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​Verizon to shut down its public cloud

Verizon follows HPE in leaving the public cloud behind.
Written by Steven Vaughan-Nichols, Senior Contributing Editor

Once upon a time, and not that long ago, every major technology company had to have its own public cloud offering. Then, Amazon made it clear that it was the 800-pound gorilla of the cloud zoo. Since then Hewlett Packard Enterprise abandoned its Helion public cloud and now Verizon Communications has shut down its public cloud offering.

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Verizon is quietly dropping out of the public cloud business.

While Verizon hasn't made a public announcement, it's been e-mailing its cloud customers that it "will discontinue its Public Cloud Reserved Performance and Marketplace services on April 12, 2016." Verzion Cloud Storage, its online storage and backup service for smartphones and tablets, will continue on as usual.

Verizon is offering its Virtual Private Cloud as an alternative to existing customers. Verizon claims that it will be even better since it offers "the cost-effectiveness of a mufti-tenant public cloud, but includes added levels of configuration and control." Pull the other leg, it has bells on.

Verizon had hit the drum loudly for its public cloud service ever since it launched the service in late 2013. It boasted of its interoperability with Amazon Web Services and Azure. The telecommunications giant also offered international cloud data-centers n Hong Kong and Australia and enterprise-class Oracle database and Fusion middleware offerings.

At the same time, Verizon alienated customers by closing the service for 48-hours with little notice, in January 2015. Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, spoke for many when he said, "Cutting [customers] off is insanely stupid."

Expecting Verizon's few public cloud customers to migrate to its private cloud offering may not be insane, but I expect few clients to follow them.

I also expect this move will hurt all the other second-tier cloud customers. While businesses are realizing that putting their IT on the cloud makes sense, who would trust their cloud to a vendor who might leave them high and dry with only a few months notice? None that I know of.

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