Cloud Insights: Olympic Tech, Gartner’s IaaS Magic Quadrant & China’s Emerging Market

Today marks the opening day of the 2016 Summer Olympics, a global stage where athletes showcase peak performance—and now, cutting‑edge technology is part of the spectacle.

Olympic Tech Innovations

At this year’s Games, swimmers are benefiting from underwater lap counters that deliver real‑time data, while the entire event’s infrastructure runs on cloud computing with a dedicated disaster‑recovery center located off‑site. Business teams will notice increased network traffic as employees stream Olympic events during lunch hours.

Gartner’s 2016 Cloud IaaS Magic Quadrant

Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) confirms AWS as the market leader, followed by Microsoft Azure. As enterprises continue to invest heavily in cloud services, niche providers are fighting for market share in a rapidly growing sector.

What to Look for in Cloud SLAs

Public‑cloud buyers should pay close attention to Gartner’s commentary on Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Key takeaways include:

• Service credits for outages are typically non‑negotiable.
• Maintenance windows are usually not covered in SLAs.
• Critical details involve compute and network availability, performance, oversubscription, and customer support expectations.

Use these benchmarks to verify your current SLAs or to negotiate more favorable terms.

China’s Rapid Tech Advancement

A recent New York Times article highlights that consumer‑technology progress in China is outpacing many Western markets. Despite this, most enterprise infrastructure remains rooted in American technology. The Great Firewall presents significant challenges, yet innovations—both domestic and international—are helping businesses monitor and operate within China more effectively.

Looking Ahead

As the Games unfold, consider how the latest cloud innovations and regional market shifts impact your organization’s strategy. Which Olympic sport will you be streaming the most? Let us know in the comments.