WHAT ’ S THE FU
HYPERSCALERS
OF INFRASTRU AS A SERVICE ?
With a multi-billion dollar market led by the hyperscalers , should organisations continue to partner with them or go it alone ? We asked the experts
WRITTEN BY : ALEX TUCK
According to a mid-2019 Gartner report , the worldwide infrastructure-as-a-service ( IaaS ) market grew 31.3 % in 2018 , to total USD $ 32.4bn . This growth will continue throughout 2022 , where its worth could reach USD $ 76.6bn . IDC predicts revenue could reach USD $ 400bn by 2025 .
Service providers are facing key choices about how to build out their 5G and Edge capabilities : do they build their own solutions or partner with hyperscalers . With viable reasons to choose either , why choose the latter ?
Paul Rhodes , OpenRAN and 5G Lead , GSP International at WWT , a major global systems integrator , has a simple answer : “ In short , because it is the easier path .
It enables service providers to take advantage of ready-made solutions to bring edge products to market rapidly . Speed is a key consideration , because service providers face long development times – sometimes over 18 months – to bring products to market . This heightens the risk of missing the next transformational 5G and edge use case .”
According to Rhodes , this convenience in the short-term comes with potential disadvantages in the medium- and long-term . Hyperscale solutions are likely to create some kind of vendor lock-in , rendering telcos dependent on their hyperscale partners .
70 June 2022