Infrastructure

Forget the Rest, Rackspace is Amazon’s Only Cloud Threat This content requires a paid GigaOM Pro subscription

The mainstream cloud-computing market is becoming a two-horse race, with Rackspace gaining fast on Amazon Web Services, and leaving an idle Microsoft in the dust. AWS is by no means pulling up lame, but, as evidenced this week, Rackspace is gaining customers and adding features so fast it’s difficult to believe AWS will be able to fend it off forever. Subscribe now or sign in to view this Weekly Update »

Data Highlights

From De-Duplicating the Storage Industry

6%

Estimated overlap of customers between NetApp and storage efficiency leader Data Domain

From Infrastructure Wrap-up: Q1 2009

10%

The percentage of cloud services that can be accounted for by SaaS in 2008.

About This Topic Page

Infrastructure is curated by Derrick Harris, an expert reporter with deep knowledge and a fat rolodex of contacts to help you spot the important news and trends as they happen. It’s also your home for Research, Long Views and all things infrastructure, from cloud computing to data centers to networks and software.

Today in

Infrastructure

Nov 20, 2009 — I read a post today about the need for spreadsheets adapted to handle the big-data revolution. This is a very relevant discussion, especially if the author is correct that Excel simply cannot handle entire data sets of the sizes currently being generated. IBM is trying to become the Excel of big data with Big Sheets, but, let's be honest, the majority of the spreadsheet-using world would prefer to keep using Excel. Perhaps Microsoft is working as I write this to solve this exact problem, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least. The company already has tried to overcome Excel's limitations in the financial services space, so, clearly, it understands that Excel cannot last forever in its current form.

— Derrick Harris
Infrastructure Curator