What Public Cloud? New Independent Comparison launched!

Announcing the Preview Release of Our Latest Comparison: Public Cloud – Compute #Google Compute vs AWS vs MS Azure vs IBM Cloud

WhatMatrix is a community-based IT solutions comparison site. Our contributing consultants are technology experts who have deep experience with the products they evaluate. Based on the enthusiastic feedback we’re receiving from users and industry analysts, people get real value from the information they find here. On our end, we’re always thinking of new and useful comparisons …

Cloud Watching

Around the beginning of 2016 we launched the Cloud Management Platform comparison. The response has been tremendous. The comparison has expanded to include platforms from 9 different vendors, and our users tell us how much this independent information helps them in understanding product capabilities and in providing objective information for business decision-makers.

Moving to the Next Level – Public

The fundamental value of a cloud management platform is the ability to orchestrate resources across multiple cloud providers with an increasing focus on integrating with the established public cloud providers. Maybe you are convinced that Public Cloud will replace traditional IT in a flash – maybe you are expecting various “hybrid cloud” approaches to dominate the IT landscape for some time due to security, compliance and legacy dependencies ..? Regardless in which camp you sit … it is undeniable that public cloud fundamentally changes the way we adopt and consume IT.

This change in adoption also changes the way consumers are evaluating new products, and the way vendors will have to take new products to market. Instead of featuring long “Interoperability Lists”, vendors will focus on integrating with public cloud providers and becoming part of their marketplace / ecosystem(s). If that wasn’t enough, vendors will face the up-hill struggle of having to compete with any “default technologies” that the public cloud provider offers (e.g. default backup, DR, monitoring etc) – often the provider’s own technology. Vendors will often aim for extending core capabilities, providing entirely new functionality or position specific “use cases” where they maintain an advantage (think e.g. “cross-cloud DR”). The evaluation of any new technology in the context of existing public cloud platforms + the evaluation of applicable use-cases therefore becomes essential! Keep you eyes peeled for our upcoming “Select a Use Case” and “Select an Add-On” capability that will allow you to do exactly that.

Our goal for this new comparison is to independently compare service features and capabilities from a variety of public cloud service providers (CSPs) and make the results available to you.

Starting Point: Compute

This comparison represents our most ambitious undertaking to date. Unlike other categories that compare specific technology stacks, a public cloud comparison includes a broad range of services and product structures.

“What about containers & DBaaS – or maybe big data, IOT or AI approaches?” Our plan for this category goes like this:

Start with “hyper-scale” providers – expand from there. While there are many CSPs in the market, only a few have global reach and scale. This is not surprising, given the billions of dollars of capital investment needed to set up the facilities and staff required – making Thomas Watson, Senior’s prediction about “a world market for maybe five computers” sound more and more visionary. With our upcoming “Use Case” capability users will be able to select platforms by deployment preference – so if you are specialising in delivering xyz from the cloud .. talk to us!

“Going forward we are happy to publish any relevant cloud vendor (small or large) – if you are one of them, get in touch” ¹

Choose a common core service We begin with compute because it is foundational to all other services. And even with this limited scope, there is plenty to compare!

“Check out our ACTUAL feature list – 65+ evaluation criteria just for “virtual compute” on the right!”

Establish evaluation criteria – provide the best independent, technical evaluation in the industry. WhatMatrix adds value by understanding what is important to technology professionals. For Public Cloud – Compute, this includes features like service locations and availability; administration and monitoring; instance types and sizes; operating system support; image management; resiliency; and storage & data management.
Share and refine – Rather than trying to anticipate ever”y possible use case for this comparison, we’ve chosen to create this preview release – a minimum viable comparison (MVC), if you will – and to make it available to community members for review and comment. We commit to listening to our users and to incorporate your feedback to make this comparison as useful as possible.
Add more services / use cases – At the top of our ‘Things We want to Learn from Our Users’ list is the “What’s the next Public Cloud service you want to see from us?” Is it an infrastructure service such as containers or security/compliance? What about managed databases or content delivery? Perhaps it’s app-level services like machine learning or IoT. Get in touch – we look forward to your input!

Cloud Expert?

Speaking of input, if this kind of comparative research interests you, you’re independent and “got the skills” – consider publishing on WhatMatrix and get promoted in that capacity. You can use this Public Cloud Inquiry or site contact link to get in touch with us – whether you’d want to:

add an additional vendor / platform
add a “service” / use case (Additional services / use cases will typically be integrated “horizontally” i.e. for all vendors / platforms)
contribute to an existing vendor / service

Your WhatMatrix Community ¹ Please note that all products must be INDEPENDENTLY evaluated – e.g. through a (joining & qualified) community member NOT employed by the vendor (preferred & free method) or through an allocated WhatMatrix community consultant (subject to availability) – details here

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