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Major drivers for the rising dominance of the hyperscalers in the infrastructure as a service market segment
... In order to manage risk and prevent loss of data due to outage or natural disasters, SVoD services have multiple server locations that host their entire library. These servers are based in 'hyperscalers', very large data centres that form the backbone of the Internet (Floerecke et al., 2023). Content delivery networks (CDNs) are then used to cache the most popular files in the edge of the network and close to where the users are (Stocker et al., 2017). ...
As television is embracing a new set of internet-related technologies, the medium is transitioning from broadcasting to streaming. With it, a new mode of distribution has emerged: the streaming platform. This research makes a three-pronged effort to assess their impact on the TV industry: it analyses the way platforms monetize content; it distinguishes types of streaming platforms based on a set of criteria that includes supply-chain arrangements and the way they structure commercial transactions among different sets of participants, and it considers the ownership of streaming services. This article contributes to media and communication studies by combining the platform literature with global value chain (GVC) theory in order to foster our understanding of streaming platforms. It contextualizes streaming platforms in the history of television and analyses how they are transforming the medium.
Several significantly different attempts have been undertaken to visualize the complex and opaque cloud computing ecosystem by a descriptive model. Recently, scholars have developed a new role-based cloud ecosystem model (Passau Cloud Computing Ecosystem Model (PaCE model)) based on a systematic analysis and synthesis of the previous models. However, its scientific evaluation is still outstanding. The main goal is therefore to conduct an evaluation regarding its structural equivalence and completeness compared to the real cloud business according to the design science research paradigm. The second goal is to demonstrate the model’s usefulness by using it as an instrument for the identification of role clusters, which are frequently covered by organizations. To this end, a cross-sectional analysis is conducted, in which 758 organizations are manually analysed and matched with the model’s current roles. As a result, roles have been newly added, removed, broken down into sub-roles, abstracted to a meta-role and renamed. The cluster analysis unveiled five role clusters. Whereas some roles were predominantly found as single role, further roles were exclusively or very frequently found in combination with others. Overall, the revised model creates, compared to the common rather technically orientated market overviews by market research institutes, a detailed categorization schema helping to understand and investigate the organizations belonging to the cloud ecosystem.
Zusammenfassung
Der weltweite Markt für Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) wird seit längerem von den global agierenden Hyperscalern, insbesondere von Alibaba, Amazon Web Services, Google und Microsoft, klar beherrscht. Den verbleibenden Marktanteil von etwa 25 % teilen sich einige große internationale und nationale IT-Unternehmen sowie eine Vielzahl von kleinen und mittleren Anbietern. Letztere beschränken ihre IaaS-Services zumeist auf ein Land, eine Region oder nur eine Stadt. Obwohl der weltweite IaaS-Markt weiterhin enorm wächst, nimmt der Marktanteil dieser regionalen IaaS-Anbieter seit Jahren ab. Zurückzuführen ist diese Entwicklung in erster Linie darauf, dass reine IaaS-Services – ohne Erweiterungen wie Managed- oder Plattform-Services – mittlerweile weitgehend zu einer Commodity geworden sind, weshalb der Preis das ausschlaggebende Kriterium für Kunden ist. In Anbetracht ihrer geringen Größe sind die regionalen IaaS-Anbieter jedoch keinesfalls in der Lage, die nötigen Skaleneffekte zu erzielen, um in Preiskonkurrenz mit den Hyperscalern treten zu können. Dies manifestiert sich in einem anhaltenden Konsolidierungstrend. Vor diesem Hintergrund geht dieser Beitrag der Frage nach, wie sich regionale IaaS-Anbieter über ihre Geschäftsmodelle gegenüber den Hyperscalern erfolgreich differenzieren können, um im Cloud-Computing-Ökosystem zu überleben. Zur Beantwortung wurde eine multiple Fallstudie mit 18 regionalen IaaS-Anbietern in Deutschland durchgeführt, die trotz der schwierigen Marktlage in den vergangenen Jahren ein profitables Umsatzwachstum erzielen konnten. In Experteninterviews mit hochrangigen Unternehmensvertretern wurden deren Geschäftsmodelle mit dem Business-Model-Canvas im Detail analysiert und dabei 19 erfolgswirksame Geschäftsmodellcharakteristika identifiziert. Diese können für regionale IaaS-Anbieter als Rahmen dienen, um ihre gegenwärtigen Geschäftsmodelle zu vergleichen, zu überprüfen und gegebenenfalls anzupassen.
