Get to know the cloud computing companies reshaping the industry landscape and empowering organizations in a rapidly evolving digital era.
As businesses and federal government agencies increasingly rely on cloud technologies to fuel innovation, streamline operations, and enhance scalability, the demand for agile cloud computing services skyrocketed. However, this surge in demand has challenged cloud computing companies to stay ahead of the competition and deliver exceptional services. Here, we will delve into the influential cloud computing companies harnessing the power of cloud technology.
What Is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing refers to the convenient delivery of IT resources via the internet, encompassing a range of services like data storage, servers, databases, networking, and software. The key advantage lies in its pay-as-you-go pricing model. Rather than investing in and managing physical data centers or servers, users have the flexibility to procure technology services from cloud providers.
Cloud service providers offer users a wide array of functionalities and corresponding use cases, such as:
- Email: Access and manage email accounts through web-based interfaces (e.g., Gmail and Microsoft 365)
- Storage, backup, and data retrieval: Easy retrieval of stored information through backups (e.g., Dropbox and iCloud)
- App development and testing: Platforms and resources to create, deploy, and test application (e.g., Sauce Labs)
- Audio and video streaming: Access media content without downloading files (e.g., Netflix)
- Delivering software on demand: Applications without installation or maintenance on local devices through Software-as-a-Service (e.g., Basecamp and TimeDoctor)
Brief History of Cloud Computing
Joseph Cark Robnett Licklider pioneered cloud computing in the 1960s as part of his research on ARPANet. The term “cloud computing” was coined in 1966 and became associated with distributed computing.
Here’s a journey to the evolution of cloud computing:
- 1999: Salesforce becomes the first company to offer applications over the Internet, marking the advent of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS),
- Mid-2000s (around 2006): Amazon launches Amazon Web Services and introduces Elastic Computing Cloud.
- 2008: Google releases a beta version of its cloud-based search engine; Microsoft announces and releases its cloud computing service, Microsoft Azure, for testing, deploying, and managing applications and services.
- 2012: Google introduces Google Compute Engine, which becomes available to the public by the end of December 2013; Oracle launches Oracle Cloud,
- Oracle launches Oracle Cloud, offering three primary services for businesses: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).
Importance of Cloud Computing
Federal civilian agencies, the Defense Department, and the Intelligence Community have embraced cloud computing to achieve cost savings and swiftly adopt emerging technologies to support their missions. The implementation of the “Cloud First Policy” in 2011 by the White House has mandated agencies to consider secure cloud computing options before making new investments, resulting in numerous agencies transitioning their existing IT infrastructures to the cloud.
Here are the notable benefits of cloud computing on businesses:
Cost Savings
Operating a large data center can be costly, with an average yearly expenditure ranging from $10 to $25 million. Much of this budget goes to hardware, software, disaster recovery measure, etc. However, the advent of cloud computing has revolutionized this landscape by relieving businesses of these financial burdens. By opting for a cloud service model, companies only pay for the specific resources they utilize, eliminating the need for excessive investment in building and provisioning data centers beyond their actual requirements.
Data Retrieval
Data recovery from damaged physical services and hard drives can be difficult and sometimes impossible, resulting in significant data loss for businesses, especially those without proper backups. Cloud computing mitigates these concerns through cloud storage that replicates data across multiple locations. If one server or storage location experiences issues, data remains secure with backup copies elsewhere.
Easy Maintenance
Cloud computing offers high code maintainability, promoting efficient coordination across an organization. It achieves this by facilitating the search, reuse, and modification of code from different teams, resulting in improved accuracy in cloud computing. Consequently, maintaining cloud-based systems is relatively straightforward, particularly in large-scale organizations with extensive codebases. Furthermore, cloud-based applications can automatically refresh and update themselves, eliminating the need for manual updates by the IT department.
Navigate the digital storm of 2023 with insights from 6 leading cloud computing companies. Discover how these companies are innovating and adapting to the changing digital landscape.
Note: The following list of cloud computing companies is ranked in no particular order. The selection criteria are based on a variety of factors, including market capitalization, revenue, and overall industry impact. That said, while they are highly regarded in the industry, plenty of other companies also offer exceptional products and services.
SAIC
SAIC is a leading provider of advanced cloud computing, cybersecurity, and software solutions. It specializes in assisting defense, intelligence, and civilian agencies in achieving their goals through digital transformation.
SAIC’s CloudScend suite of solutions is specifically designed to help government agencies efficiently managing, modernizing, and migrating their workloads to the cloud. Through a comprehensive range of strategies, services, and products, SAIC supports customers through their cloud modernization journey.
SAIC’s cloud experts work closely with customers to assess their progress and tailor CloudScend solutions to their needs. This collaborative approach ensures the expedited delivery of customized cloud environments and capabilities, maximizing the benefits of each customer’s transition to the cloud.
SAIC in 2023
In June 2023, SAIC successfully secured a significant seven-year contract worth $1.3 billion from the U.S. Department of Treasury. Known as the “T-cloud” contract, it entrusts SAIC with the management of the agency’s wide-ranging cloud computing services, which play a vital role in attaining secure IT objectives. Additionally, the contract allows SAIC to consolidate access to cloud services across the entire department. Previously, individual Treasury offices independently procured their own solutions, but this approach was deemed inefficient and ineffective by the department.
