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CRN’s 2024 Cloud 100 infrastructure list names 20 companies, but it is not a ranked list of the 20 best cloud providers. It is a broad editorial snapshot covering public cloud, servers, storage, colocation, networking, virtualization, managed cloud, edge computing and AI infrastructure.
The important distinction is what each company actually sells—and which layer of a technology architecture it occupies. This guide preserves CRN’s original 20-company order, updates material status changes and provides a practical framework for comparing vendors without treating unlike businesses as direct competitors.
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Short answer: CRN’s 2024 Cloud 100 infrastructure category named 20 influential companies, but it was a curated editorial selection—not a numbered ranking. The group ranges from public-cloud operators such as AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud to data-center providers, server manufacturers, virtualization platforms, networking companies and AI-storage specialists. They support cloud infrastructure at different layers and are not all direct competitors.
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What CRN’s list actually represents
The list appeared in CRN’s January 2024 Cloud 100 package. CRN divided its 100 companies into five categories: cloud security, cloud infrastructure, cloud monitoring and management, cloud software, and cloud storage. The infrastructure category contained exactly 20 companies, presented in editorial order rather than first-to-last ranking. CRN’s Cloud 100 overview provides the package context, while the original infrastructure article provides the names and descriptions.
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CRN used cloud infrastructure broadly. Its category included compute, servers, storage, networking, virtualization, containers, databases, colocation, interconnection, managed cloud, disaster recovery, edge computing and cloud-management services. That explains why AWS, Equinix, Lenovo, Red Hat, Lumen and VAST Data appear together even though they sell very different products.
This is also CRN’s Cloud 100, not Forbes’ Cloud 100. Forbes’ 2024 Cloud 100 was a separate ranking of private cloud companies produced with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures, using its own methodology. Forbes’ methodology explains that distinction.
The exact 20 companies
- Amazon Web Services
- Cisco Systems
- Dell Technologies
- DigitalOcean
- Digital Realty
- Equinix
- Flexential
- Google Cloud
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise
- IBM
- Lenovo
- Lumen Technologies
- Microsoft
- Nutanix
- Oracle
- Red Hat
- Scale Computing
- TierPoint
- VAST Data
- VMware by Broadcom
A practical market map
The most useful way to understand the list is by infrastructure layer. Some companies belong in more than one group, so these categories are analytical rather than official CRN subcategories.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors| Layer | Companies | What buyers are really purchasing |
|---|---|---|
| Public cloud | AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, DigitalOcean | On-demand compute, storage, databases, networking and managed services. |
| Hardware and private-cloud infrastructure | Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo | Servers, storage, networking and private infrastructure with optional consumption models. |
| Colocation and interconnection | Digital Realty, Equinix, Flexential, TierPoint | Facilities, power, connectivity, cloud on-ramps and sometimes managed infrastructure. |
| Virtualization and application platforms | Nutanix, VMware by Broadcom, Red Hat, Scale Computing | VMs, containers, HCI, private-cloud management and hybrid deployment tooling. |
| Networking and edge | Cisco, Lumen Technologies | Network control, security, connectivity and compute closer to users or devices. |
| AI and data infrastructure | VAST Data, plus AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft and Oracle | GPU access, high-throughput storage, data pipelines, databases and model-serving infrastructure. |
That map matters because a colocation provider may host a customer’s cloud servers without selling public-cloud services; a hardware vendor may supply the equipment used by a cloud provider without operating a public cloud; and a platform such as OpenShift may run on infrastructure supplied by another company.
The 20 companies, explained
1. Amazon Web Services
Category: Hyperscale public cloud.
CRN described AWS as the global cloud-market leader, citing approximately 32% market share and more than $92 billion in cloud sales at the time. Those were historical, source-dependent figures—not permanent facts. AWS represents the benchmark for breadth, geographic reach, service maturity, ecosystem depth and third-party integrations. Its portfolio spans compute, storage, networking, databases, security, containers, serverless services and much more.
Best fit: Global applications, cloud-native systems, managed databases, container platforms, serverless workloads and organizations with an established AWS skills or partner base.
Main trade-off: Breadth creates complexity. Pricing can be difficult to forecast across compute, storage, managed services, data transfer and multiple resilience layers. A workload may also become dependent on AWS-specific APIs and operating practices. AWS’s distinction among regions, availability zones, local zones and Wavelength Zones is important when designing for failure and latency; consult the AWS regions and Availability Zones documentation rather than relying on an old data-center count.
