Cloud computing leaders on the wave – Part 1

Big fish in a little pond is one of my favorites quotes when talking about the leaders in cloud computing. Even though cloud computing is not literally that little, the leaders are the same big fish since its very beginning. Here are the top cloud computing leaders in my opinion.

1. Amazon

Basically, Amazon invented the IaaS market. Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers a complete set of infrastructure services that enable businesses to run virtually everything in the cloud: from enterprise applications and big data projects to mobile apps. AWS provides a reliable, scalable and low-cost infrastructure platform in the cloud. New AWS customers can run a free usage tier that can be used for anything from launching new applications, to testing existing applications in the cloud, or simply gaining experience with AWS. AWS is great for SMB’s that are just starting out and looking for very affordable and scalable cloud services.

2. RackSpace

Being one of the major players in the IaaS market, RackSpace offers website building, storage and access to virtualized servers. RackSpace partnered with NASA and founded OpenStack – a cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage and networking resources throughout a datacenter, all managed through a dashboard that gives administrators control while empowering their users to provision resources through a web interface.

3. Salesforce.com

In 1999, Salesforce.com became one of the first major movers in the cloud arena, that started delivering enterprise-level applications to end users via the Internet. With the acquisition of Heroku, one of the most popular PaaS clouds, combined with its popular Ruby Platform as a Service, Salesforce hopes it establishes its position as a leader.

4. Verizon Terremark

Verizon one of the largest telco and wireless companies acquired Terremark in 2011, ensuring its rapid growth in cloud computing and finally entering this market where it has been exceeded by competitor such as AT&T. Things went well and Terremark released its Enterprise Cloud Private Edition –  a single-tenant environment able to provide large enterprises and government agencies with the level of security they need.

5. TimeWarner NaviSite

Another acquisition by one of the largest cable companies offers Enterprise level shared cloud through their NaviCloud offering which is affordable for SMB’s and Enterprise.  Full managed solutions are also available and multiple data centers on east, centre and western US and Europe make this an attractive offering.

6. Savvis

Another well known Enterprise level Cloud company that offers Managed Hosting, and solutions consulting.  Savvis offers IT infrastructure and Cloud computing to 45 countries around the world.

7. Joyent

Specialized in application virtualization and cloud computing, in 2010 was chosen by Dell to power its cloud. JoyentCloud, Joyent’s hosting unit, is designed to compete with Amazon’s EC2 cloud. The bottom line is that Joyent offers powerful, cost efficient alternative for big data centers.

These are the first 7 cloud providers from my list. In a future blog post I will discuss about cloud computing experts I believe are amongst the best. What are the top cloud providers in your mind? Curious to read your opinions.

Photo source: https://www.sxc.hu/photo/1118780