VMware, hyperscale, APAC, M&A, managed third party cloud
The sector continues to roll along. There was movement from the public clouds, data centre expansions and M&A activity. Meanwhile, VMware has been active in M&A recently (acquiring CloudHealth Technologies) and rolled out a number of new services and features amidst continued refinement of its approach and go-to-market strategy.
VMware continues to create a platform for cloud infrastructure enablement that is agnostic and now stretching out to the edge. It is focused on building as much value as possible on top of the underlying infrastructure. At the recent VMworld event, VMware and AWS shared some interesting data points that speak to the adoption of the VMware Cloud on AWS service. The footprint for this service is slated to expand significantly in 2019.
AWS is working closely with VMware and continues to push forward. It is also moving into new markets and word is that it is getting closer to entering Indonesia.
Cloud continues to be a primary driver of wholesale colocation services. In Europe, Interxion is buying land and expanding in several markets, while Equinix confirmed further expansions in Paris and is building its first hyperscale facility there.
On the M&A side, the past week saw another major transaction in the data centre space. Digital Realty acquired Brazilian data centre operator Ascenty in another transaction that crosses international boundaries. There was other interesting activity. In South Carolina, Immedion acquired a managed services shop and Infosys acquired a Salesforce partner in the Nordics. Deals continue to be driven by the need to acquire specific capabilities.
The managed third party cloud ecosystem continues to develop and providers are accumulating wins. A lot of the activity in this market is happening among the big SIs and consultancies. Capgemini is working with AWS more closely and Cognizant was also involved in acquiring public cloud capabilities recently. Meanwhile, Ensono added another win on the Azure cloud.
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