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Category: Networking, security, observability and cloud-native infrastructure.
Cisco supplies the networking and security fabric used by enterprise data centers and hybrid clouds, while also offering cloud-delivered networking, application management and cybersecurity products. CRN specifically highlighted Cisco’s planned acquisition of Isovalent, which was not complete when CRN published its January article.
Current-status update: Cisco completed the Isovalent acquisition on April 12, 2024. Isovalent’s technologies include eBPF-, Cilium- and cloud-native networking and security capabilities, as described in Cisco’s announcement.
Best fit: Enterprises standardizing on Cisco, hybrid and multicloud environments requiring consistent policy, and Kubernetes deployments needing cloud-native networking or observability.
Main trade-off: Cisco is broader than a public-cloud IaaS provider. Its portfolio can involve overlapping products, complex licensing and a substantial existing-estate commitment. Open-source Cilium should not automatically be treated as identical to Cisco’s commercial offerings.
3. Dell Technologies
Category: Servers, storage, HCI, private cloud and infrastructure-as-a-service.
Dell is a major supplier of the physical servers and storage underlying enterprise and cloud environments. Its APEX portfolio extends that hardware business into subscription, pay-per-use, private-cloud, multicloud, data-protection and managed infrastructure offerings. Dell describes APEX as covering compute, HCI, storage, cloud platforms and management; its APEX private-cloud overview is the relevant product reference.
Best fit: Regulated or latency-sensitive workloads that must remain under greater on-premises control; enterprises with existing Dell estates; and organizations seeking cloud-like consumption without moving everything to a hyperscaler.
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4. DigitalOcean
Category: Developer-focused public cloud and SMB infrastructure.
DigitalOcean built its reputation around simpler compute, storage, Kubernetes, databases and application-deployment services for startups, developers and small and midsize businesses. Its product catalogue includes Droplets, GPU Droplets, managed Kubernetes, App Platform, managed databases, object storage, block storage, networking, backups and infrastructure tools. See the current product catalogue for the present scope.
Current-positioning update: DigitalOcean now presents itself as an AI-Native Cloud, adding emphasis on GPUs, inference, managed agents, databases and Kubernetes alongside its traditional developer-cloud products.
Best fit: Startups, small engineering teams, web applications, APIs, development environments and smaller Kubernetes deployments where ease of use matters more than maximum service breadth.
Main trade-off: DigitalOcean offers a smaller set of services and may have narrower compliance, global-availability and enterprise-support coverage than the major hyperscalers. Simplicity does not automatically mean lower cost at scale; compare compute, storage, backups, bandwidth, managed services and utilization for the exact workload.
5. Digital Realty
Category: Data centers, colocation, interconnection and hyperscale infrastructure.
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Digital Realty provides the physical facilities and connectivity ecosystems in which cloud and enterprise infrastructure operates. CRN highlighted its hyperscale-campus expansion plans in Europe and Northern Virginia. It is therefore a physical-infrastructure and capacity provider, not a general-purpose public-cloud software platform.
Scale qualification: Digital Realty’s 2024 Form 10-K reported a portfolio of 308 data centers as of December 31, 2024, including facilities held through unconsolidated investments. That accounting definition matters; a portfolio total is not necessarily the same as wholly owned facilities or cloud regions. Digital Realty’s filing provides the dated figure.
Best fit: Enterprises needing colocation, interconnection or large-scale data-center capacity; hyperscale and AI deployments needing power and expansion capacity; and multicloud architectures where carrier and cloud connectivity are strategic.
Main trade-off: Power availability, utility constraints, construction schedules, cross-connect pricing, local regulation and expansion rights can matter more than rack pricing. Colocation customers also retain more operational responsibility than public-cloud customers.
6. Equinix
Category: Colocation, interconnection, digital ecosystems and hyperscale capacity.
Equinix is most valuable when the data center is being used as a connectivity hub rather than merely rented floor space. Enterprises can use its facilities to connect with multiple cloud providers, carriers, SaaS providers and partners.
Scale qualification: Equinix reported in February 2024 that its platform included 260 data centers across 71 metropolitan areas in 33 countries, with additional construction underway. A later filing discussed 268 facilities under a different reporting context. These figures should not be compared casually with hyperscaler regions or availability zones. See Equinix’s February 2024 results and its Form 10-K.
