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Market Insight


Cloud Computing solutions, including Software, Infrastructure, Platform, Unified Communications, Mobile, and Content as a Service are well-established and growing. The evolution of these markets will be driven by the complex interaction of all participants, beginning with end customers.

Edge Strategies has conducted over 80,000 interviews in behalf of our clients in both mature and emerging markets with decision-makers across the full cloud ecosystem- including Vendors, Service Provider and End Customer organizations.

Typical projects include:

  • Identifying target market segments
  • Designing Service Portfolios
  • Designing Application and Services Features
  • Developing Value Proposition and Messaging for each customer segment
  • Analyzing competitive alternatives and determining best practices
  • Designing Activation Programs
  • Building process to reduce churn, build loyalty and measure Customer Lifetime Value
  • Improving the User Experience

We provide current, actionable insight into business decision processes across market segments, from SMBs to Large Enterprises. Our work leverages a deep understanding of the business models of key Cloud Ecosystem participants including:

  • Cloud Service Providers ( CSPs)
  • Web Hosting Providers
  • Communication Service Providers
  • ISVs and Automation Providers
  • MSPs and IT Channels

Our experience allows us to get up to speed quickly on new projects. We are experts in designing and conducting quantitative and qualitative research. Based on our focused findings, we work with our clients to make the decisions necessary to gain early success in a variety of markets, including SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, UCaaS, and mobile/device services.    

 

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News

  • Alibaba says its new AI model rivals DeepSeeks’s R-1, OpenAI’s o1

    Alibaba Cloud on Thursday launched QwQ-32B, a compact reasoning model built on its latest large language model (LLM), Qwen2.5-32b, one it says delivers performance comparable to other large cutting edge models, including Chinese rival DeepSeek and OpenAI’s o1, with only 32 billion parameters. According to a release from Alibaba, “the performance of QwQ-32B highlights the power of reinforcement learning (RL), the core technique behind the model, when applied to a robust foundation model like Qwen2.5-32B, which is pre-trained on extensive world knowledge. By leveraging continuous RL scaling, QwQ-32B demonstrates significant improvements in mathematical reasoning and coding proficiency.” AWS defines RL as “a machine learning technique that trains software to make decisions to achieve the most optimal results and mimics the trial-and-error learning process that humans use to achieve their goals. Software actions that work towards your goal are reinforced, while actions that detract from the goal are ignored.” 

  • Chrome Enterprise moves to better differentiate work, personal browsing

    Google on Thursday unveiled new security controls for Chrome Enterprise, allowing IT departments to help employees better distinguish between work and personal browsing profiles. Employees using Google Workspace or Google Identity will see a new sign-in experience that shows what’s managed and shared with their organization when they create a separate work profile for bookmarks, history, and other data. Chrome Enterprise Core businesses also have new policies and customizations, while Chrome Enterprise Premium provides advanced data protection and secure access, the company said. The browser suite includes new secure sign-ins, user authentication, and identity management across Google services. Google Identity integrates with Google Workspace and other third-party applications, allowing businesses to streamline access management, bolster security, and make sure users have the correct permissions and access. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-2.png?quality=50&strip=all 1133w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-2.png?resize=283%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 283w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-2.png?resize=768%2C813&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-2.png?resize=967%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 967w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-2.png?resize=658%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 658w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-2.png?resize=159%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 159w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-2.png?resize=79%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 79w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-2.png?resize=453%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 453w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-2.png?resize=340%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 340w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-2.png?resize=236%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 236w" width="967" height="1024" sizes="(max-width: 967px) 100vw, 967px">Google IT teams also benefit from better profile reporting and data protection for unmanaged devices in BYOD environments, the company said, and can enable reporting for managed users across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. In one view, they can access key info such as browser version, OS, policies, extensions, and device management status, making it easier to monitor BYOD or contractor setups. With Chrome Enterprise Premium, companies can apply data controls and access restrictions, such as blocking copy/paste or screenshots, when employees or contractors sign into a work profile. Those company policies can be enforced on all devices through Chrome. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?quality=50&strip=all 1799w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=300%2C200&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=768%2C512&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=1024%2C683&quality=50&strip=all 1024w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=1536%2C1025&quality=50&strip=all 1536w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=1240%2C826&quality=50&strip=all 1240w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=150%2C100&quality=50&strip=all 150w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=1045%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 1045w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=252%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 252w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=126%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 126w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=720%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 720w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=540%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 540w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Chrome-screenshot-1.png?resize=375%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 375w" width="1024" height="683" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px">Google The browser suite upgrades are designed to enhance transparency for employees, allowing them to clearly recognize separate work and personal browsing, especially on personal devices, according to Julia Lomakina, product manager for Chrome Enterprise. “With the browser playing a more critical role in daily work, it’s more important than ever for IT teams to make it clear to employees that they are logged into a corporate browsing experience that is managed and monitored by their company,” Lomakina wrote in a blog post. In addition, Chrome Enterprise will now allow organizations to customize browser profiles with a company logo to help workers immediately see when they are using a managed browser profile. Upcoming Chrome releases will also show employees they’re in a managed “Work” profile, even without custom logos, whenever policies are applied.