CACI
CACI offers a comprehensive managed cloud service that empowers organizations to drive innovation and achieve enhanced agility, operational efficiency, and scalability in their cloud computing initiatives.
As an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner and Public Sector Partner, CACI specializes in delivering highly secure and mission-critical cloud solutions tailored to different levels of security classifications. Leveraging their extensive expertise in planning and executing cloud migrations, CACI collaborates with customers to develop robust and compliant cloud architectures that meet regulatory standards.
One notable achievement of CACI is the successful implementation of a DevSecOps pipeline, which played a pivotal role in developing and deploying a cloud-native web application based on microservices. This application seamlessly streams real-time data, featuring geospatial overlays on a map and an activity feed for non-geospatial information. The microservices architecture ensures scalability and adaptability, enabling future support for diverse platforms and devices as customer needs evolve.
CACI in 2023
In June 2023, CACI International was awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract valued at an estimated $1.2 billion from the U.S. Navy’s Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR). Known as the Spectral contract, this seven-year agreement enables CACI to leverage its considerable expertise in software development and security operations to integrate a range of technologies, including signal intelligence (SIGINT), cybersecurity, and electronic warfare (EW). The objective is to establish flexible and interconnected military capabilities that effectively address emerging threats.
Google Cloud
Google is known for its dominant search engine and cloud services. It remains at the forefront of cloud storage technology and has made significant strides in cloud-based machine learning. One of its notable offerings is the Google Cloud Platform, a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services that operates on the same robust infrastructure that powers Youtube and Gmail.
Google in 2023
Google organizes the Google Data Cloud & AI Summit, bringing together top professionals from Google Cloud and the data and AI community to converge to delve into cutting-edge advancements in generative AI, databases, data analytics, and business intelligence. This event allows experts to exchange ideas and explore novel approaches to revolutionize customer experiences through modern applications while driving revenue growth and minimizing costs. On the other hand, Google Cloud Next 2023’s sessions provide insights into serverless practices, managed Kubernetes, and more.
Amazon Web Services
AWS, also known as Amazon Web Services, is Amazon’s cloud computing platform that provides various services, including infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS). By using AWS, businesses can access computing power, database storage, and services for delivering content.
AWS pioneered the pay-as-you-go cloud computing model and has maintained its position as the leading provider in the market. Instead of investing in their servers, customers can outsource their data storage to AWS. AWS then organizes its servers into regions and availability zones (AZs), with each region catering to a specific geographical area and containing separate data centers.
Amazon Web Services in 2023
AWS has announced its plans for global expansion. As a part of its initiative, AWS has committed to investing $35 billion in constructing new data centers in Virginia by 2040. US-EAST-1, Amazon’s oldest region established in 2006, holds significant importance as the largest hub for AWS. It comprises six availability and ten local zones spread across multiple data centers.
Furthermore, AWS is actively collaborating with TM Forum to expedite the progress of Open Digital Architecture (ODA), a cloud-native software that enables telecommunications companies to unlock new growth opportunities. In addition to collaborating, AWS contributes to the forum’s innovation roadmap, which includes enhancing network edge use cases and optimizing 5G monetization strategies.
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure is a comprehensive public cloud computing platform offering a wide range of services, including IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. It boasts a vast selection of over 200 products and services accessible via the Internet. These offerings encompass domains such as analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, containers, databases, and DevOps while providing flexibility to replace or complement existing on-premise servers.
Utilizing Azure can help offload the management and maintenance of hardware, infrastructure, and resources to Microsoft, allowing free access or a pay-per-use basis per your requirements.
Microsoft Azure in 2023
This 2023, Microsoft Azure introduced a new series of memory-optimized plans called P*mv3. These plans, including P1mv3, P2mv3, P3mv3, and so on, are designed to offer organizations more flexibility in scaling their memory configuration without the need to pay for additional cores.
The memory and core configurations of these plans vary. For example, the P1mv3 plan offers two virtual cores with 16 GB RAM, compared to the P1v3 plan, which provides two cores with 8 GB RAM. On the other hand, the P5mv3 plan offers 32 virtual cores with 256 GB RAM.
Salesforce
Salesforce offers cloud-based software solutions to businesses with tools designed to assist companies in finding potential customers, finalizing sales, and delivering exceptional customer service. It is widely recognized as a leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform utilized by support, sales, and marketing teams across the globe.
One of Salesforce’s notable offerings is Service Cloud, regarded as one of the most acclaimed customer service software solutions worldwide. Service Cloud enables efficient communication and issue resolution between customers and support agents through various channels, such as phone, web, chat, and email.
Salesforce in 2023
This 2023, Salesforce is hosting Salesforce Connections, a must-attend event for businesses looking to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. The event aims to provide attendees valuable insights and strategies to optimize operations, achieve better outcomes, reduce expenses, and exceed customer expectations. The event showcases the latest innovation in Digital 360, a collective term that describes Salesforce’s offerings: Experience Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Commerce Cloud.
Additionally, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently hosted the Salesforce AI Day, unveiling the Salesforce AI Cloud roadmap. The roadmap includes 16 new releases to provide personalized and relevant AI-powered tools to Salesforce customers, including Sales Email Generation, Reply Recommendations, Summarization Service, Knowledge Email Creation, Subject Line Generation, and more.