Best fit: Financial services, latency-sensitive applications, hybrid and multicloud designs, and enterprises needing direct connections to many networks and providers.
Main trade-off: Interconnection density is strategically useful but can add recurring cross-connect, port and provider charges. A metro presence does not guarantee that every cloud service or capacity tier is available in that facility.
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7. Flexential
Category: Colocation, private cloud, interconnection, data protection and managed hybrid IT.
CRN highlighted Flexential’s FlexAnywhere platform, which combines colocation, cloud, connectivity, data protection, automation and pay-as-you-go infrastructure. Flexential currently describes the platform as spanning data centers across 19 markets, with services that can be assembled around a hybrid deployment. Its FlexAnywhere description is the appropriate source for current positioning.
Best fit: Midmarket and enterprise customers wanting colocation plus private cloud, disaster recovery, managed services and public-cloud connectivity from one provider.
Main trade-off: Service definitions, network choices and cloud platforms vary by market. Managed services can reduce operational burden but also limit direct control. Buyers should examine SLA remedies, backup scope, exit provisions, public-cloud connectivity charges and the exact division of responsibilities.
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Category: Hyperscale public cloud, analytics, AI infrastructure and global networking.
CRN described Google Cloud as the third-largest cloud provider at the time, citing roughly 11% market share and continued investment in regions and infrastructure. That market-share figure belongs to the 2024 snapshot and should not be presented as a current universal measurement.
Google Cloud’s official locations page currently describes 43 regions and 130 zones, with a global network spanning more than 200 countries and territories. Those are current-page figures, not a backdated description of the January 2024 list. Google’s geography and regions documentation also explains why a region’s existence does not mean every service, quota or feature is available there.
Best fit: Data analytics, AI and machine learning, Kubernetes, cloud-native applications and organizations valuing Google’s network and data-platform capabilities.
Main trade-off: Service availability, quotas, data residency and zone coverage must be checked independently. Google Cloud’s strongest differentiators may be data, AI, networking and Kubernetes rather than simple virtual-machine hosting.
9. Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Category: On-premises cloud, hybrid cloud, servers, storage, networking and edge infrastructure.
HPE’s GreenLake platform applies a cloud-like consumption and management model to infrastructure deployed across enterprise data centers, colocation facilities, public clouds and edge locations. HPE describes GreenLake as an edge-to-cloud platform with a unified experience and pay-per-use services; its platform announcement and developer portal provide additional detail.
Best fit: Enterprises retaining physical control over infrastructure, hybrid-cloud and edge deployments, SAP and data-intensive workloads, and organizations with HPE, Aruba or partner estates.
Main trade-off: GreenLake is not simply HPE’s version of AWS. Consumption billing can still involve reserved capacity, minimum commitments, support terms and deployment constraints. The economic value depends on utilization, facilities, hardware lifecycle and the managed-services scope.
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10. IBM
Category: Enterprise, regulated, bare-metal and Red Hat-enabled hybrid cloud.
CRN emphasized IBM Cloud’s relationship with Red Hat, enterprise security, open-source technology and a global network of regions. IBM’s current cloud materials position IBM Cloud for regulated industries, hybrid cloud, infrastructure-as-a-service, serverless, storage, backup and disaster recovery. IBM currently describes a footprint of more than 60 data centers; that is a current IBM claim rather than a 2024 market-share statistic. See IBM Cloud solutions and IBM’s data-center information.
Best fit: Regulated industries and government, IBM Power and mainframe environments, SAP and Red Hat deployments, bare-metal requirements and enterprises with an existing IBM relationship.
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Main trade-off: IBM’s value proposition is not identical to hyperscaler breadth or developer mindshare. Buyers must distinguish among IBM Cloud VPC, classic infrastructure, bare metal, managed services and Red Hat products; Red Hat is not automatically included in every IBM Cloud deployment.
11. Lenovo
Category: Servers, storage, networking, high-performance computing and infrastructure consumption.
Lenovo supplies physical infrastructure for data centers, private clouds, high-performance computing, AI and edge deployments. Its TruScale Infrastructure Services extend that hardware business into an infrastructure-as-a-service model. Lenovo’s TruScale materials describe consumption-based deployment of Lenovo infrastructure.
Best fit: Enterprises refreshing data-center infrastructure, HPC and AI users, edge deployments, and organizations seeking hardware control with consumption-style purchasing.