Market analyses show that some cloud providers are significantly more successful than others. The research on the success-driving business model characteristics of cloud providers and thus, the reasons for this performance discrepancy is, however, still limited. Whereas cloud business models have mostly been examined comprehensively, independently from the distinctly different cloud ecosystem roles, this paper takes a perspective shift from an overall towards a selective, role-specific and thereby ecosystemic perspective on cloud business models. The goal of this paper is specifically to identify the success-driving business model characteristics of the so far widely neglected cloud ecosystem’s core roles, IaaS and PaaS provider, by conducting an exploratory multiple-case study. 21 expert interviews with representatives from 17 cloud providers serve as central data collection instrument. The result is a catalogue of generic as well as cloud-specific, subdivided into role-overarching and role-specific, business model characteristics. This catalogue supports cloud providers in the initial design, comparison and revision of their business models. Researchers obtain a promising starting and reference point for future analysis of busi-ness models of various cloud ecosystem roles.
How can cloud providers be successful? Severe competition and low up-front commitments create enormous challenges for providers of consumer cloud services when attempting to develop a sustainable market position. Emergent trends like consumerization lead to high growth rates and extend the reach of these services far into the enterprise sphere. Using a freemium model, many providers focus on establishing a large customer base quickly but fail to generate revenue streams in the long run. Others charge consumers early but do not reach their growth targets. Based on a representative sample of 596 actual cloud service users, the study examines how consumer cloud services can become self-sustainable on the basis of the user base and revenue streams they generate. The authors identify two mechanisms that influence the success of consumer cloud services, dedication- and constraint-based mechanisms, and show how they drive different elements of success. They find that satisfaction impacts the success of cloud services in terms of user generation and continuance, while switching barriers need to be in place to generate revenues. The results indicate that focusing on a single success element can be misleading and insufficient to understand the success of cloud services. The key findings are used to derive recommendations for three generic strategies that cloud providers can apply to become successful in their competitive market environment.
The acceleration of technical change in the fast moving electronics market increases the uncertainty and risk for IT providers. Influenced by new IT provisioning concepts such as cloud computing, providers are looking to identify stable guidelines and success factors within existing and new business models. The authors have conducted an intensive analysis of the business model characteristics of 45 providers in the cloud market that are critical to success. A cloud business model framework with 105 characteristics was used to systemize the business models, and the data was analyzed statistically in regard to indicators for success. The results revealed 42 success-related business model characteristics, and a cluster analysis led to three common combinations of characteristics that describe meta types of cloud business models. The most promising meta type is a specialized cloud provider with customer-oriented branch solutions, while small-scale newcomers with aggregation services experience difficulties to be competitive. To evaluate and verify the results and the success of each business model type, 12 expert interviews were conducted. The interview statements were aggregated and summarized to offer recommendations for action and a prediction for the success of cloud business models.
The main purpose of the present paper is to analyse the various definitions of cloud computing proposed by different researchers and, using content analysis methodology, and establish areas of “agreement” and to construct such a “general” definition of cloud computing in business perspective. The paper attempts to compare the definitions of cloud computing by academicians and industy experts. This paper is divided into three sections. In the first section, content analysis methodology used on cloud computing definitions is presented. The second section highlights the key words in 36 definitions of cloud computing and tabulates the definitions through a categorization of substantive terms. The last section discusses the results of research methodology followed by conclusion and limitations.
