Description
Companies in this industry provide application hosting and data storage services, data processing, time-sharing computing services, and related infrastructure and network services. Major companies include Amazon Web Services, Google (through Google Cloud Platform), Microsoft's Azure unit, Oracle, and Rackspace (all US-based), along with Alibaba (China) and Interoute (UK).
Competitive Landscape
Companies with the access to capital for new equipment and the ability to maintain large networks of data centers enjoy significant advantages. A highly skilled workforce is required to ensure data center uptime and access to data. Some companies may focus on a single category of services, such as managed website hosting, while others may offer a broad range of services to compete effectively in the market.
Products, Operations & Technology
Application service provisioning (ASP), also known as software as a service (SaaS), accounts for about a quarter of US industry sales; data hosting and processing for human resources, finance, and other business processes accounts for about 20%. Other major services include data management and website hosting. Data hosting companies may also offer colocation services, data storage, media storage and delivery services, and other technology support services.