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Main trade-off: Hardware-as-a-service still requires facilities, networking, operations and lifecycle planning. “Cloud-like” billing does not remove hardware dependency. Compare deployment time, management plane, support model, capacity commitments, refresh obligations and residual ownership terms.
12. Lumen Technologies
Category: Edge computing, fiber networking, private cloud, bare metal, storage and managed infrastructure.
CRN positioned Lumen around anywhere-edge infrastructure that combines compute, cloud, storage, networking, security, content delivery and orchestration. Lumen’s current portfolio includes Edge Bare Metal, Edge Private Cloud, Network Storage and data-protection services integrated with its network and edge facilities. Its edge computing and storage page and Edge Bare Metal documentation describe the offerings.
Best fit: Low-latency applications, content delivery, real-time analytics, industrial and telecom workloads, and distributed enterprises needing compute colocated with a network footprint.
Main trade-off: Edge availability is location-specific. Latency depends on the user, workload, network path and facility, so Lumen’s marketing claims should be treated as vendor claims rather than independent measurements. Edge infrastructure can also be more difficult to manage across many sites.
13. Microsoft
Category: Hyperscale public cloud, hybrid cloud, enterprise software ecosystem and AI infrastructure.
CRN described Microsoft as the second-largest cloud provider at the time, citing approximately 23% market share and more than 200 Azure data centers across more than 60 regions. These figures require the original date and metric definitions. Current Microsoft infrastructure pages use different terminology and refer to more than 70 announced Azure regions. Azure’s product-availability table is more useful for a real deployment decision than a headline data-center number.
Best fit: Organizations standardized on Microsoft 365, Windows Server, Active Directory, SQL Server or Microsoft developer tools; hybrid-cloud estates; and enterprise AI, analytics and application-modernization workloads.
Main trade-off: Azure pricing and licensing can be complex, particularly alongside Microsoft enterprise agreements. Existing commitments and partner support may reduce friction, but they can also make portability less attractive. Region, geography, availability-zone, service and hardware coverage must be checked separately.
14. Nutanix
Category: Hyperconverged infrastructure, virtualization, private cloud and multicloud management.
Nutanix was included for its HCI platform and AHV hypervisor, which combine compute, storage, virtualization and management. Nutanix describes AHV as a virtualization platform for data centers, edge locations and public clouds, with integrated management, workload mobility and data protection. See Nutanix AHV.
Best fit: Enterprises simplifying virtualization and private-cloud operations, organizations evaluating alternatives to VMware, branch and edge deployments, and VM-heavy workloads needing integrated storage and virtualization.
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Main trade-off: HCI simplifies operations but may constrain independent scaling of compute and storage. Migration costs, application certification, backup integration, retraining, hardware refresh timing and licensing terms determine whether AHV is economically attractive. Nutanix should be evaluated as a workload and operating-model choice, not automatically as the best VMware replacement.
15. Oracle
Category: Public-cloud infrastructure, database cloud, enterprise applications and specialized infrastructure.
CRN described Oracle Cloud Infrastructure as a platform for workload migration and cloud-native development, emphasizing performance, security and price. OCI’s most natural comparison often involves Oracle Database, Oracle Applications, specialized compute and Oracle licensing—not only general-purpose virtual machines.
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Best fit: Oracle Database and Applications customers, high-performance enterprise workloads, specialized compute, Oracle license-integration scenarios and multicloud deployments involving Oracle and Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud connectivity.
Main trade-off: Licensing and contract terms can materially affect total cost. Verify service availability, interconnect options, support, database editions and licensing separately. “Lower price” claims are meaningful only after specifying the workload, region, utilization and included services.
16. Red Hat
Category: Enterprise Kubernetes, application platform, hybrid cloud and container infrastructure.
Red Hat was included primarily because of OpenShift and Red Hat Cloud Services. OpenShift is a Kubernetes-based enterprise application platform that can run on-premises, in public clouds and at the edge. Red Hat’s OpenShift features page and OpenShift comparison with Kubernetes explain the distinction.
Best fit: Enterprises modernizing legacy applications, regulated organizations requiring supported lifecycle management and policy controls, and teams seeking a consistent container platform across multiple environments.
Main trade-off: OpenShift adds enterprise capabilities and support but is more opinionated and potentially more expensive than unmanaged Kubernetes. Kubernetes portability is not absolute: operators, storage, networking, identity, observability, CI/CD and cloud services can still create dependencies.