A business ecosystem has evolved in the field of cloud computing whereby new types of market actors have emerged breaking up the traditional value chain of IT service provision. In order to create a profound understanding of this ecosystem, several scholars tried to capture it in a model. However, these models differ considerably from each other. The goal of this paper, therefore, is to develop a revised and comprehensive cloud computing ecosystem model according to the design science paradigm. For this purpose, the recently published Passau Cloud Computing Ecosystem Model (PaCE Model) is developed significantly further by integrating the insights of an analysis of the existing cloud ecosystem models regarding ten criteria and by considering findings from the general cloud and business ecosystem literature. To ensure the integrity of the enhanced PaCE Model, the Internet is manually searched for companies occupying the roles of the model. As a result, the model comprises 26 roles and includes the basic service flows. Since the missing market transparency is regarded as one of the main reasons for the low cloud adoption, the intended contribution is to foster a better understanding of the cloud ecosystem and to provide a conceptual framework for further research.
Cloud computing enables firms not only to mitigate risks in today's hyper-competitive business environment, but also to gain competitive advantages. Based on field interviews with seven early adopter companies, supplemented by some published reports, the authors describe six cloud computing benefit patterns and five business-related strategic risks that can be managed using cloud computing. Dynamically dealing with a mix of legacy systems and cloud solutions is but one of the dimensions of management required today as companies compete as members of ecosystems that include such entities as competitors, complementors, infrastructure providers, development platform providers, and orchestrators.
Cloud computing has recently emerged as a new paradigm for hosting and delivering services over the Internet. Cloud computing
is attractive to business owners as it eliminates the requirement for users to plan ahead for provisioning, and allows enterprises
to start from the small and increase resources only when there is a rise in service demand. However, despite the fact that
cloud computing offers huge opportunities to the IT industry, the development of cloud computing technology is currently at
its infancy, with many issues still to be addressed. In this paper, we present a survey of cloud computing, highlighting its
key concepts, architectural principles, state-of-the-art implementation as well as research challenges. The aim of this paper
is to provide a better understanding of the design challenges of cloud computing and identify important research directions
in this increasingly important area.
KeywordsCloud computing-Data centers-Virtualization
The qualitative interview is one of the most important data gathering tools in qualitative research, yet it has remained an unexamined craft in IS research. This paper discusses the potential difficulties, pitfalls and problems of the qualitative interview in IS research. Building on Goffman’s seminal work on social life, the paper proposes a dramaturgical model as a useful way of conceptualizing the qualitative interview. Based on this model the authors suggest guidelines for the conduct of qualitative interviews.
Many people reading about cloud computing in the trade journals will think it’s a panacea for all their IT problems. It is not. In this CTO Roundtable discussion we hope to give practitioners useful advice on how to evaluate cloud computing for their organizations. Our focus will be on the SMB (small- to medium-size business) IT managers who are underfunded, overworked, and have lots of assets tied up in out-of-date hardware and software. To what extent can cloud computing solve their problems? With the help of five current thought leaders in this quickly evolving field, we offer some answers to that question. We explore some of the basic principles behind cloud computing and highlight some of the key issues and opportunities that arise when computing moves from in-house to the cloud. Our sincere thanks to all who participated and to the ACM Professions Board for making this possible.
CLOUD COMPUTING, the long-held dream of computing as a utility, has the potential to transform a large part of the IT industry, making software even more attractive as a service and shaping the way IT hardware is designed and purchased. Developers with innovative ideas for new Internet services no longer require the large capital outlays in hardware to deploy their service or the human expense to operate it. They need not be concerned about overprovisioning for a service whose popularity does not meet their predictions, thus wasting costly resources, or underprovisioning for one that becomes wildly popular, thus missing potential customers and revenue. Moreover, companies with large batch-oriented tasks can get results as quickly as their programs can scale, since using 1,000 servers for one hour costs no more than using one server for 1,000.
