Expanding digitization projects and responses to the COVID-19 crisis drove demand for IT and cloud services to new highs in Germany in 2020 and the spring of 2021, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.
The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Next-Gen Private/Hybrid Cloud – Data Center Services & Solutions report for Germany finds that pandemic-related work-from-home requirements have made managed services, hosting and colocation providers more important than ever to German enterprises. Midmarket companies seeking to maintain their market presence have turned to providers for consulting and support for implementation and operations. Larger organizations have been working on expanding their cloud resources, looking for partners to help them take on new levels of complexity.
“German enterprises have redoubled their commitment to digitization while investing less in on-premises hardware,” said Andrea Spiegelhoff, partner, ISG EMEA, based in Germany. “Private and hybrid cloud services offer the flexibility and scalability they need.”
There are more than 1,000 providers of services and hosting in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), a market of almost 100 million people that is particularly rich in medium-sized enterprises, with more than 5 million midsize companies and groups, ISG says. Growth here reflects the regional demand for cloud-based services, which hit an all-time high in the first quarter of 2021, according to the EMEA ISG Index™. The overall sourcing market, including both as-a-service and managed services engagements, grew 20 percent compared with the first quarter of 2020.
During the pandemic, managed services providers (MSPs) have been setting up and operating workspaces for home offices and home schooling, while managed cloud hosts provide server capacity and colocation providers make standardized data centers available with sufficient connectivity and bandwidth, ISG says.
Digitization projects are addressing a range of needs for German enterprises, the report says. For example, a growing number of companies require latency of 35 milliseconds or less for applications such as edge computing, autonomous driving, mixed-reality experiences and IT/OT solutions that combine the IT and operational sides of an enterprise. Low-latency 5G mobile technology plays an increasingly important role in these applications.
Meanwhile, the line between private and public clouds is blurring as managed hosting providers that previously owned data centers increasingly rely on colocation centers, ISG says. Integrators, public cloud providers and companies downsizing or closing their data centers are also lining up to use colocation facilities, which provide space, security, modern infrastructure and support from a single source.
The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Next-Gen Private/Hybrid Cloud – Data Center Services & Solutions report for Germany evaluates the capabilities of 95 providers across six quadrants: Managed Services for Large Accounts, Managed Services for the Midmarket, Managed Hosting for Large Accounts, Managed Hosting for Midmarket, Colocation Services for Large Accounts and Colocation Services for Midmarket.
The report names PlusServer as a Leader in three quadrants. Arvato Systems, Atos, Axians, CANCOM, Claranet, DATAGROUP, Deutsche Telekom (TDG), Fujitsu, IBM, q.beyond and T-Systems are named as Leaders in two quadrants each. The report names *um (Orange), Accenture, All for One Group, Capgemini, Computacenter, CyrusOne, DXC Technology, Equinix, Interxion: A Digital Realty Company, ITENOS, KAMP, Keppel Data Centres, maincubes, Materna, myLoc, noris network, NTT DATA, NTT Ltd., PFALZCOM, Rackspace Technology, STACKIT, Telehouse and TelemaxX as Leaders in one quadrant each.
In addition, Cognizant, Cyxtera, Infosys, Release42, T-Systems and Unisys are named as Rising Stars—companies with a “promising portfolio” and “high future potential” by ISG’s definition—in one quadrant each.
Customized versions of the report are available from Claranet, Deutsche Telekom, ITENOS, KAMP, PlusServer, Release42, T-Systems and TelemaxX.
The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Next-Gen Private/Hybrid Cloud – Data Center Services & Solutions report for Germany is available to subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage.