17. Scale Computing
Category: Hyperconverged infrastructure, edge computing, virtualization, backup and disaster recovery.
Scale Computing’s HC3 platform combines servers, storage, virtualization, backup and disaster recovery in an integrated appliance-oriented system. Scale’s HC3 datasheet describes a solution designed to avoid requiring separate third-party components for the core stack.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesBest fit: Branch offices, retail sites, manufacturing locations, schools and distributed enterprises with small IT teams; local edge workloads that cannot depend entirely on a remote public cloud.
Main trade-off: Integrated simplicity can mean a smaller ecosystem than VMware, Hyper-V or hyperscaler platforms. Buyers should verify hardware support, upgrade procedures, replication topology, backup compatibility and recovery testing. A local HCI cluster is not automatically geographically independent disaster recovery; off-site copies and tested procedures are still necessary.
18. TierPoint
Category: Managed hybrid cloud, colocation, private cloud, multitenant cloud and disaster recovery.
CRN highlighted TierPoint’s cloud-agnostic approach, U.S. data-center footprint, managed cloud services, colocation and disaster recovery capabilities. TierPoint describes 40 data centers across 20 U.S. markets and offers public, private and multitenant cloud services, including connectivity to AWS and Microsoft Azure. See TierPoint’s company overview, data-center page and cloud-services overview.
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Main trade-off: Capabilities can vary by facility and cloud pod, and managed-cloud pricing may be less transparent than hyperscaler metering. TierPoint’s stated 99.99% availability applies to specified multitenant virtualized components; it should not be generalized to every service. Review SLA definitions, support boundaries, underlying virtualization, recovery objectives and data portability.
19. VAST Data
Category: AI data platform, high-performance storage, database and container infrastructure.
VAST Data was one of the clearest examples of CRN’s broad infrastructure definition. CRN described a platform combining storage, database and containerization, and noted VAST’s December 2023 Series E funding. VAST announced a $118 million Series E round and a company-stated $9.1 billion valuation on December 6, 2023; those are company-announced figures, not independent market measurements. See VAST’s funding announcement.
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Best fit: AI training and inference pipelines, high-performance analytics, large-scale file and object workloads and organizations trying to reduce fragmentation among storage, data and compute layers.
Main trade-off: VAST is not a general-purpose public cloud. Performance and economics depend on the network fabric, flash configuration, concurrency, data layout and cluster design. Claims such as fastest, largest or exabyte-scale should be attributed to VAST unless independently tested.
20. VMware by Broadcom
Category: Virtualization, private cloud, hybrid cloud, software-defined networking, storage and cloud management.
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Corporate-status update: Broadcom completed its VMware acquisition in November 2023, before CRN’s article was published. Broadcom said VMware Cloud Foundation would be the core private- and hybrid-cloud platform. See Broadcom’s acquisition announcement.
Commercial update: Broadcom later simplified the VMware portfolio around VMware Cloud Foundation and VMware vSphere Foundation, transitioned affected offerings toward subscription licensing and ended sales of perpetual licenses for those offerings. Broadcom has also described future Cloud Foundation capabilities including private AI, multitenancy, native VPCs and integrated operations. See the portfolio and licensing update and Cloud Foundation update.
Best fit: Existing VMware estates, enterprise VM workloads and private or hybrid clouds requiring mature virtualization and management.
Main trade-off: Licensing, subscription conversion, minimums and bundle changes are central buying issues. Customers should not assume that every legacy product remains available under its former name or commercial model. Alternatives include Nutanix AHV, Hyper-V and Azure Stack, OpenShift Virtualization, public-cloud-native virtualization and other HCI platforms.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to compare the companies without comparing unlike products
1. Start with the deployment model
| Model | Primary advantage | Typical burden or risk |
|---|---|---|
| Public cloud | Fast provisioning, global scale and broad managed services. | Complex pricing, data-transfer charges and provider dependency. |
| Private cloud | Control, customization and data locality. | Responsibility for hardware, operations, capacity and upgrades. |
| Colocation | Physical control with carrier and cloud connectivity. | The customer usually owns more of the technology stack. |
| Managed cloud | Lower operational burden. | Less direct control and potentially higher recurring cost. |
| Edge cloud | Lower latency and local processing. | More sites, fragmented capacity and harder fleet management. |
2. Match the provider to the workload
There is no meaningful answer to which company has the best cloud performance until the workload is defined. Compare a general-purpose web application, enterprise VM estate, Kubernetes platform, database, AI-training pipeline, AI-inference service, backup system, branch-office application, regulated workload and high-throughput storage platform as separate decisions.
