Infrastructure Q3: OpenStack and flash step into the spotlight

Summary:

Last quarter we highlighted the fast maturation of the Platform-as-a-Service and big data spaces. Those two trends only picked up speed during the third quarter of 2011. Joining them on the cusp of IT greatness, though, are the OpenStack project and flash storage. The former gathered serious validation from big-name companies, while the latter saw less funding than last quarter but a significant number of product launches. Of course, the third quarter wasn’t all lollipops and rose petals. We saw new computing technologies and delivery models such as tablets wreak havoc on both HP and Cisco, and there are concerns (aren’t there always?) about how the Internet will handle our increased use of streaming video and cloud computing. Unfortunately for HP and Cisco, the latter problem might be an easier fix than the strategic woes facing them. Additional companies mentioned in this report include CloudBees, Rackspace, Engine Yard and Joyent. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial.

  1. Table of Contents
  2. Executive summary
  3. PaaS grows out . . .
    1. . . . and up
  4. OpenStack gets big-name backers
  5. Large IT vendors implode
  6. Amazon Web Services gets serious
  7. There’s cloud life outside Seattle
  8. Facebook rules social networking, not web infrastructure (yet)
  9. Salesforce.com dips into its wallet to grow business
  10. U.S. government: Cloud regulator, consumer or both?
  11. Clean data centers, by the numbers
  12. The metamorphosis of enterprise storage
  13. Real validation for low-power processors
  14. Networks will be faster and freer
  15. Big data
  16. Short-term outlook
  17. Key takeaways
  18. About Derrick Harris
  19. About GigaOM Pro
  20. Further Reading