疑似云泡沫隐现

    12月初，SAP宣布收购SuccessFactors（34亿美元，相较交易发生前的平均股价，溢价高达52%），随后承诺将独立运营这家小公司。不过SuccessFactors首席执行官拉尔斯•达尔加德被任命负责SAP的全部云计算业务。而销售团队也必须相互协作，以获得成功——话虽如此，但做起来并不容易，因为到目前为止，他们还在互相竞争。

    管理咨询公司贝恩咨询（Bain & Company）最近的研究指出，云计算产品最后将比传统产品便宜3到4成。如此大的成本优势，IT部门绝不会视而不见，而这最终将会重创所有大型专属企业软件供应商。面临在云计算大潮中不断失去市场和被边缘化的危险，收购也许是最好的武器，所以这些公司愿意承担溢价也就不足为奇了。

    云管理提供商RightScale创始人兼首席执行官麦克尔•科兰德尔称：“我不相信云计算泡沫理论，因为这真的是第三次革命（前两次分别是个人电脑和互联网的出现）。但不可避免的是，伴随着这样的运动，会有一些人或公司激动得过了头。同时，一些不合格的‘选手’将被淘汰出局。”

    译者：项航

    In early December, when SAP announced it would buy SuccessFactors (for $3.4 billion, a 52% premium over the average share price in the period immediately before the acquisition) it said it would allow the smaller company to keep running independently. But Lars Dalgaard, CEO of SuccessFactors, will be tasked with running all things cloud at SAP. And the sales teams will need to support each other in order to succeed -- easier said than done since up until now they have competed with one another.

    Ultimately, cloud technologies will be 30% to 40% less expensive than legacy products, according to a recent study from Bain & Company. That's a cost advantage IT departments can't afford to ignore, and a reality that will hit all large, on-premise enterprise vendors at some point. Making acquisitions is probably their best weapon against losing out in the cloud game and becoming irrelevant, so it's no wonder they're willing to pay a premium.

    "I'm not a big believer in the bubble theory of the cloud because this is truly the third revolution [the first two being the advent of the PC and the Internet]," says Michael Crandell, CEO and founder of cloud management provider RightScale. "But it's inevitable that with movements like this there are some people or companies that get overly enthusiastic. And there will be a shakeout of some players who just don't cut the mustard."