Why IDC Thinks Wasabi is Shaping the Public Cloud Storage Market

IDC’s recent Worldwide Public Cloud Infrastructure as a Service Market Shares Report outlines some of the IaaS market’s biggest players. The data puts the industry’s overall growth at 26.1%, with the lion’s share of that growth held by hyperscalers Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. But it was Wasabi that IDC called “an increasingly important player in the public cloud IaaS market and one of the few vendors that has successfully broken into the IaaS market within the past five years.” Wasabi’s strategic approach toward the IaaS market is what led to this moment. Here are some of the key factors that IDC identified as crucial in shaping the market. 

Tackling Relentless Enterprise Data Growth 

On average, enterprises have indicated to IDC that they expect their stored data to grow 30% annually. That means an organization storing 10 PB this year will store 13 PB the following year, and close to 17 PB the year after that. This rapid growth of unstructured data is a key driver of public cloud services as enterprises realize that maintaining their own data storage network is unsustainable and cost-prohibitive. Wasabi has met the moment with unparalleled scalability and simplicity. With storage priced at a single, flat rate free from complicated tiers and fees, Wasabi has made it easy for enterprises to procure and spin up storage at will. Storage does not have to be an area of focus for your enterprise when it is already the area of focus of ours. Wasabi’s S3-compatible hot cloud storage offers the ease of use of NAS with the bottomless scalability of the cloud, all at an industry-best price point. 

Addressing Digital Sovereignty Requirements 

Be it from government regulation, industry compliance standards, or the simple need to be close to their data, an increasing amount of companies are prioritizing data sovereignty in regards to IaaS services. According to IDC’s CEO Survey, 86% of global organizations consider digital sovereignty to be their highest priority over the coming years. At Wasabi, we are very aware of these requirements and how important they are to our customers. That’s why it was paramount that we bring hot cloud storage to key geos like EMEA and APAC, and to countries with data sovereignty laws like Australia and the United Kingdom. Our expansion across the globe was done with these market forces in mind. 

Security and Compliance Remain Paramount 

It’s no surprise that data security and compliance are perennial concerns for enterprises that trust their data to a public cloud provider. Wasabi has made it a priority to create a highly secure storage environment with features like Object Immutability and innovative protocols like Multi-user Authentication, which is unique among cloud storage services. Wasabi is compliant with several major  data storage regulations including HIPAA, FERPA, CJIS, and GDPR. Our customers depend on these standards being met in order to continue doing business, so it is Wasabi’s first priority to maintain good standing within these regulations. 

IaaS buyers’ increased sensitivity to cost 

According to IDC survey data, 64% of organizations are spending more on cloud than originally budgeted. This is coming at a time of increased budget scrutiny amid larger economic uncertainty. Enterprises are desperate to get a handle on their cloud costs. Dependence on infrastructure services is only set to increase, with IDC predicting that in 2023, almost half of an enterprise’s products and services will be digital or digitally delivered, increasing the business’ reliance on IaaS.  

Wasabi has always held affordability in the highest regard. Our lack of fees for egress and API requests sets us apart in an industry known for its unpredictability. Wasabi’s flat-rate storage is easy to understand and budget for: as long as you know how much you’re storing, you know what your bill will be month after month. Additional ways to pay like Reserved Capacity Storage (RCS) take affordability and predictability even further, with discounted prices for storage terms of 1, 3, or 5 years.  

More to uncover 

IDC’s Market Share report contains a wealth of information on the state of the IaaS market, much more than could be included in a single blog post. The full report, Worldwide Public Cloud Infrastructure as a Service Market Shares, 2022, is available for download.