The adoption of cloud-based technologies in businesses has been accelerated manifold by the pandemic and rapid digital transformation. A Gartner report says that in 2022, global cloud revenue is estimated to total $474 billion, up from $408 billion in 2021. By 2025, Gartner estimates that over 95% of new digital workloads will be deployed on cloud-native platforms, up from 30% in 2021.

Globally and in India, tech companies announced various improvements in Cloud infrastructure, partnerships, cloud centres, cloud training initiatives this year. Let’s look into some major happenings in Cloud this year:

Google

Google Cloud Next

The Google Cloud Next 2021 event was held in October, where the tech giant made a range of announcements. Some of the important ones are:

• Google Distributed Cloud-It is a bundle of fully managed hardware and software solutions that work on edge and data centres. 

• Google Cloud Cortex Framework and Cloud Build Hybrid: The Google Cloud Cortex Framework allows customers to get insights and reduce time-to-value with reference architectures, packaged services, and deployment accelerators. The Cloud Build Hybrid allows developers to build, test, and deploy across clouds and on-premise systems. It also provides the benefits of a Google-managed control plane to manage all pipelines.

Hiring And Partnerships

Google Cloud recently announced the appointment of Subram Natarajan as the Director of Customer Engineering at Google Cloud India. The company also recently launched Google Cloud Skills Boost, a platform for online learning, skills development, and certifications.

MongoDB recently announced an expanded five-year partnership with Google Cloud to better integrate Google Cloud products with its cloud database, MongoDB Atlas.

Pegasystems Inc. teamed up with Google to provide better data insights in healthcare.

VMware

 At VMworld 2021 event held in October, the company announced the launch of VMware Cross-Cloud services. It said that the services will help businesses to move to the Cloud faster and provide customers with the ability to build, deploy and secure apps across any cloud. VMware introduced Cloud Infrastructure and Management for the Cross-Cloud services, advancements in the VMware Tanzu portfolio, and launched VMware Edge, among others announcements. A few days back, VMware also announced a partnership with Kyndryl, which will focus on app modernisation and multi-cloud services.

Oracle

In October, Oracle announced plans to expand its cloud region reach to meet global customer demand for Oracle Cloud services. Reportedly, over the next year, the company will open 14 cloud regions across Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Latin America and aims to reach at least 44 cloud regions by the end of 2022.

Amazon

It announced the launch of AWS re/Start in India. It is a full-time, classroom-based skills development and training program that prepares individuals for careers in the Cloud and helps to build connections with potential employers. 

 Amazon Web Services teamed up with Salesforce for customers to deploy Salesforce and AWS capabilities together to use business applications for digitally transforming their business.

Microsoft 

Microsoft Ignite 2021

Microsoft chief Satya Nadella talked about how Microsoft Cloud addresses present-day challenges. New products and upgrades announced during this event included general availability of Microsoft Test Base for Microsoft 365, Microsoft Edge web browser for Linux, Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services and Cloud for Nonprofits etc.

TCS

At the beginning of the year, TCS introduced a curated version of its Cloud Assurance Platform services that will help organisations start with cloud migration or modernisation with Microsoft Azure.

Data Centers

• Google Cloud launched the second data centre cluster for India in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR).

• Cybersecurity major Trend Micro launched its Cloud One regional data centre in India for data sovereignty and data privacy.

• Cybersecurity company Acronis launched Cloud Data Center in Mumbai jointly with local partners Compuage India, Ingram Micro and Crayon Software Experts India.

• Tech Mahindra launched a dedicated Google Cloud Business Unit for cloud adoption for enterprises globally. 

• HCL launched its Amazon Web Services (AWS) Business Unit (AWS BU) to help enterprises accelerate their cloud transformation globally.