The evolution of cloud computing over the past few years is potentially one of the major advances in the history of computing. However, if cloud computing is to achieve its potential, there needs to be a clear understanding of the various issues involved, both from the perspectives of the providers and the consumers of the technology. While a lot of research is currently taking place in the technology itself, there is an equally urgent need for understanding the business-related issues surrounding cloud computing. In this article, we identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the cloud computing industry. We then identify the various issues that will affect the different stakeholders of cloud computing. We also issue a set of recommendations for the practitioners who will provide and manage this technology. For IS researchers, we outline the different areas of research that need attention so that we are in a position to advice the industry in the years to come. Finally, we outline some of the key issues facing governmental agencies who, due to the unique nature of the technology, will have to become intimately involved in the regulation of cloud computing.
In a fast growing but highly competitive market some cloud service providers are significantly more profitable than others. In particular, numerous providers struggle to scale their cloud service delivery up from a one-time, project-based co-creation model to a platform delivery model building on reusable resources. This study builds on the service (-dominant) logic and the resource-based view to develop a model of cloud service profitability. It is proposed that profitability results from the ability to manage costs of customer-specific value co-creation and efforts to build reusable resources, which facilitate future customer engagements. The results of a survey with 99 cloud providers show that value co-creation costs indeed mediate the effects of facilitation capability and complexity on cloud service profitability. However, facilitation capability has both direct and mediated effects on profitability. The results provide insights on which factors influence cloud service profitability and which resources should be established before offering a cloud service to future customers.
This paper presents a meta-analysis of cloud computing research in information systems with the aim of taking stock of literature and their associated research frameworks, research methodology, geographical distribution, level of analysis as well as trends of these studies over the period of 7 years. A total of 285 articles from 67 peer review journals from the year 2009 to 2015 were used in the analysis. The findings indicate that extant cloud computing literature tends to skew towards the technological dimension to the detriment of other under-researched dimensions such as business, conceptualization and application domain. Whilst there has been a constant increase in cloud computing studies over the last seven years, a significant number of these studies have not been underpinned by theoretical frameworks and models. Also, a majority of cloud computing studies utilized experiment and simulation as methods of enquiry as compared to the qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodologies. This study contributes to cloud computing research by providing holistic insights into trends on themes, methodology, research framework, geographical focus and future research directions.
We analyze how research and development (R&D) collaborations affect product innovation for subsidiaries of foreign multinational firms and domestic firms. We build on the knowledge-based view to propose that subsidiaries and domestic firms differ in their ability to benefit from alternative R&D partners as a result of the variation in their knowledge complementarities. Specifically, we propose that subsidiaries may benefit more from undertaking R&D collaborations with customers and competitors, whose deeper knowledge of local conditions better complements the more global knowledge base of subsidiaries. In contrast, we argue that domestic firms may benefit more from engaging in R&D collaborations with suppliers and universities, whose more global nature of knowledge better complement the deeper local knowledge base of domestic firms.
Die zunehmende Standardisierung von Produkten, die als „Commoditisierung“ bezeichnet wird, hat in den letzten Jahren spürbar zugenommen. Jedoch liegt der Fokus in der bisherigen Diskussion vor allem auf der Commoditisierung von Produkten. Eine Übertragung und Erweiterung der Erkenntnisse auf den Bereich der Dienstleistungen erscheint sinnvoll – besonders in Anbetracht des zunehmenden Angebots von Commodity Services. Daher besteht das Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrags in der strukturierten Einordnung und Diskussion des Commodity-Konzepts im Dienstleistungsbereich. Neben der Darstellung der Begriffsdefinition und der zentralen Charakteristika von Commodity Services werden auch die sich ergebenden Besonderheiten des Konsumentenverhaltens im Kontext dieser Dienstleistungen beleuchtet und schließlich die strategische Umsetzung diskutiert.