- General web applications and APIs: DigitalOcean may suit smaller teams seeking simplicity; AWS, Azure and Google Cloud suit applications needing broader managed services or global scale.
- Enterprise VM estates: VMware by Broadcom, Nutanix, Scale Computing, Dell, HPE and Lenovo address private or hybrid requirements, depending on scale and operating model.
- Kubernetes and application modernization: Red Hat OpenShift, Google Cloud, AWS and Azure are relevant, but the level of managed service and portability differs.
- Databases: Oracle and IBM may be natural fits for existing enterprise estates; hyperscalers offer managed database alternatives; VAST targets data-intensive architectures rather than ordinary database hosting.
- AI: GPU availability is only one requirement. Storage throughput, GPU interconnect, checkpointing, networking, power, cooling, model-serving latency and data governance can determine the outcome.
- Backup and disaster recovery: TierPoint, Flexential, Scale Computing, IBM and cloud providers may all fit, but the recovery point, recovery time, geographic separation and testing process must be specified.
3. Define the failure domains
Hardware redundancy, availability-zone redundancy, regional redundancy, facility redundancy, network-path redundancy, backup and cyber recovery solve different problems. A provider’s SLA does not automatically make an application resilient. The application still needs an architecture that spans the relevant failure domains.
A multi-zone application may survive a zone failure while remaining vulnerable to corrupted data, ransomware, compromised credentials, a bad deployment, a region-wide outage, provider-account suspension or a failed third-party dependency. Ask whether the design includes independent backups, immutable copies, tested restoration and a documented exit or recovery path.
4. Build the full cost model
Do not call one provider cheaper without specifying region, utilization, commitment term and included services. The cost stack may include:
- Compute, memory and accelerators.
- Persistent, object and high-performance storage.
- Backups, snapshots and disaster recovery.
- Managed databases and platform services.
- Network egress, inter-region and inter-availability-zone traffic.
- Colocation, power, cross-connects and facility charges.
- Software licenses, subscriptions and support.
- Reserved capacity, minimum commitments and professional services.
- Hardware refresh, migration, retraining and eventual exit costs.
5. Test portability at every layer
A workload can be technically portable but economically or operationally difficult to move. Evaluate portability separately for the VM image, operating system, container image, Kubernetes manifests, database engine, storage protocol, network architecture, identity system, observability tools, CI/CD pipeline, proprietary APIs, data-transfer costs and team skills.
For example, moving a container image may be easy while moving its managed database, identity policies, observability configuration and data may be expensive. Similarly, a VM can run on another hypervisor while its backup, networking, licensing and application-certification processes cannot move quickly.
6. Check geography and terminology carefully
Region counts are not directly comparable. AWS uses regions and Availability Zones; Azure uses regions, geographies, Availability Zones and individual data centers; Google Cloud uses regions, zones and network edge locations; IBM discusses regions, zones and data-center locations; Oracle distinguishes commercial and government regions; and colocation providers report facilities, metros, campuses and sites.
Even the phrase data center can mean an owned building, leased facility, joint venture, unconsolidated investment, campus, availability zone or colocation site. Digital Realty’s 308-facility figure, for example, includes facilities held through unconsolidated investments. Always compare the unit, date, ownership definition and service availability—not just the headline number.
7. Include channel and partner realities
CRN is a channel-focused publication, so a buyer should also examine reseller and distributor availability, managed-service-provider support, marketplace purchasing, co-selling programs, partner margins, certifications, migration services, escalation paths and regional partner coverage. The original article does not disclose whether these were formal scoring criteria, so channel strength should be treated as contextual rather than as a documented ranking methodology.
What changed after CRN’s January 2024 snapshot?
- Cisco and Isovalent: The acquisition was pending in CRN’s article but completed on April 12, 2024.
- VMware and Broadcom: Broadcom had already completed the acquisition before publication, then changed the product portfolio and moved affected offerings toward subscription licensing. Any current VMware analysis must use Broadcom’s current terminology and contract structure.
- AI infrastructure: AI has made cloud infrastructure more dependent on GPU supply, high-throughput storage, specialized networking, power, cooling, data pipelines and model-serving economics. VAST Data’s inclusion illustrates why the data layer is central, not merely an accessory to GPU compute.
