Half of PaaS services now cloud-only

1 min readUpdated Mar 8, 2019Mar 11, 201912:32 AM

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A new Gartner report, “Platform as a Service: Definition, Taxonomy and Vendor Landscape, 2019” revealed that 48% of 550 PaaS offerings are cloud-only. Not a single vendor has a foothold across all 21 segments, and 90% of them only operate within a single PaaS market segment.

“Business and technology leaders are shifting to strategic investment in cloud computing,” said Yefim Natis, research vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “Cloud computing is one of the key disruptive forces in IT markets that is gaining mainstream trust.”

Natis commented that although many organizations anticipate long-term retention of on-premises computing, the vendors of nearly half of the cloud platform offerings bet on the prevailing growth of cloud deployments and chose the more modern and more efficient cloud-only delivery of their capabilities.

Gartner predicts that enterprise IT spending for cloud-based offerings will surpass spending on non-cloud IT offerings by 2022. The analyst forecasts total PaaS market revenue to reach $20 billion in 2019, and to exceed $34 billion in 2022.

In this shift to the cloud, database and application platform services represent the largest market segments, with blockchain, digital experience, serverless and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) platform services as the newest.

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What this means

The rapid migration to cloud-only PaaS offerings, with 48% already adopting this model, indicates a critical market inflection point. This strategic pivot pressures traditional on-premises providers and forces a reassessment of infrastructure investments, mirroring the swift market entry seen when PharmaResearch launched concurrently in Singapore and the US. Gartner's forecast of cloud IT spending surpassing non-cloud by 2022 shows an irreversible trend, suggesting that vendors without robust cloud-native offerings will struggle to compete. Unlike HSBC's cautious, phased approach to new flagship openings, PaaS providers are making bolder, cloud-exclusive bets. Watch for vendor market share data in newly emerging segments like blockchain and AI/ML.

Sarah Chen · Retail News Asia newsroom

Questions & Answers

Which specific Platform as a Service segments are currently the largest?

Within the current shift to cloud-based offerings, the largest market segments for Platform as a Service are database and application platform services. Newer segments include blockchain, digital experience, serverless, and AI/ML platform services.

When is enterprise IT spending on cloud-based offerings expected to overtake non-cloud IT spending?

Gartner forecasts that enterprise IT spending for cloud-based offerings will surpass spending on traditional non-cloud IT offerings by the year 2022. This indicates a significant shift in investment priorities.

Do any vendors currently offer Platform as a Service solutions across all market segments?

No single vendor currently holds a presence across all 21 defined Platform as a Service market segments. The report indicates that a substantial 90% of vendors operate within only one segment.

What is the projected revenue for the total PaaS market in 2019 and 2022?

The total PaaS market revenue is forecast to reach $20 billion in 2019. This is predicted to grow significantly, exceeding $34 billion by the year 2022, according to the analyst's projections.

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