科技公司摩拳擦掌，“云战争”硝烟四起
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为了免去管理数据中心的麻烦，许多公司把这一任务交给了亚马逊（Amazon）。而亚马逊不仅是最大的网络零售商，还创立了庞大的服务器租赁业务，供那些需要计算能力来分析数据、播放电影和处理订单的客户使用。 但亚马逊领先的所谓“云服务平台”，正在面临着日益严峻的挑战。在这个科技行业最大巨头之间的核心战场上，微软（Microsoft）等竞争对手正在逐渐发展壮大。 弗雷斯特研究公司（Forrester Research）的分析师詹姆斯•斯塔顿称：“云平台是现代软件公司都会选择的服务，这意味着所有在应用开发和发布上占据重大份额的大公司都会进入这个领域。他们别无选择。” 弗雷斯特的詹姆斯•斯塔顿表示，2013年亚马逊的数据中心Web Services占据了全球云平台市场75%的份额。不过到今年年底，这一比例预计将跌至65%。 与此同时，在这场竞争中远远落后的第二名——微软Azure云平台——在2013年的份额为15%。但到今年年底，这一比例预计将增至25%。 云计算依旧有很大的潜力。研究公司IHS Technology的数据显示，到2017年，各公司在该领域的花费可能高达2,350亿美元，是2011年的三倍多。因此也难怪微软、谷歌（Google）、Salesforce、SAP和甲骨文（Oracle）都着眼于该领域来填补市场需求。 Amazon Web Services创立于2006年，他们很早就在建立数据中心，供其他公司储存和处理数据。如今据估计，该数据中心今年收入约为55亿美元，拥有包括美国国家航空航天局（NASA）、奈飞（Netflix）和Spotify在内的超过100万客户。 上周在拉斯维加斯举办的云平台年度会议上，Amazon Web Services推出了简化软件开发、并使开发成本更为低廉的工具。在会上，公司的高级副总裁安迪•雅西表示：“云就是新常态。” 早在萨提亚•纳德拉在2月担任首席执行官之前很久，微软就开始迈入所谓的“云”领域。但正是纳德拉将“云”摆在了公司的战略中心。 招揽数据客户对微软而言至关重要。该公司在出售个人电脑软件方面取得了巨大成功，但在人们将注意力转向移动设备后便步履蹒跚了。微软赌的就是Azure这样的商业服务会成为公司未来的重要产品。 微软试图通过低价和迅速推出新功能这两项战略拉近差距。弗雷斯特研究公司的分析师杰弗里•哈蒙德表示，对缺乏技术经验的新用户而言，Azure更易于上手。 哈蒙德说：“我认为开发商经常会有这种感觉：选择倒是很多，但究竟哪种最好并不总是那么明显。” Amazon Web Services平台目前依旧为Spotify、Airbnb和Pinterest等初创公司所青睐。而Azure则更多地被Xerox、eBay和McKesson等大型公司选择。（据斯塔顿所说，越来越多的初创公司也开始使用Azure，不过在很多情况中，这些初创公司本身就有使用微软产品的经历。）这两大平台都需要完善他们的服务，以取得更进一步的增长。 微软的营销策略是让云平台比亚马逊的更加灵活。传统的亚马逊平台会储存并处理客户的绝大部分信息。而微软正好相反，采用了“混合云”策略，客户可以在微软的服务器上储存和处理部分数据，而另一部分数据则放在自己的服务器上。对那些希望拥有更多数据自主权，同时也想享受云服务便利的用户而言，这很有吸引力。 微软的“混合云”策略会带来更大效益，至少在不远的将来会是这样。高德纳研究公司（Gartner）预测，到2017年，美国几乎半数大型企业都会建立起类似混合云的产品。甚至连亚马逊都意识到了这其中的吸引力。今年早些时候，亚马逊的首席技术官沃纳•沃格尔表示，如果客户有需求，公司将会提供工具帮助他们架设混合云服务器。 哈蒙德把这种云服务的趋势比作互联网的兴起：“我们最终在这里看见的将会是巨变。” 对Amazon Web Services、Azure和其他竞争云平台市场的公司来说，这一趋势预示着什么，他们早已了然：竞争开始了。（财富中文网） 译者：严匡正 |
To avoid the hassle of operating data centers, many companies hand the job off to Amazon. In addition to being the biggest online retailer, Amazon has built a giant business of renting servers to customers that need computing power to crunch numbers, stream movies and process orders. But Amazon, the leading so-called “cloud services platform,” faces an increasingly stiff challenge. Rivals like Microsoft are slowly gaining ground in what is a key battleground between some of the technology industry’s biggest companies. “Cloud platforms are the service of choice for modern software, which means that all the big businesses who have a significant stake in app development or distribution are getting into this space. They have to,” says James Staten, a Forrester Research analyst. Amazon’s Web Services, the name of its data center arm, controlled up to 75% of the global cloud platforms market in 2013, according to Forrester Research analyst James Staten. But that share is expected to drop to around 65% by the end of this year. Meanwhile, Microsoft, a distant second in the race with what is known as Azure, had 15% of the market in 2013. That share is expected to climb to 25% by the end of the year. The potential for cloud computing remains huge. Corporations could spend as much as $235 billion on it in 2017, more than triple the amount they spent in 2011, according