Cloud services is probably the most-hyped technology space today, even while providers and customers struggle to grasp just what the term really means. In the absence of a commonly-agreed upon definition, cloud services has become all things to all people, raising tremendous market FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). Meanwhile network managers desperately try to come to grips with The Next Big Thing. And it’s clear cloud services is indeed big. Last year, Gartner Inc. pegged cloud services to hit $150.1 billion by 2013, from an estimated $46.4 billion in 2009.
What’s unclear is who will get a piece of that cloud service pie. Among the contenders are the country’s largest carriers — AT&T Inc., Verizon Business, Sprint Nextel Corp. and Qwest Communications International Inc. These players are of special importance in the cloud services space because they provide the networking piece of the puzzle (as well as the servers and storage) required to run these services from a provider, customer or third-party data center. Although each will need to partner with app developers, systems integrators and solution providers to assemble a complete cloud services package, they deliver the crucial infrastructure for these hosted and managed services.
In contrast, most other hosted service providers simply can’t deliver the same blend of national/international networking and IT assets, market clout, solution set and customer support across so many of the elements that make up cloud computing. Even premier solution providers like HP and IBM can’t match the full scope of these carriers, although their managed service and application integration expertise are critical parts of any cloud service implementation. Think of the carriers then, as critical partners to the IBMs or other professional services firms of the world. Neither group is complete without the other.
But despite their key role, that doesn’t mean carriers know how to sell services from the cloud. “AT&T and Verizon Business’s cloud initiatives indicate that they’re prepared to play a role where cloud services make business sense, but I don’t think either company believes you can go out and ‘sell’ cloud services to enterprises at this point,” said Tom Nolle, principal at Cimi Corp.
With that in mind, how will these key players market and sell their cloud service solutions to the business customer? And what will the role of their channel partners be in driving growth? What follows is a snapshot of each carrier’s basic cloud service offerings and market strategy, as well as their thoughts on the channel.
But first, a quick working definition of that most ephemeral of terms: cloud services. For our purposes, the simplest definition comes from Current Analysis, which described it as a superset of managed solutions that leverage a Web delivery model with multitenant, pay-per-use software-as-a-service (SaaS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) or platform-as-a-service (PaaS).