- DigitalOcean: Its current product messaging emphasizes GPUs, inference and managed AI agents alongside its developer-cloud roots.
- Cloud geography: Current provider pages now publish updated region and zone counts, but those numbers should not be inserted into a historical 2024 article without clearly labeling them as later figures.
- Corporate and product status: Executive names, market share, data-center counts, product packaging and ownership can change quickly. A current buyer should verify each item against the provider’s present documentation and contract.
What the list does not prove
CRN does not disclose a numerical score, weighting system, customer-evidence threshold, revenue cutoff, market-share cutoff, nomination process, geographic limitation or independent performance-testing methodology for this category. Inclusion therefore does not prove that a company has the highest market share, best product, lowest price, strongest security, greatest innovation or best channel economics.
It is better understood as a 2024 editorial market map. AWS and Equinix may both be essential to a cloud architecture, but one sells managed public-cloud services and the other sells facilities and interconnection. Dell and Red Hat may work together, but one primarily supplies infrastructure and the other provides a software platform. The relevant question is not which one wins overall; it is which layer the workload needs.
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For investors, partners and long-term buyers
Because this article appears on a personal-finance site, one qualification is especially important: CRN inclusion is not an investment recommendation or a valuation ranking. The companies include public corporations, private companies, operating divisions and brands owned by larger corporations. Their revenue, margins, capital intensity, debt, growth rates and exposure to AI or enterprise spending are not comparable merely because they appear in one editorial category.
For a long-term infrastructure dependency, financial durability is only one consideration. Buyers should also evaluate the vendor’s support organization, product roadmap, partner ecosystem, contract stability, acquisition history, migration tooling, data portability and exit options. A technically excellent platform can still be a poor fit if its commercial model or support coverage does not match the organization’s risk tolerance.
Bottom line
The 20 companies on CRN’s 2024 cloud-infrastructure list are best treated as a cross-section of the cloud stack, not as the 20 best cloud providers. AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and DigitalOcean primarily sell public-cloud services; Dell, HPE and Lenovo supply private infrastructure; Digital Realty, Equinix, Flexential and TierPoint provide facilities and managed connectivity; Nutanix, VMware, Scale Computing and Red Hat provide private-cloud or application platforms; Cisco and Lumen focus on networking and edge; and VAST Data highlights the AI data layer.
Choose among them only after defining the workload, location, latency, control requirements, resilience target, cost model, portability needs, available skills and partner support. That approach makes CRN’s list useful—as a market map—without mistaking it for an objective ranking.
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Sources
- CRN: The 20 Coolest Cloud Infrastructure Companies of the 2024 Cloud 100
- CRN: The 100 Hottest Cloud Computing Companies of 2024
- Forbes: 2024 Cloud 100 methodology
- Cisco: Isovalent acquisition completion
- Broadcom: VMware portfolio and licensing update
- Digital Realty 2024 Form 10-K
- Equinix 2023 results
- Google Cloud locations
- Azure product availability by region
- VAST Data Series E announcement
Frequently Asked Questions
Did CRN rank the 20 cloud infrastructure companies?
No. CRN presented the 20 companies in editorial order and did not publish a numerical ranking, scoring system or disclosed weighting methodology.
Is CRN’s Cloud 100 the same as Forbes’ Cloud 100?
No. CRN’s Cloud 100 and Forbes’ Cloud 100 are separate publications with different purposes. Forbes’ 2024 list ranked private cloud companies using its own methodology.
Are all 20 companies direct cloud-provider competitors?
No. The list combines public-cloud operators, hardware vendors, colocation providers, managed-cloud companies, HCI vendors, networking and edge providers, and cloud-platform software companies.
Which company is best for a cloud workload?
There is no universal winner. Define the workload, deployment location, latency, data-residency needs, failure domains, full cost model, portability requirements and available skills before selecting a vendor.
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Broadcom completed its VMware acquisition in November 2023 and subsequently simplified the portfolio around subscription-based VMware Cloud Foundation and VMware vSphere Foundation offerings. Current licensing should be verified directly with Broadcom or an authorized partner.
The Bottom Line
CRN’s 20-company list is a useful map of cloud infrastructure layers, not a universal ranking. The right choice depends on workload, geography, resilience, control, total cost, portability and partner support.
Quick Recap
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