Summary

Enterprises have more choices in cloud offerings than ever before. Choices range from SaaS applications to hybrid cloud to true multi-cloud, running containers managed by Kubernetes, to edge computing with embedded AI.

Introduction

While the concept of running applications in the cloud seems second nature in today’s cloud-first environment, the public cloud has only existed for fifteen years following the initial introduction of AWS in 2006. Throughout this decade and a half, both major and minor players have emerged in the cloud service provider market fighting to carve out their share of the cloud market, with AWS and Microsoft dominating the top two positions in this competitive market.

Recent innovation is reshaping the landscape as new technologies are making it easier for enterprises to selectively deploy to the clouds of their choice. This Research Note discusses five trends driving multi-cloud and why this market is important to the enterprise.