AWS is growing almost as fast as Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud

At warp speed

AWS has been the undisputed leader of cloud computing infrastructure since it invented the category in 2006, but after Microsoft and Google decided to do everything with the concept about ten years ago, they grew faster than AWS . Until now.

AWS revenue rose 40% to $ 17.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, the company reported on Thursday. After years of predictions that Microsoft and Google are poised to overtake AWS in the coming years because of their faster speeds, that’s just less than the 46% growth in the fourth quarter posted by Microsoft Azure and the 44% growth recorded by Google Cloud in the smaller. number.

There has been a continuous narrative among cloud watchers over the past few years that AWS will one day overtake Microsoft and Google itself unless it adds office productivity tools, business analysis suites or similar types of software used by business professionals to go beyond its key customers, developers, and operations engineers.

• However, nothing has really changed in that area in 2021: AWS remains an afterthought when it comes to the business software market, at least compared to products like Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics and Google Workspace.
• Part of the reasoning here is that basic cloud infrastructure services have become commodities, and therefore the first-mover advantage of AWS will be lost when consumers realize that they can get the same performance and reliability from other cloud using the business software they also need.
• However, according to fourth quarter and full-year results of all three companies, consumers do not clearly agree.

Microsoft expects Azure growth to increase in the coming quarter, it said last week, so possibly this moment was a blip. But this indicates that we have entered a very interesting stage in the competition to modernize the massive number of applications and workflows that have not yet caught on to a cloud server.

• If Microsoft and Google’s enterprise software bundles don’t prevent newcomers to the cloud from choosing AWS, they’ll want to consider other tactics.
• One area where AWS has clearly followed its smaller rivals is cloud packaging services for specific vertical markets such as manufacturing or finance; expect Microsoft and Google to redouble their efforts to win across the industry.
• Reliability is always a major consideration when choosing a cloud vendor, but the stakes will only increase as the product gap between the Big Three narrows.

And there is a tried-and-true tactic that customers love and can tolerate by regulators: Maybe it’s time for a good old-fashioned war on the price cloud.

– Tom Krazit (email | kaba)

A MESSAGE FROM DATAIKU

Dataiku is the only AI platform that connects data and makers, allowing anyone to turn data into real business results-from mediocre to lunar. Because AI can do so much, but there is no soul in the machine, just in front of it. If you don’t, it’s just data.

Learn more

Unfulfilled AI worries and frustrates Google Cloud’s AI chief

The gentle AI leader of Google Cloud doesn’t seem like the kind of person whose feathers are often messy. But when a promising machine-learning prototype model remains, which will never be implemented, Andrew Moore, Google Cloud’s vice president and general manager for AI and Industry Solutions, may “really worry” about it. .

He might even raise his voice when you hear him talk about it.

“It’s really frustrating,” he told Protocol last week. “If you’re a data scientist, you’re in dire need, you really want to do something useful with your skills,” he said. “And you have a report in your notebook, which says,‘ yes, I can get 20% more accurate at identifying problems before they happen. And then you think you’re done. But you’re really just the beginning. “

Often it’s the people – the chief technology or chief information security officer – who prevent a good AI model from coming to fruition, Moore says. “The first part of the abyss is definitely change in management,” he said. “You shouldn’t try to make a big AI deployment without a very senior leader, who is perfectly CEO, who says they want to see it.”

But AI models change after being put into production. Moore said incorporating model tracking and interpretation tools into the ML running process as “just a general part of the infrastructure” would help. “After you launch your machine-learning model, it has to move on with life. And so you have to keep track of it, ”Moore said.

– Kate Kaye (email | kaba)

Coming to Protocol

The cloud allows chief information officers to be more strategic and focused on generating business value rather than managing IT as a cost center. The pandemic then pushed CIOs into a more central role: They became essential leaders when managing remote work, navigating sudden changes in business operations and accelerating digital change.

So what’s next for CIOs? Join Tom Krazit of Protocol for a virtual event on Feb. 8 to 10 am PT in discussion with four amazing IT leaders: Rob Carter, CIO, FedEx; Chris Bedi, CIO, ServiceNow; Sheila Jordan, Chief Digital Technology Officer, Honeywell; and Vittorio Cretella, CIO Procter & Gamble. RSVP here.

Business moves

This week, Google lost more members of its Ethical AI team as sales and data executives left for startups. Meanwhile, Okta, Boomi and Workday have appointed new members of the C-suite. In companies large and small, here’s what happens to enterprise tech people.

Alex Hanna and Dylan Baker left Google’s Ethical AI team to join nonprofit Timnit Gebru.

Carolee Gearhart joined Gympass as CRO after the former top Google sales.

Debanjan Saha joined DataRobot as president and COO. Saha was formerly VP and GM of Data Analytics at Google, and held leadership roles at AWS and SoftLayer.

Brett Tighe has been appointed CFO at Okta. Tighe is formerly SVP of Finance and treasurer of Okta, after working in the finance organization at Salesforce for more than a decade.

Named David Meredith CEO of Boomi. Meredith joins from Everbridge, where she is CEO and board director.

BArbara Larson took over as Workday’s new CFO this Sunday. Larson previously led the finance functions at Workday, VMware and TIBCO.

Patrick Blair was appointed president of the Americas on Labor Day. Blair is former president of CRM at C3 AI.

Ulrik Nehammer joined ServiceNow as president of EMEA. Nehammer previously headed the APAC region for Salesforce.

Keyvan Esfarjani was promoted to EVP and chief global operations officer at Intel. Esfarjani has been at Intel for over a decade and previously led memory manufacturing.

Thierry Carrez was named GM of The Open Infrastructure Foundation. Carrez has previously held leadership roles at the Open Source Initiative and at the OpenStack Foundation.

Mina Naguib joined Hivestack as CTO. Naguib was formerly chief architect for Samsung Ads.

A MESSAGE FROM DATAIKU

Dataiku is the only AI platform that connects data and makers, allowing anyone to turn data into real business results-from mediocre to lunar. Because AI can do so much, but there is no soul in the machine, just in front of it. If you don’t, it’s just data.

Learn more