Conceptualizing the keiretsu as a power-dependence system, we propose that benefits accruing from keiretsu affiliation differ across member firms, depending on their power in (or dependence on) the keiretsu. By integrating power with governance and internal market perspectives on group affiliation, we develop and find general support for the hypotheses that powerful keiretsu member firms are able to place more emphasis on growth in pursuing product and international diversification, whereas less powerful keiretsu member firms are subject to strong monitoring and emphasize profitability. These findings provide support to the study's proposition that power-dependence relationships in a keiretsu influence member firms' appropriation of group affiliation benefits in pursuing diversification strategies. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Combining the FDI spillover literature with a competitor analysis framework, we examine the relative size of spillover and competition effects in China between foreign entrants and local firms, among foreign entrants, and among local firms. Our results show that the increased presence of foreign entrants has generally benefited local firms nationally, but has negatively affected the survival rates of local firms in regional markets. Surprisingly, foreign entrants are crowded out not only by their peers, but also by reformed local firms at both the national and regional levels. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper studies an organizational architecture that I call information-age architecture. I define a measure of organizational IQ and test whether it is related to financial and market success using data from the fast-moving information technology industry. Higher organizational IQ is associated with higher profitability and growth. This relationship is stronger in business environments that are characterized by faster clockspeeds.
This review and introduction to the Special Issue on 'Strategy Research in Emerging Economies' considers the nature of theoretical contributions thus far on strategy in emerging economies. We classify the research through four strategic options: (1) firms from developed economies entering emerging economies; (2) domestic firms competing within emerging economies; (3) firms from emerging economies entering other emerging economies; and (4) firms from emerging economies entering developed economies. Among the four perspectives examined (institutional theory, transaction cost theory, resource-based theory, and agency theory), the most dominant seems to be institutional theory. Most existing studies that make a contribution blend institutional theory with one of the other three perspectives, including seven out of the eight papers included in this Special Issue. We suggest a future research agenda based around the four strategies and four theoretical perspectives. Given the relative emphasis of research so far on the first and second strategic options, we believe that there is growing scope for research that addresses the third and fourth. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005.
The term cloud computing is sometimes used to refer to a new paradigm – some authors even speak of a new technology – that
flexibly offers IT resources and services over the Internet. Gartner market research sees cloud computing as a so-called “emerging
technology” on its way to the hype. When looking at the number of searches for the word pair “cloud computing” undertaken
with the Google search engine one can get an imagination of the high interest on the topic. Even terms like “outsourcing”,
“Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)” or “grid computing” have already been overtaken.
The boom around cloud computing has reached to crown. Some professionals believe it's an absolutely new trend representing the next level of the Internet evolution. Others believe it's hype, as it uses long established computing technologies. This paper analyze cloud computing technology from different points of view and presents the findings in order to figure out the benefits and risks of cloud computing and the best way to use this technology.
Laddering is a structured questioning technique derived from the repertory grid technique, enabling a hierarchy of concepts to be established. Previous empirical studies have demonstrated its utility for knowledge elicitation in two classificatory domains. In this paper, three experimental studies of laddering are described. In experiment 1, the technique was used in another classificatory domain, metallic corrosion, and the effects of repeated exposure to the technique and feedback, in the form of Pseudo-English Production Rules, were investigated. These variables had no effect on the productivity of the technique. Experiment 2 compared the laddering technique with three other techniques in a medical diagnostic domain. As in previous studies laddering was found to be the most productive technique despite the change in the type of domain about which knowledge was elicited. In experiment 3, the preferences of subjects interviewed using two versions of the laddering technique, "textual" and "graphical", were compared with those obtained when the subjects were interviewed using a computerised laddering tool. Although the "gain" obtained in the three conditions varied, the group of subjects did not prefer one type of laddering to another. The laddering tool used in the experiment was designed as one tool in an integrated Knowledge Engineering Workbench (KEW). The potential for synergy between the laddering tool and other knowledge acquisition techniques implemented within KEW is explored. Guidance and advice concerning the appropriate context to employ laddering within the knowledge acquisition process is provided.
