3PAR bid War fuels "cloud computing" boom sweeping the world

With the concept of "cloud computing" gradually rooted in the public, the value of the relevant listed companies have been greatly explored. In the US stock market, many of the previously unknown "cloud computing" concept companies have sprung up in recent years. These include Salesforce.com and 3PAR. And a share market in a number of "cloud" concept stocks in the recent international market, "cloud" boom led by the continuous performance outstanding. According to industry estimates, China's "cloud computing" market income average annual growth of up to 30%.

A "cloud computing" boom is sweeping the world and is hitting the Chinese market.

The scramble for US data storage Service 3PAR is undoubtedly the focus of the recent global technology industry. HP and Dell fought a life-and-death bid for the little-unknown company, and Hewlett-Packard eventually won at a premium of more than 200%.

Analysts point out that Hewlett-Packard, regardless of cost acquisition 3PAR, is a fancy to the company's potential "cloud" business opportunities. 3PAR's biggest advantage in data storage is precisely one of the key components of the current hottest cloud computing technology. This technology allows computer users to easily access the Internet to provide a variety of online services, in helping users reduce costs and other aspects have incomparable advantages. In recent years, "cloud computing" related to the rapid development of business, such as Microsoft and other industry giants have to take it as the next step in the development of the most important, some related listed companies share prices continued to rise. There are signs that the boom has also begun to spread to emerging markets such as China.

The future of the technology industry

What is "cloud computing" (cloud computing)? The technology industry's explanation is that this is an internet-based Super computing model. The so-called "cloud", refers to the remote data center, thousands of computers and servers connected to a computer cloud. This model has extraordinary computing power, the user through the computer, notebook, mobile phone and other means of access to remote terminals, enjoy a variety of services.

Generally speaking, "cloud computing" can be understood as remote online services, that is, through the Internet to provide services. At present, the most prominent application based on "cloud computing" technology is software as service (SaaS). In this mode, enterprises or individual users can enjoy the application software services provided by software developers through the Internet, such as remote data storage. Several other "cloud computing" service models include infrastructure, Service (IaaS) and platform-like services (PaaS).

With the above technology, users do not have to leave a lot of space on their computers for storage, and also eliminates the cost of purchasing licensing software. Ordinary personal users more familiar with the "cloud" products may have Google's "Google Files", which provides users with online document sharing and storage services.

"Cloud computing" technology is particularly attractive for enterprise users who need a huge amount of data storage, because it can help significantly reduce costs. This is also the biggest reason for the rapid development of the technology in recent years.

In a recent article, the FT described "cloud computing" as "one of the top ten innovations", and Oracle CEO Ellison said that "cloud computing" is the past, present and future of all computer-related technologies.

Gartner, a leading market research firm for Science and Technology, predicts that global "cloud computing" revenues will exceed $150 billion trillion by 2013. This year, the enterprise user market is expected to earn more than 8.5 billion dollars in SaaS business revenue.

International giants have set foot in

As a broad category, analysts point out, "cloud computing" encompasses many different areas, such as the construction and maintenance of a data storage center, the typical enterprise is 3PAR; For example, the provision of related network infrastructure services, typical businesses are at&t and Amazon; The typical enterprise is salesforce.com.

With the concept of "cloud computing" gradually rooted in the public, the value of the relevant listed companies have been greatly explored. In the US stock market, many of the previously unknown "cloud computing" concept companies have sprung up in recent years.

Taking the American Salesforce.com as an example, as an online supplier of customer relationship management (CRM) software, the company's business has grown rapidly in recent years and now accounts for half of the U.S. online CRM software market. Salesforce.com has been in the top 10 per cent of U.S. stocks in recent months and has risen 700% since the end of 2004, from $ more than 10 a share to $120 a share.

In the near future, investors are also holding 3PAR. The pursuit of HP and Dell has allowed the market to recognise the investment potential of the mediocre company. When Dell first offered an offer in the middle of last month, the company had less than 10 dollars per share, and now has risen to around $33 a share, close to HP's final offer.

Analysts gave Hewlett-Packard a 2.4 billion-dollar bid, equivalent to more than eight times times the 3PAR annual operating income. In general, more than five times times the amount of acquisitions in the technology industry is already very high. Not only that, 3PAR since its inception in 1999 has been almost no profit, since the listing in 2007, the company has been a loss so far.

In a way, HP's bid for 3PAR is also under pressure from peers. In recent years, some of America's largest technology companies have increased their investment and acquisitions in "cloud computing" as the next step in the development. Google launched its online office software two years ago, pointing to "cloud computing" opportunities. Apple also set up a Super data center in the US last year to prepare for the development of a "cloud computing" project.

The Chinese market is stirring

Microsoft recently proposed that "cloud computing" be included in the company's "four-point plan" to maintain its position in the commercial software market. To welcome the "cloud Computing" era, Microsoft has incorporated many online apps into its latest version of Office2010.

IBM, in May, acquired the "cloud computing" services company cast iron system, and plans to increase its global "cloud computing" service market revenue to $126 million by 2012 years ago.

In Asia and China, the "cloud computing" market is booming. Some international giants are beginning to reach the untapped market, while domestic listings are also speeding up the layout.

A new survey by Gartner found that by the end of this year, 75% of the Asia-Pacific region will increase its spending on SaaS, while 80% of respondents are SaaS for enterprise applications such as ERP and CRM, while the remaining 20% are planning to deploy SaaS over the next 12 months. In China, it is estimated that revenue from China's "cloud computing" market is expected to increase to $2.3 billion trillion in 2012, with an average annual growth rate of 30%.

It was a big business opportunity in China's "cloud computing" market, and earlier this month, NEC announced the launch of its "cloud computing" service in China by the United East Soft group. The two sides will set up joint ventures in Dalian in October this year to provide comprehensive "cloud computing" services such as SaaS, PaaS and IaaS, according to the cooperation agreement signed by both parties.

And in the A-share listed in the recent high profile announced that it is proposed to raise no more than 800 million yuan through additional funds, into the "cloud computing" environment information fusion platform and other projects.

Industry insiders said that at present in the A-share market, "cloud computing" concept stocks have a few, in addition to Neusoft group and Huasheng, wave information, wave software, the Great Wall computer, etc. also involved in related business. It is worth mentioning that, in the recent international market "cloud computing" boom, the above domestic concept stocks also continued to perform well, Neusoft group, wave information, Huasheng Tiancheng, the Great Wall of computers and other stocks in the recent trend of the contrarian rally or even trading. (Zhu Zhouliang)