  • LibreOffice downloads on the rise as users look to avoid subscription costs

    Interest in LibreOffice, the open-source alternative to Microsoft Office, is on the rise, with weekly downloads of its software package close to 1 million a week. That’s the highest download number since 2023. LibreOffice, which runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS, is a standalone desktop office productivity software that is free to use. Downloads have picked up since The Document Foundation, which manages its development, released version 25.2 last week.  It has emerged as the most popular open-source suite, with alternative versions such as Apache’s OpenOffice losing steam. The last version of OpenOffice was released in 2023. “We estimate around 200 million [LibreOffice] users, but it’s important to note that we respect users’ privacy and don’t track them, so we can’t say for sure,” said Mike Saunders, an open-source advocate and a deputy to the board of directors at The Document Foundation. There is still noteworthy interest in LibreOffice as a standalone desktop alternative to paid office productivity suites, said Jason Wong, distinguished vice president and analyst at Gartner. “Usually these are clients seeking to keep their on-premises implementation, given that both Microsoft and Google have focused on their cloud offerings,” Wong said.  Cost is a factor for evaluating software suites like LibreOffice, Wong said. “The downside is the additional specialized resources and new skills needed to maintain the [software],” he  said. Downloads of LibreOffice have been steadily climbing with each new version, Saunders said.  Though LibreOffice has traditionally been a favorite of home users, there’s growing interest in businesses and government, Saunders said. The northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein last year said it would move 30,000 PCs from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice. “The majority of our users — 85% — are on Windows, followed by macOS and then Linux,” Saunders said.  Many desktop Linux distributions pre-install LibreOffice, but it’s unclear how many users that represents. LibreOffice users typically want a straightforward interface, Saunders said. “They don’t want subscriptions, and they don’t want AI being ‘helpful’ by poking its nose into their work — it reminds them of Clippy from the bad old days,” he said.  There are genuine use cases for generative AI tools, but many users prefer to opt-in to it and choose when and where to enable it. “We have zero plans to put AI into LibreOffice. But we understand the value of some AI tools and are encouraging developers to create … extensions that use AI in a responsible way,” Saunders said.  Although there are cloud-based versions of OpenOffice, The Document Foundation has focused on the desktop version, Saunders said.

  • With new division, AWS bets big on agentic AI automation

    Amazon Web Services customers can expect to hear a lot more about agentic AI in future with the news that the company is setting up a dedicated unit to promote the technology on its platform. The division will be headed by Swami Sivasubramanian, until now Amazon’s VP of AI and data services. “I’m excited about leading a new organization focused on advancing the power of agents, and look forward to bringing the latest innovation into the hands of our customers,” Sivasubramanian wrote on Wednesday in a LinkedIn post that set out the company’s agentic AI ambitions. “Agentic systems offer possibilities that extend far beyond today’s chatbots and will drive efficiency like we haven’t seen before. They will orchestrate complex workflows and solve problems with human-like reasoning, while maximizing performance and cost effectiveness at scale,” he wrote. “Agents help developers write and debug code more effectively, allow businesses to automate complex decision-making processes, and create systems that can learn and adapt to new challenges.” AWS CEO Matt Garman announced the appointment internally on Wednesday, in an email leaked to Reuters. He promoted the formation of the new division as critical for Amazon’s push into cloud AI services, which he said had the potential to “be the next multi-billion business for AWS.” “We have the opportunity to help our customers innovate even faster and unlock more possibilities, and I firmly believe that AI agents are core to this next wave of innovation,” Garman wrote. Autonomous agents The term ‘agentic AI‘ (not to be confused with ‘AI agents’, which refers to more basic helpmates) is open to some interpretation. Broadly, it embraces the principle that AI systems should be autonomous and able to make decisions in real time without the need for human direction or intervention. This is the dream: to create systems that can solve complex, multi-step problems on their own. For today’s organizations that find themselves weighed down by ever more complex processes, the ability to hand workload to self-learning, problem-solving systems would be an important evolution. AWS is already a significant player in this nascent space with the Amazon Bedrock platform (which enables agentic AI creation), and tools such as the Multi-Agent Orchestrator and the Amazon Q developer service. If it were to put them inside a single division it might anchor these elements into a more coherent sales story. “We’re at an inflection point where enterprises are moving beyond experimentation with AI to seeking tangible business value,” said Chris Ashley, vice president of strategy, GTM & partnerships at UK AI platform company Peak. “AWS have already made key moves over the past couple of years with their development of AWS Bedrock. A dedicated agentic team and capability is the logical next step for AWS to build on the generative capabilities they’ve been building out.” For AWS customers, Ashley believed that agentic AI was good news, allowing organizations to automate complex workflows and speed up decision making in ways that would be impossible without the technology. “We’ve seen clients achieve 20-30% efficiency gains when AI agents are properly deployed within existing cloud architectures,” he said. Portability in question However, he said that agentic systems could also lead to platform lock-in: “Technology leaders will ultimately want to ensure their agents can operate fluidly and securely across all clouds, all systems and all processes across the business. This will be a key consideration for AWS to strike the balance between agentic portability and having customers leverage their AWS native services.” His recommendation for anyone evaluating agentic AI is to prioritize features such as the ability to control, direct, and constrain agentic AI, the degree to which agentic AI will work with existing technology, and how easy it is to track its actions and decision making.  “AWS’s approach appears strong on infrastructure integration, but enterprises should carefully assess how these aspects are addressed,” said Ashley. The jury is still out. Agentic AI run from inside a cloud platform could accelerate the ease with which organizations can take on what is a promising but unproven technology. This is the lure of the integrated cloud platform – handing some of the hard work to someone else. Equally, customers will still need to choose their cloud partners carefully in a rapidly evolving field where certainties about the future are still in short supply.

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