With the rise of a ubiquitous provision of computing resources over the past years, cloud computing has been established as a prominent research topic. Many researchers, however, focus exclusively on the technical aspects of cloud computing, thereby neglecting the business opportunities and potentials cloud computing can offer. Enabled through this technology, new market players and business value networks arise and break up the traditional value chain of service provision. The focus of this paper lies on the business aspects of cloud computing. Besides elaborating on a comprehensive definition of cloud computing its main contribution is a conceptual compilation of cloud actors and their roles within a new cloud computing value network and a conceptual development of a generic value network of different actors in cloud computing. Extending the prevailing technical perspective of cloud computing, this paper shifts the focus from an exclusive technological perspective to a broader understanding of business opportunities and business value.
The aim of this research essay is to examine the structural nature of theory in information systems. Despite the importance of theory, questions relating to its form and structure are neglected in comparison with questions relating to epistemology. The essay addresses issues of causality, explanation, prediction, and generalization that underlie an understanding of theory. A taxonomy is proposed that classifies information systems theories with respect to the manner in which four central goals are addressed: analysis, explanation, prediction, and prescription. Five interrelated types of theory are distinguished: (1) theory for analyzing, (2) theory for explaining, (3) theory for predicting, (4) theory for explaining and predicting, and (5) theory for design and action. Examples illustrate the nature of each theory type. The applicability of the taxonomy is demonstrated by classifying a sample of journal articles. The paper contributes by showing that multiple views of theory exist and by exposing the assumptions underlying different viewpoints. In addition, it is suggested that the type of theory under development can influence the choice of an epistemological approach. Support is given for the legitimacy and value of each theory type. The building of integrated bodies of theory that encompass all theory types is advocated.
Gartner Says Worldwide IaaS Public Cloud Services Market Grew 31
- K Costello
- L Goasduff
Costello, K. and Goasduff, L. (2019) Gartner Says Worldwide IaaS Public Cloud Services Market
Grew 31.3% in 2018, Stamford, USA.
Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud Revenue to Grow 17% in 2020
- K Costello
- M Rimol
Costello, K. and Rimol, M. (2019) Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud Revenue to Grow
17% in 2020, Stamford.
Success factors of saas providers' business models -an exploratory multiple-case study
- S Floerecke
Floerecke, S. (2018) 'Success factors of saas providers' business models -an exploratory
multiple-case study', paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Exploring Service
Science, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Business model characteristics for local IaaS Providers for counteracting the dominance of the hyperscalers
- S Floerecke
- F Lehner
Floerecke, S. and Lehner, F., (2018a) 'Business model characteristics for local IaaS Providers for
counteracting the dominance of the hyperscalers', paper presented at the 15th International
Conference on Economics of Grids, Clouds, Systems, and Services, Pisa, Italy.
Dominant business model patterns of regional IaaS providers -an exploratory multiple-case study
- S Floerecke
- F Lehner
Floerecke, S. and Lehner, F., (2019b) 'Dominant business model patterns of regional IaaS
providers -an exploratory multiple-case study', paper presented at the 16th International
Conference on Economics of Grids, Clouds, Systems, and Services, Leeds, England.
Provider Lens Germany 2019 -Cloud Transformation/Operation Services & XaaS
Information Services Group (ISG) (2018) ISG Provider Lens Germany 2019 -Cloud
Transformation/Operation Services & XaaS, Frankfurt am Main.
Cloud Goliath versus a federation of cloud Davids
- K Kim
- S Kang
- J Altmann
Kim, K., Kang, S. and Altmann, J. (2014) 'Cloud Goliath versus a federation of cloud Davids',
paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Economics of Clouds, Grids, Systems
and Services, Cardiff, UK.
Success factors of cloud business models
- S Labes
- N Hanner
- R Zarnekow
Labes, S., Hanner, N. and Zarnekow, R., (2015) 'Success factors of cloud business models', paper
presented at the 23rd European Conference on Information Systems, Münster, Germany.
Umsatz der führenden Anbieter mit Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) weltweit in den Jahren
- Statista
Statista (2019) Umsatz der führenden Anbieter mit Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) weltweit in
den Jahren 2016 bis 2018 (in Millionen US-Dollar), Hamburg.