Research Note: Microsoft Azure Maia 200 Inference Accelerator
Microsoft recently announced its second-generation custom AI accelerator, the Maia 200. The new chip is an inference-optimized alternative to third-party GPUs in its Azure infrastructure. The company says the accelerator delivers 30% better performance per dollar than existing Azure hardware while supporting OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 models and Microsoft’s own synthetic data generation workloads.
“Chips” is now the “C” in CES
While the focus of CES 2026 remained on consumer electronics, this year felt different. More expansive, with the semiconductor industry dominating the pre-show with overlapping announcements that reveal diverging strategies for AI workload acceleration, manufacturing sovereignty, and market expansion beyond traditional computing segments.
Research Note: Dynatrace & Google Cloud Collaborate on Observability for Agentic AI
Dynatrace and Google Cloud have expanded their collaboration to provide observability capabilities for agentic AI workloads through two primary integrations: a Gemini CLI extension for developer access to observability data within terminal environments, and an A2A protocol integration with Gemini Enterprise for real-time system monitoring.
Research Note: IBM to Acquire Confluent for Real-Time Event Streaming
IBM has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Confluent for $11 billion in cash ($31 per share), adding enterprise-grade Apache Kafka streaming infrastructure to its hybrid cloud and AI portfolio. Confluent brings 6,500 enterprise customers, proven streaming architecture handling real-time data flows across hybrid environments, and capabilities specifically relevant to emerging agentic AI requirements. The […]
Research Note: AWS S3 AI-Focused Enhancements
AWS announced several enhancements to its S3 storage platform at its recent re:Invent 2025, strengthening its object storage capabilities for adjacent markets, including vector databases, enterprise file systems, and enterprise data lakes.
The announcements include the general availability of S3 Vectors with substantially increased scale limits, new S3 integration with FSx for NetApp ONTAP file systems, cost-optimization features for S3 Tables, and expanded performance monitoring through S3 Storage Lens.
Research Note: AWS Releases Trainium3, Teases Trainium4
At its recent AWS re:Invent event, AWS moved its custom AI accelerator strategy into a new phase with the general availability of EC2 Trn3 UltraServers based on the Trainium3 chip and the public preview of its next-generation Trainium4.
Research Note: VAST Data Expands Cloud Presence with Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Integrations
This month VAST Data announced integrations with both Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, significantly expanding its hyperconverged approach to AI Storage, what its calls its “AI Operating System,” further into major public cloud environments.
Azure customers will gain access to VAST’s complete data services suite running on Azure infrastructure, while Google Cloud users receive the first fully managed VAST AI OS service. Both integrations emphasize eliminating data migration barriers and supporting agentic AI workloads.
Research Note: VAST Data Integrates with Google Cloud & Microsoft Azure
Over the past month, VAST Data has announced partnerships with both Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure to deliver its hyperconverged approach to AI data management (which it calls an “AI Operating System”) as a managed service in public cloud environments.
Call Notes: Q4 Semiconductor Tracker
We’re in a moment that’s less about individual chip performance and more about processing-at-scale. It’s all about sprawling AI racks, optics, interconnect, and custom silicon hungry for scale, speed, and a story.
Research Note: Qualcomm Shows Strong Automotive Momentum @ IAA
Qualcomm announced multiple strategic partnerships aimed at strengthening its position in the automotive technology market at the recent IAA Mobility 2025 event in Germany.
The company announced collaborations with Mercedes-Benz, BMW Group, Google Cloud, HARMAN, and Valeo, spanning digital cockpit systems, automated driving platforms, AI-powered agents, and ADAS solutions.
Research Note: AWS Open Sources MCP Server for Aparch Spark History Server
AWS recently announced the open-source release of Spark History Server MCP, a specialized implementation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This server enables AI agents to directly access and analyze historical execution data from Apache Spark workloads through a standardized, structured interface.
Research Note: AGNTCY Moves to Linux Foundation
AGNTCY delivers foundational infrastructure for the “Internet of Agents”, enabling AI agents from different frameworks, vendors, and deployment environments to discover each other, establish identity, communicate securely, and share runtime observability data.
Research Note: AWS Enhances S3 for Enterprise AI
At its recent AWS Summit in NYC, Amazon Web Services introduced two significant enhancements to its S3 object storage service: S3 Vectors for cost-effective vector data storage and expanded S3 Metadata capabilities for comprehensive object visibility.
Research Brief: Oracle Database@AWS
First announced in December 2024, Oracle and AWS have announced the general availability of Oracle Database@AWS. This strategic partnership positions Oracle Exadata Database Service and Oracle Autonomous Database on dedicated Oracle Cloud Infrastructure within AWS data centers.
