Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Cloud Compute's Three Market Segments

Bob Warfield just posted another comprehensive take on cloud computing particularly on the jockeying between hosters and platform builders. He points out how players try to position themselves and dig their trenches in what they would consider their niche in an obvious battlefield.

He further states:
"Markets tend to consolidate from the bottom of the technology stack up. The reason is that the bottom layers have been around a lot longer, there are more big players, and momentum there has often slowed. These are sure signs that a consolidation is in order. It’s important to know where you are in the stack because it equates to where you are in the M&A food chain. Consequently, VC’s often try to evaluate how near the bottom an idea is versus how late in the day it’s getting. Being too low in the stack when the market is very mature is usually a bad thing. Being high up early is oddly almost never a bad thing. The very top of the stack is apps, and it takes apps to propel the other layers forward."


His 3 Important Market Segments: (Top to Bottom)
1. The Virtualizers
2. Value Added Hosters
3. Old-school Hosters

I wonder on what segment the Morph Application Platform belongs to if we were to ask Bob?

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