ISG Launches Major Cloud Provider Study Examining AI-Ready Infrastructure

Upcoming ISG Provider Lens™ reports will evaluate providers of hosted and managed cloud platforms and AI-ready infrastructure consulting services

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm, has launched a research study examining service providers supporting commercial enterprises and U.S. public sector organizations looking to deploy their workloads across a combination of private and public cloud environments.

The study results will be published in a series of comprehensive ISG Provider Lens™ reports, titled Private/Hybrid Cloud – Data Center Services. Eight geographically focused reports will cover providers offering managed services, managed hosting and colocation services and AI-ready infrastructure consulting services to commercial enterprises; a ninth report will cover providers supporting U.S. public sector entities. The reports are scheduled to be released in June 2025.

Buyers at enterprises and public agencies will be able to use information from the reports to evaluate their current vendor relationships, potential new engagements and available offerings, while ISG advisors use the information to recommend providers to the firm’s buy-side clients.

Private and hybrid cloud environments give businesses the flexibility they need to accommodate workloads with different security, data location, regulatory and asset management requirements. A hybrid cloud setup provides these organizations with more control and customization, while simultaneously leveraging the resources of public cloud platforms.

“Private clouds are increasingly popular as they enable enterprises to exercise more control while enhancing scalability, flexibility and cost effectiveness in data management and storage,” said Heiko Henkes, managing director and principal analyst, ISG Research. “This allows companies to maintain sovereignty over AI model training and operations while addressing trends like AR/VR, IoT and edge computing, which require data processing and storage closer to consumers.”

ISG has distributed surveys to more than 280 private and hybrid cloud service providers for the eight enterprise reports and more than 40 providers for the U.S. public sector report. Working in collaboration with ISG’s global advisors, the research team will produce four quadrants representing the private and hybrid cloud services the typical organization buys based on ISG’s experience working with its clients. Three of the quadrants apply to both commercial and public sector organizations:

Managed Services, evaluating providers of services, including managing physical and virtual servers, middleware, storage, databases, and networking components across environments, including client data centers, multicloud settings, provider facilities and third-party colocation centers. Providers typically offer transition services and guide clients on optimizing their existing IT landscapes.

Managed Hosting, assessing providers of standalone enterprise-grade hosting solutions using their own or third-party infrastructure. Providers take responsibility for regularly maintaining and managing components, including servers, storage, operating systems and connectivity to external networks.

Colocation Services, covering providers offering standardized data center operations through rental space for services and computing hardware. Providers offer building, cooling, power, and security services while clients manage their own hardware.

A fourth quadrant will appear only in the commercial enterprise reports:

AI-Ready Infrastructure Consulting, evaluating providers offering consulting and transformation services for businesses to build comprehensive hybrid infrastructures optimized for continuous development and deployment of AI workloads. Providers help clients select suitable hardware, cloud and networking infrastructure to maximize both AI impact and ROI.

Geographically focused reports from the enterprise study will cover the private/hybrid cloud market and examine products and services available in Brazil, France, Germany, the Nordics, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. ISG analysts Shashank Rajmane (U.S. and U.S. Public Sector), Meenakshi Srivastava (U.K., Nordics and the Netherlands), Pedro L. Bicudo Maschio (Brazil and France), and Wolfgang Heinhaus and Ulrich Meister (Germany and Switzerland) will serve as authors of the reports.

A list of identified providers and vendors and further details on the study are available in this digital brochure for the commercial enterprise reports and in this digital brochure for the U.S. public sector report. Companies not listed as private and hybrid cloud service providers can contact ISG and ask to be included in the study.

All 2025 ISG Provider Lens™ evaluations feature expanded customer experience (CX) data that measures actual enterprise experience with specific provider services and solutions, based on ISG’s continuous CX research. Enterprise customers wishing to share their experience about a specific provider or vendor are invited to complete this online survey. Participants will receive a copy of this report in return for their feedback.

About ISG Provider Lens™ Research

The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the U.K., France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, the Nordics, Australia and Singapore/Malaysia, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 900 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including AI, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,600 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.