Australia is home to a mature cloud computing market, with all the major service providers, having established a strong presence here. It is believed that the total market for cloud services in Australia, in terms of enterprise spending, will exceed AU$19 billion by 2025. Considering the size and maturity of the market, it will come as no surprise to learn that commercial and public sector organizations in all areas of the country are spoilt for choice as far as cloud services and solutions are concerned. Below, we take a look at the most popular cloud platforms currently available and consider what each one has to offer.
Australian Cloud Services and Solutions
The cloud platforms and services of most interest to businesses and government organizations in Australia are those that are offered by the largest service providers in terms of market share. That’s not to say there are no good solutions being offered by smaller cloud service providers: it’s just that the bigger platforms provide the easiest migration path in almost all cases.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
With well over 200 services, the AWS platform is widely considered to be the most capable on the market today. It’s also the most mature platform and, thanks to the presence of AWS servers in Australia, offers outstanding performance to local companies and government agencies. It has over 80 availability zones across the world, ensuring excellent global connectivity for international organizations based here.
Microsoft Azure
Azure is Microsoft’s main cloud platform, and together with Office 365 and Dynamics 365, it provides businesses in Australia with a comprehensive range of services and solutions. Whilst it doesn’t have quite the same reach as AWS, it is the second-biggest cloud platform in terms of market share, with 27%, which means that many organizations rely on it to host their cloud applications, data, and services.
Google Cloud
Google’s cloud platform enjoys a 13% share of the market in Australia, earning it third place. In common with AWS and Azure, Google Cloud offers a full range of cloud services to businesses and public sector organizations here. Cloud Compute, Databases, Networking, Developer Tools, and other categories feature many different products designed for enterprises that wish to migrate their systems and data to the Cloud.
Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba Cloud is quite popular with organizations in the education sector, but with less than 5% market share, it is not a major player in the Australian cloud industry as a whole.The location where you live can have an effect on the cost of servers because it will determine how much competition there is in your area. If there are many companies in your area that provide similar services, then you should expect lower prices because they are competing with each other for customers. However, the platform does offer a wide selection of compute and storage services, making it worthy of consideration for organizations that are in the process of planning their migration strategy.
IBM Cloud
IBM’s cloud solutions are suitable for both small businesses and large enterprises. Its services cover cloud computing, networking, storage, data, and development tools, as well as security management.
You will find an abundance of smaller providers with a presence in Australia, too, many of which have chosen to specialize in certain niche areas.