Research Note: NetApp Updates Google NetApp Cloud Volumes
At the recent Google Cloud Next event, NetApp and Google Cloud announced enhancements to Google Cloud NetApp Volumes, their fully managed file storage service. The updates focus on increasing scalability, performance, and integration capabilities while reducing complexity for enterprise workloads.
Key improvements include throughput increases to 30GiBps for Premium and Extreme service levels, independent scaling of capacity and performance for the Flex service level, integration with Google Cloud’s Vertex AI Platform, and support for Google Cloud Assured Workloads.
Research Note: Rubrik Expands Annapurna to GCP
At Google Cloud Next 2025, Rubrik announced the expansion of Rubrik Annapurna, its API-driven AI data security and governance platform, to Google Cloud. The announcement sees Rubrik delivering Annapurna as a secure data access layer for AI-driven application development within Google’s Agentspace framework.
Research Note: Anthropic/Databricks Partnership
Anthropic recently announced a new five-year strategic partnership with Databricks to integrate its Claude language models, including the newly released Claude 3.7 Sonnet, into the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform.
The deal, valued at approximately $100 million, will allow Databricks’ enterprise customers to build, deploy, and govern AI agents that operate directly on their proprietary enterprise data. Databricks will offer Claude models natively through its platform across AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
Research Note: Enhanced Google Cloud NetApp Volumes
At the 2025 Google Cloud Next event, NetApp and Google Cloud announced a significant expansion of capabilities for Google Cloud NetApp Volumes, their jointly developed fully managed file storage offering.
The updates provide enhance performance, scalability, and integration with AI and compliance frameworks, targeting large-scale enterprise workloads
Research Note: OpenText Titanium X in CE 25.2
OpenText recently launched Titanium X, part of its Cloud Editions (CE) 25.2 release, its most comprehensive AI-native upgrade across all major product clouds. The release introduces new AI agents, expanded automation capabilities, and integrated cloud security enhancements.
MWC 2025 Playbook: Enterprise IT’s Big AI & 5G Moment
If you blinked, you might have missed the tidal wave of AI, 5G, and cloud announcements at Mobile World Congress 2025. But don’t worry—we’ve got the cheat sheet.
CoreWeave’s Wild Ride Towards IPO
CoreWeave, the AI-focused cloud provider that’s that was early in catching and riding the generative AI boom, is officially gunning for the big leagues. The NVIDIA-backed company has filed for an IPO, looking to capitalize on the insatiable demand for AI compute.
That’s big news for the AI infrastructure world, where CoreWeave has rapidly positioned itself as a major player, taking on the likes of Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
But before you start picturing ringing bells on Wall Street and champagne toasts, there’s more to the story. A lot more.
Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker: March 2025
We’re barely two months into the new year and already the enterprise infrastructure market is heating up.
Here’s what caught our attention over the past month:
Quick Take: CQ4’24 Cloud Earnings
The top three US public cloud providers — Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud — each reported strong but slightly decelerating growth for calendar Q4 2024. The increasing importance of AI workloads, rising capital expenditures, and shifts in customer spending patterns all impacted earnings and guidance for the quarter.
Oracle Database@Google Cloud Enhancements & Expanded Availability
Oracle and Google Cloud announced a significant expansion of Oracle Database@Google Cloud, introducing eight new regions and enhanced capabilities aimed at bolstering database resiliency, optimizing costs, and increasing operational flexibility.
NAND Insider Newsletter: January 21, 2025
Every week NAND Research puts out a newsletter for our industry customers. Below is an excerpt from this week’s.
Research Brief: Oracle Exadata X11M
Oracle recently launched of its latest Exadata platform, the Oracle Exadata X11M. Purpose-built to optimize the performance of Oracle Database, including Oracle Autonomous Database, X11M is a significant leap forward in speed and efficiency compared to previous generation Exadata systems for cloud, multi-cloud, and customer data centers.
Quick Take: AWS re:Invent AI Services & Infrastructure Announcement Wrap-Up
AWS has made close to 50 announcements in the first 2 days of re:Invent. This blog takes a look at the most interesting AI services & infrastructure related ones.
Quick Take: NTT Data Acquires Niveus Solutions
NTT Data, a global IT services leader, announced its acquisition of Niveus Solutions, a cloud engineering firm specializing in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services. The deal brings a strategic addition to NTT Data’s arsenal, enhancing its position in the cloud services ecosystem and advancing its partnership with Google Cloud.
Quick Take: NTT DATA and Google Cloud Expand Strategic Partnership in APAC
NTT DATA recently announced an expanded partnership with Google Cloud to advance the adoption of cloud-based data analytics and generative AI solutions for enterprises in the Asia Pacific region.
The expanded relationship combines NTT DATA’s industry-specific expertise with Google Cloud’s AI and analytics infrastructure to drive sector-specific innovation and efficiency improvements across healthcare, financial services, retail, manufacturing, and public sector verticals.
