic software tools, Microsoft and IBM are keen to enrich their cloud services that in addition to what Amazon offers, they throw in such services as data analysis applications and spreadsheets.
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