Top 10 cloud tales of 2022

1. UKCloud secures funding lifeline to ease cashflow concerns

The backend of 2021 brought the news that all obtained’t be successfully, financially, at public sector-targeted cloud provider UKCloud, after Pc Weekly learned the Cabinet Space of job had been warning users of its companies and products to shift their workloads onto different clouds out of blueprint back the firm might very successfully be about to crumple.

This used to be on the relieve of a Companies Dwelling filing that confirmed the firm used to be short of a £30m funding lifeline to continue procuring and selling. In January 2022, the firm moved to make certain its potentialities that its future used to be assured, following the news that it had been obtained.

2. UKCloud collapses after being hit with winding up describe

Several months after its acquisition, news emerged in October 2022 that UKCloud had hit the skids after being hit with a winding up describe, ensuing in it being positioned in compulsory liquidation.

As beforehand documented by Pc Weekly, the firm had viewed its choices descend out of favour with public sector IT investors for the reason that opening of UK datacentres by the likes of Amazon Internet Services and products (AWS) and Microsoft. This regarded as if it might possibly probably per chance decimate UKCloud’s unfamiliar promoting level, which used to be that it goes to also present investors with procure entry to to sovereign cloud companies and products. 

3. The hyperscalers sigh out sovereign cloud companies and products imaginative and prescient

Having established a local presence within the UK, many of the hyperscalers – particularly Microsoft and Google – fill also taken steps to up the extent of security they’ll provide their potentialities and their records by launching sovereign cloud companies and products for their users.

Google outlined its sovereign cloud technique in October 2022, which will see it partner with local cloud companies in assorted European nations, while Microsoft will host its get on sovereign cloud companies and products internal its existing Azure datacentres.

4. Rackspace mulls over after which decides against promoting off its industry units

Would possibly per chance possibly simply 2022 brought the news that it goes to also very successfully be all trade again at managed cloud provider Rackspace, following the admission of its CEO, Kevin Jones, that discussions were being held internally on the firm about the likelihood of advertising and marketing off a minimal of 1 of its industry units.

Data of the prospective sale came no longer up to two years after Rackspace changed into a publicly traded firm again, after its acquisition by non-public equity home Apollo World Administration in 2016 saw it withdraw from the stock alternate.

Several months later came the news that Rackspace had determined against divesting any facets of the firm, and that it might possibly probably per chance continue working on a industry as traditional basis.

5. Income whisper slows at AWS

The third-quarter results from Amazon Internet Services and products raised eyebrows in October 2022 after they printed the public cloud giant’s income whisper had dropped markedly 12 months on 12 months (YoY), with the firm reporting its lowest annual income whisper figure since records began.

AWS reported a YoY income whisper figure of 27.5%, down from 33% the outdated quarter, with the firm attributing its downbeat performance to enterprises scaling relieve their cloud spending within the face of business uncertainty.

6. OVHCloud counts real cost of 2021 datacentre fire

French cloud infrastructure provider OVHCloud made headlines in 2021 after its Strasbourg datacentre campus skilled a fireplace, which entirely gutted one of many sigh’s server farms.

It emerged this 12 months the firm is now facing real motion from disgruntled potentialities who lost records and whose industry operations were majorly disrupted as a results of the fire.

Firstly, it emerged that 70 potentialities had joined the community motion, but in Would possibly per chance possibly simply 2022 this number had doubled to 140 who were – it used to be confirmed – collectively pursuing damages from OVHCloud in excess of €10m.

7. Google Cloud’s income and market share figures are on the up

Whereas making a profit continues to allude Google Cloud, the public cloud giant has viewed an uptick in market share and income whisper over the route of successive quarters all via 2022, and has signed a slew of multi-12 months cloud affords with family names.

The firm continues to fling on the relieve of second place Microsoft and public cloud market chief Amazon Internet Services and products (AWS), but analysts are of the quest for that – with just a few tweaks to its cloud technique – this is in a position to per chance simply continue to narrate to be more than a match for what its public cloud competitors have to present.

8. AWS doubles-down on datacentre sustainability with water and e-extinguish reuse pledges

The steps that cloud companies are taking to minimise the environmental influence of their actions has remained a habitual provide of news tales all via 2022, with Amazon Internet Services and products – as the sector’s greatest cloud firm – having to pick out more than most to advise its sustainability credentials.

As such, this 12 months has viewed the firm sigh out plans to turn into the sector’s “cleanest cloud” and originate a dedication to turning real into a water-sure entity by 2030. Also all via its February 2022 financial results, AWS printed that it used to be planning to lengthen the in fact helpful lifetime of the servers and networking gear in its datacentres from four years to 5 to carve its e-extinguish phases.

9. Rackspace suffers ransomware attack

Rounding out the 12 months, Rackspace made headlines again when it suffered a ransomware-related outage that left users of its hosted Microsoft Exchange providing unable to procure entry to their emails via the Outlook Internet App.

The incident prompted the managed cloud provider to migrate its affected potentialities over to the cloud-essentially based Microsoft Space of job 365 productivity platform as a stopgap except it used to be in a sigh to revive the affected, hosted Microsoft Exchange atmosphere.

10. Microsoft 365 banned in German faculties over records privacy concerns

In slack November 2022, it emerged that German records security authorities had banned faculties within the country from the utilization of Microsoft Space of job 365 attributable to an alleged lack of transparency around how Microsoft collects and job non-public records and the doable for third parties to procure entry to it.

“Microsoft does no longer fully suppose which processing operations get place in detail. As well, Microsoft does no longer fully suppose which processing operations are implemented on behalf of the patron or which are implemented for its gain purposes,” the records security authorities claimed.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has contested the ban, claiming it’s aloof imaginable for German faculties to use the platform in a legally compliant manner and that its product “no longer exclusively meet, but ceaselessly exceed, the strict EU records security criminal guidelines”.