to IHS Technology. It’s no wonder then companies like Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, SAP and Oracle are ramping up efforts to meet demand. Created in 2006, Amazon Web Services gambled early on the idea of building data centers that stored and processed information for other businesses. Now that data center division, which is estimated to generate around $5.5 billion in revenues this year, has over 1 million customers like NASA, Netflix NFLX -0.03% and Spotify. “The cloud is the new normal,” boasted Andy Jassy, Amazon Web Services SVP, at the cloud platform’s annual conference in Las Vegas last week where the company unveiled tools to make software development easier and cheaper. Microsoft MSFT -0.83% pushed into the so-called “cloud” long before Satya Nadella became CEO in February. But it was Nadella who championed a more cloud-focused strategy inside the company. Signing up data customers is critical for Microsoft, which has had huge success in selling software for personal computers but has stumbled as people have shifted to mobile devices. The company is betting that business services like Azure are a big part of its future. Microsoft is trying to close the gap through lower prices and by rapidly introducing new features. Jeffrey Hammond, a Forrester Research analyst, said that Azure is easier to learn for new customers that lack technical experience. “I think that’s often how developers feel,” Hammond says. “There are a lot of different choices, and it’s not always clear what the best thing to do is.” Still, Amazon Web Services remains the platform of choice for startups such as Spotify, Airbnb and Pinterest. Azure, meanwhile, is more popular with larger companies such as Xerox XRX 1.04% , eBay EBAY 1.01% and McKesson. (According to Staten, more startups are starting to use Azure, but in many of those cases, the startup has some prior history with Microsoft.) Both platforms must round out their services more to fuel growth. Microsoft is marketing its cloud as being more flexible than Amazon’s. Traditionally, Amazon’s servers hosted and processed the vast majority of their customers’ information. Microsoft, in contrast, uses a more “hybrid” approach in which customers can store and process some of their data with Microsoft while doing the rest on their own servers. That’s appealing to customers that want more ownership over their information but still want some of the cloud’s benefits. Microsoft’s “hybrid” approach could prove more lucrative, at least in the near-future. By 2017, Gartner estimates that nearly 50% of all large enterprises in the U.S. will run off some kind of hybrid cloud set-up. Even Amazon gets the appeal. Earlier this year, Amazon CTO Werner Vogels said his company would offer some tools to help customers go hybrid if that is what they want. “What we’re ultimately seeing here is huge change,” says Hammond, comparing the move to cloud services to the rise of the Web. For Amazon Web Services, Azure and others battling for the cloud platform market, the trend signals something they already know: Game on. |
