https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Master Agents
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • MSSP Insider
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • Apply Now
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Channel Educational Series
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
    • Channel Convergence
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Content Resources
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2021 MSP 501
    • Circle of Excellence
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Master Agents
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • MSSP Insider
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • Apply Now
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Channel Educational Series
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
    • Channel Convergence
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Content Resources
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2021 MSP 501
    • Circle of Excellence
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

Cloud


Photo by Sean GallupGetty Images

Clouds in Boxes: Is This a New Trend?

  • Written by Lori MacVittie 1
  • November 6, 2014
Enterprises are adopting the hybrid cloud approach, and to make things easier for them, CSPs are rolling out new cloud-in-a-box offerings.

The verdict is in. Organizations are going to settle on cloud, but they’re settling on a mixture of private (on-premise) and public (off-premise). Hybrid, in the common nomenclature.

  • 74 percent of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy (RightScale, 2014 State of the Cloud Survey).
  • 55 percent of respondents expect to have hybrid cloud in place within the next two years (NorthBridge Ventures & GigaOm Research, 2014 Future of Cloud Computing).
  • Of the 36 percent of organizations running private clouds, nearly a third have hybrid systems (InformationWeek, Hybrid Cloud Survey).
  • Half of all enterprises will have hybrid clouds by 2017 (Gartner Research). That paints a pretty picture for someone like Microsoft who, being what many considered ‘late’ to the cloud game, is giving leaders like Amazon and Google a run for their money. Literally.

It’s no secret that Google and Amazon are courting the enterprise after first having gone after green-field startups and developers respectively. Google just announced a new initiative designed to entice enterprises, focusing on networking needs like VPN tunnels and better capabilities to run what are traditionally considered enterprise workloads: CRM, ERP and SCM systems. Time will tell whether enterprises will see this as being enough to make Google an appealing enterprise partner. Interestingly, that’s something the third opponent in the cloud wars already enjoys and is certainly part of the reason it’s risen so quickly to the forefront of the battle.

While Google and Amazon, in particular, have enjoyed the successes that come with being forerunners, Microsoft has had to play catch up. But it is steadily doing so and bringing to market enterprise-class offerings that prove its understanding of a market it has a long history of winning in. Case in point is its new Cloud Platform System (CPS) , affectionately (and sometimes sarcastically) dubbed “Azure-in-a-box.” Given that a large part of the success of SaaS-based applications like Salesforce.com have come because “buy” wins over “build” when it comes to commoditized business functions, CPS appears to take that premise and apply it to the infrastructure needed to build a private (on-premise) cloud.

Click here for Talkin’ Cloud’s Top 100 CSP list

Now, Microsoft is not offering an entire cloud-in-a-box. That’d be silly. But it is offering the building blocks necessary to build one. Certainly a single CPS unit might not be considered a cloud in and of itself, but two, three or more is getting there. By modeling CPS after Azure, one assumes that the ability to seamlessly integrate with Azure itself and thus arrive at a hybrid cloud model will exist if not now, in the near future. Given the preponderance of data showing hybrid as the ultimate destination, Microsoft appears to be trying to take the lead in getting there.

Google, and to a lesser extent Amazon — who has been in the enterprise game long enough now to start tailoring offerings and services to attract the lucrative market — are not necessarily as well-positioned to provide a similar path to what appears to be the desired hybrid cloud architecture. Microsoft has specifically included in its system enterprise-proven hardware and services, a direction that that the very outspoken, white-label supporting Google may not be willing to take. And yet enterprises desire reliability as much (or more) as they do cost-cutting measures, as seen by surveys that indicate cost is not a driving factor behind cloud adoption .

Expect to see more of these “cloud-in-a-box” offerings coming from other enterprise-savvy providers as organizations continue to build out their private clouds and evaluate public clouds for their continued journey toward a hybrid cloud architecture. If cloud is, as has been posited, the result of commoditization of infrastructure, there’s no reason to not think that “buy” will win over “build” just as it has in the software market.

How do you view these cloud-in-a-box offerings? Have you had any experience with Microsoft’s new offering? If so, what did you think?

Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Cloud

Related


  • The Benefits of Modern Application Development
    Use the cloud to adapt, build resiliency and prepare for future.
  • Roll Out the Red Carpet
    Ziply Fiber Rolls Out Agent Program with AppSmart, Intelisys, Telarus
    Having acquired Frontier's assets in the Northwest, Ziply Fiber's partner program will be watched closely by agents.
  • Cash, U.S. currency
    AT&T, Comcast, Cisco, Microsoft, 8x8 Unveil New Products, Services
    Read about the latest offerings you can sell.
  • Spinoff Company
    6 Channel-Impacting Facts About Dell's VMware Spinoff
    Dell's EMC acquisition left it with considerable debt.

One comment

  1. Avatar CJ Arlotta November 6, 2014 @ 3:08 pm
    Reply

    All —
    Will enterprises look

    All —

    Will enterprises look for more cloud-in-a-box offerings from CSPs? Is this a new trend?

    —CJ

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Dell Spinning Off VMware as 'Synergies Failed to Come to Fruition'
  • Tech-Focused Investment Firm KKR Buys Ensono Amid M&A Flurry
  • 6 Ways to Capitalize on Cloud Computing You May Not Have Considered
  • 8x8 Adds Birdeye, RingCentral Vet as Chief Customer Officer

Galleries

View all

AppSmart Agents Embrace Cross-Selling, Add Energy, Cloud Solutions

April 21, 2021

Industry Perspectives

View all

What the Recent Microsoft Exchange Vulnerabilities Mean for Channel Partners

April 21, 2021

Annual MSP Benchmark Survey Reveals Remote Work Still a Top Challenge

April 20, 2021

Why Digital Transformation Is the ‘Invisible Hand’ of Our Time

April 19, 2021

Webinars

View all

What to Look For: 2021 Threat Report

April 22, 2021

Health Care and SD-WAN: A Seller’s Guide

April 27, 2021

How MSPs Can Leverage SOCaaS to Improve Security & Grow Revenue

May 4, 2021

White Papers

View all

Hacker Personas: A Deeper Look into Cybercrime

April 20, 2021

Carbonite Data Protection and Cyber Resilience

April 15, 2021

Top Tips: How Resellers Can Leverage Rackspace to Enhance Customer’s Cyber Security Protection with Microsoft 365 Security

March 30, 2021

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

November 1, 2021 - November 4, 2021

MSP Summit

November 1, 2021 - November 2, 2021

Channel Evolution Europe

November 30, 2021 - December 1, 2021

Videos and Fastchats

View all

ACC’s Nancy Ridge on Gender Diversity in the Channel

5 Reasons Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Is Important

April 14, 2021

Five9 Shares Insights on Implementing a DE&I Strategy

April 13, 2021

FASTCHAT: How Fortinet Reduces Complexity Through Networking, Security

March 31, 2021

Twitter

ChannelFutures

.@cisco and @HP make huge #sustainability pledges for @EarthDay #EarthDay dlvr.it/RyCyNG https://t.co/T56157sj6p

April 22, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@pulsesecure #VPN hack prompts federal emergency directive. dlvr.it/Ry9TWn https://t.co/5KKQWvGYRN

April 21, 2021
ChannelFutures

Channel partners shared their stories of evolution at #AppSmartUnleash. @AppSmartcom dlvr.it/Ry9NM6 https://t.co/UMmchLvpfj

April 21, 2021
ChannelFutures

What do #MicrosoftExchange vulnerabilities mean for #ChannelPartners?@Sophos #security #cybersecurity… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 21, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@AppSmartcom touted its platform at its #AppSmartUnleash event. dlvr.it/Ry5SSF https://t.co/RQdXFffe9N

April 20, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@digicert Security Summit highlights growth, innovation amid #COVID19. dlvr.it/Ry5SNP https://t.co/g1yFRHHjKa

April 20, 2021
ChannelFutures

Congrats to @CatSolazzo on her new #marketing gig at @Tech_Data. The channel knows her well from #IBM.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 20, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@OtavaLLC unveils #partnerprogram enhancements. #cloud dlvr.it/Ry4g4t https://t.co/D9dUuezdn9

April 20, 2021

MSSP Insider

Business advice for MSSPs and news from the broader security channel.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X