Amazon and Microsoft's Cloud Dominance Referred for UK Competition Probe (cnbc.com) 6
Britain's anti-competition regulators have been tasked with investigating Microsoft and Amazon's dominance of the cloud computing market. From a report: Media watchdog Ofcom on Thursday referred its inquiry for further investigation to the Competition and Markets Authority, kickstarting the process. Ofcom said that it had identified features which make it more difficult for U.K. businesses to switch cloud providers, or use multiple cloud services, and that it is "particularly concerned" about the position of market leaders Amazon and Microsoft. "Some UK businesses have told us they're concerned about it being too difficult to switch or mix and match cloud provider, and it's not clear that competition is working well," Fergal Farragher, Ofcom's director responsible for the market study, said in a statement Thursday.
"So, we're referring the market to the CMA for further scrutiny, to make sure business customers continue to benefit from cloud services." Ofcom is concerned that so-called "hyperscalers" like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure are limiting competition in the cloud computing market. These are companies that allow businesses of all stripes to carry out critical computing tasks -- like storage and management of data, delivery of content, analytics and intelligence -- over the internet, rather than through servers stored on site, or "on premise."
"So, we're referring the market to the CMA for further scrutiny, to make sure business customers continue to benefit from cloud services." Ofcom is concerned that so-called "hyperscalers" like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure are limiting competition in the cloud computing market. These are companies that allow businesses of all stripes to carry out critical computing tasks -- like storage and management of data, delivery of content, analytics and intelligence -- over the internet, rather than through servers stored on site, or "on premise."
It's cute when the colonizer is colonized. (Score:2)
Seems like Microsoft Windows... (Score:2)
...would have been a better target, at least with that reasoning.
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. But nobody dares touch that one, law or not. Oh, and add o365.
Switching cost is not new, nor unique to cloud (Score:5, Insightful)
If Netflix wanted to switch its entire infrastructure to Azure - even if it was cheaper - it would cost tens of millions of dollars and take years.
But 20 years ago, If an enterprise had 10,000 Cisco switches and 100,000 HP Servers and wanted to switch to Juniper and Dell - even if the gear is cheaper - how much money do you think that switch would cost? It would cost tens of millions of dollars and be a project that spans 5+ years as well.
And in fact, the above is still true today.
Switching costs bake into everything. It does not mean there is some magical anti-competitive force going on.
Good design should keep portability in mind (Score:2)