Research Note: Google Cloud Database & Related GenAI Announcements
Google Cloud recently announced a series of significant upgrades to its database solutions, emphasizing its commitment to supporting enterprise generative AI (gen AI) applications. The new capabilities focus on enhancing developer tools, simplifying database management, and modernizing database infrastructure.
Is Ampere Computing Up for Sale?
Ampere Computing, the leading vendor of server processors based on the Arm architecture, is reportedly exploring a sale, signaling a strategic pivot amidst increasing competition in the market for alternative server processors.
Quick Take: Hitachi/Google Cloud AI Partnership
Hitachi and Google Cloud announced a multi-year partnership to drive enterprise innovation and productivity using generative AI. Hitachi will establish a new business unit that addresses industry challenges with AI technologies like Gemini models and Vertex AI. The partnership also helps expand Hitachi’s Lumada digital business and improve operational efficiencies within the Hitachi Group.
Microsoft Azure Cobalt 100 Arm-based VMs
At its 2024 Microsoft Build Event this week, Microsoft announced the preview of new Azure Virtual Machines powered by Microsoft’s previously announced in-house-design Arm-based processor, the Cobalt 100
Research Note: Google Trillium TPU
The Trillium TPU, Google’s sixth-generation TPU, was announced at Google I/O. It promises unprecedented compute performance, memory capacity, and energy efficiency for generative AI training and inference.
Quick Take: Google Cloud Threat Intelligence
Google announced its new Google Threat Intelligence at the 2024 RSA Conference in San Francisco. The latest offering addresses longstanding issues in threat intelligence by offering a more comprehensive view and easier operationalization of data.
Sovereign Cloud Explained
As enterprises increasingly migrate to the cloud, ensuring that data remains secure, private, and within legal jurisdictional boundaries is paramount. Sovereign cloud solutions have emerged as a pivotal technological innovation designed to address these complex requirements.
Google Cloud Transforming Healthcare With AI
At the recent HIMSS24 event in Orlando, Google Cloud unveiled a set of new solutions designed to enhance interoperability, establish a robust data foundation, and deploy generative AI tools within the healthcare and life sciences sectors, all of which promise to improve patient outcomes.
What Alphabet Earnings Tell Us About Google Cloud
Google Cloud showed significant growth during the quarter, driven by the increasing demand for AI and cloud-based solutions. The business is positioned for continued growth, with a focus on infrastructure leadership, AI-driven innovations, and strong customer adoption.
Quick Take: NetApp’s Updates to Google Cloud Offering & GenAI Toolkit Reference
NetApp is expanding its collaboration with Google Cloud to enhance data utilization for generative AI and hybrid cloud workloads, introducing its Flex service level for Google Cloud NetApp Volumes.
Additionally, NetApp previewed its GenAI toolkit reference architecture that facilitates retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) using Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform.
Quick Take: Google Axion Arm-based Processor
At its Google Cloud Next event, Google announced its new in-house designed Axion processor, a series of custom Arm-based CPUs explicitly designed for data center applications. These processors are part of Google’s continued investment in custom silicon to enhance its cloud computing services’ performance and energy efficiency.
Research Note: Google Cloud AI-Enabled Healthcare Announcements
At the recent HIMSS24 event in Orlando, Google Cloud unveiled a set of new solutions designed to enhance interoperability, establish a robust data foundation, and deploy generative AI tools within the healthcare and life sciences sectors. These solutions promise to improve patient outcomes.
Research Note: Inside Q3 2023 Cloud Earnings
This research note delves into the earnings reported by the top three public cloud providers (Amazon, Microsoft, and Google) over the past week.
What Q3 Earnings Tell Us about Public Cloud
The recent earnings reports from the top three public cloud providers, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, and Google Cloud, shows that the overall public cloud market remains robust and is starting to show signs of increased growth after several quarters of shrinking growth.
Orca Security Expands Relationship with Google Cloud + Adds Generative AI Features
It’s been a busy year for Orca Security. Back in June, the company announced an expanded relationship with Google Cloud. Earlier this month, Orca released a new generative AI-based tool for asset discovery.
Google Cloud Introduces New Vertex AI Capabilities
Google introduced its Vertex AI machine learning (ML) platform in 2021 to allow its customers to manage the entire ML lifecycle, from model development to deployment. Vertex AI combines data engineering, data science, and ML engineering workflows, enabling teams to collaborate using a common toolset and scale your application. Last week at Google’s Google Cloud […]
The 2023 Enterprise Storage Agenda
2023 is going to be an exciting year in enterprise storage. Principal Analyst Steve McDowell walks us through his predictions for the storage industry over the coming calendar year.