Constellation ShortList™ Global IaaS for Next-Gen Applications

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a key enabler for next-generation applications that inherently have indeterminate computing resource needs. IaaS vendors—with their elastic offerings of compute, storage, and networking—offer the only generally viable deployment option for next-generation applications. IaaS vendors are also driving the push ahead toward Infinite Computing platforms. For more, see here.

Even in geographies that traditionally are reluctant or slow to adopt IaaS, for certain next-generation application scenarios (such as the Internet of Things, or IoT), only IaaS platforms are seen as the viable implementation choice. For more on next-gen applications, see here. The rise of AI since 2023 has driven an investment peak in IaaS data centers, enabling the running of generative AI workloads. This has not changed in 2025 and won’t change in the 2020s – so CxOs need to pay attention to both investment appetite and stamina of their respective IaaS vendors.

What has changed is that in 2025, a single IT strategy emerged that is applicable to all enterprises, where IaaS players are critical: they are the only ones with access to the AI compute capacity needed for Next Generation Applications. While previous workloads have not triggered sweeping, broad adoption of cloud, the need to bring an enterprise's data for AI purposes into one place has reached the tipping point. For more, see Holger Mueller, https://www.constellationr.com/research/there-only-one-1-it-strategy-2025-and-beyond.

Threshold Criteria

Constellation considers the following criteria for these solutions:

• Available on six continents
• Over 80000 paying customers
• More than 40 data center locations, and adding at least one new location per quarter
• At least ten machine/instance sizes
• Ability to run generative AI workloads in at least 75% of their data centers by the end of 2025
• Plans to run generative AI workloads in at least 66% of their data centers by mid-2026
• Ability to run machine learning algorithms on the platform
• Ability to run Hadoop/HDFS-based applications / aka Lakehouses
• Availability of at least one common/mainstream transactional database
• Redundancy/high-availability concepts beyond a single data center location
• A credible strategy with tangible software assets that evolves a vertical cloud strategy
• Strong partnerships with established software vendors
• Strong partnerships with key open-source initiatives
• Strong partnerships with system integrators
• Widely accepted security and privacy certifications
• Ability to run dedicated/secure government loads on at least 3 continents