Hybrid Cloud & Infrastructure

The Convergence of Storage and Data: Evolving Infrastructure for Cloud and AI

Data is the lifeblood of a modern business, and the underlying storage technology plays a vital role in delivering it. The storage industry is continually adding more data and application-aware capabilities and services to what was historically a box of storage devices with a network attached. The requirements for cloud applications, and now for AI applications, have blurred the line between storage and data, with more software-defined capabilities bringing innovations as fast as new hardware platforms and capabilities.  

When working on strategy, product, marketing, and sales initiatives, consider intelligence from our expert analysts – planned deliverables for 2026 include:

  • Analyst Insight Report – an analyst report on critical issues facing partner leaders  
  • Futurum Signal Report Access – any Signal Report published in the relevant practice area

Market Taxonomy

The Hybrid Cloud & Infrastructure Market, by Submarket

The submarkets Futurum's Market Data model sizes and forecasts across this practice.

  • Hybrid Compute, Storage & Network Infrastructure

    Hybrid-architected hardware and as-a-service infrastructure consumed across venues.

  • Cloud Management Platforms & Operations

    Software to provision, govern, observe, and secure infrastructure across venues.

  • Hybrid Orchestration & Workload Mobility

    Workload portability, modernization, and cross-venue orchestration and migration.

  • Hybrid Data Services & Protection

    Data lifecycle, databases, backup, and disaster recovery operating across venues.

  • Edge & Colocation Infrastructure

    Distributed-venue infrastructure, colocation, interconnect, and edge in hybrid topologies.

Also decomposed by industry vertical and region.

The Latest Insights on Hybrid Cloud & Infrastructure

Can the IBMArm Dual Architecture Processor Align the Mainframe With the Agentic CPU Market

Can the IBM/Arm Dual Architecture Processor Align the Mainframe With the Agentic CPU Market?

Brendan Burke, Research Director at Futurum, shares insights on IBM’s native Arm mainframe design and the execution tests that remain [...]
Oracle Q1 FY 2027 AI Infrastructure Contracts Convert Into Growth

Oracle Q1 FY 2027: AI Infrastructure Contracts Convert Into Growth

Futurum Research analyzes Oracle’s Q1 FY 2027 earnings, including OCI growth, AI contract conversion, data center spending, and agentic enterprise [...]
Nextworld's Ambient AI Bet: Platform Play or Niche Contender?

Nextworld’s Ambient AI Bet: Platform Play or Niche Contender?

Nextworld's Platform 25.2 introduces Ambient AI agents with no-code workflows, positioning the vendor as a simpler alternative to assembling disparate [...]
Dell Technologies Q2 FY 2027 AI Orders Fuel Server and Storage Growth

Dell Technologies Q2 FY 2027: AI Orders Fuel Server and Storage Growth

Futurum Research analyzes Dell Technologies’ Q2 FY 2027 earnings, focusing on AI server backlog, infrastructure demand, storage pull-through, and FY [...]
Why HPE Gave Oracle Equity Instead of a Price Cut on AI Gear

Why HPE Gave Oracle Equity Instead of a Price Cut on AI Gear

Tom Hollingsworth at Futurum examines why HPE issued Oracle a nominal-cost equity warrant alongside an expanded Juniper networking deal for [...]
Beyond Raw Compute Equinix’s Strategic Bet on AI Infrastructure

Beyond Raw Compute: Equinix’s Strategic Bet on AI Infrastructure

Nick Patience, VP & AI Platforms Practice Lead at The Futurum Group, examines Equinix Fabric One and Inference Exchange, and [...]

The Latest NEWS

Enterprises Reject One-Size-Fits-All GenAI Infrastructure
December 19, 2025

Enterprises Reject One-Size-Fits-All GenAI Infrastructure

Nick Patience, VP & AI Platforms Practice Lead at Futurum, shares his insights on new Futurum Research, which reveals a GenAI split between cloud (22.4%) and hybrid (20.8%), while GPU...
Decision Maker Survey: Sharp Increase in AI Compute Services Spending for 2025
April 25, 2025

Decision Maker Survey: Sharp Increase in AI Compute Services Spending for 2025

Richard Gordon, VP & Practice Lead for Semiconductors at The Futurum Group, analyses the 1H 2025 AI Chipsets and Accelerators for Data Centers decision maker survey, which highlights trends and...

Book a Demo

Welcome

The vision behind everything in Futurum’s Custom Research practice is this: research should show you what is happening, what comes next, and what to do about it. It should be personal to each audience, easy for people to grasp, and structured so LLMs can reason over it accurately. And it should be fast and turnkey; you want answers now, not another project to carry for quarters.

Whether you are defining business, channel, or go-to-market strategy; evaluating vendors or justifying ROI; or commissioning research to fill an emerging market need, we have your back, with a program that answers your questions with the objectivity and credibility to drive real decisions.

To do it, we bring unmatched data to bear: Futurum research, surveys, and market projections; validated market feeds; ETR’s 15 years of insight from 10,000 technology decision-makers; G2’s buyer and user data; and what our analysts hear every day. Add leading primary collection, from AI-moderated voice interviews to surveys and analyst-led interviews, all turnkey, and every project comes out credible, nuanced, and actionable.

And we don’t just drop the results in your lap. For internal work, we provide analyst-led sessions, interactive dashboards, and a range of formats. For market-facing work, Futurum delivers turnkey activation and amplification that actually gets seen, by people and by LLMs, through our media and share of voice. This is research that moves decisions and markets.

We will meet you wherever you are, from a fast-turn brief to a multi-year program, and shape the work to your goals, timeline, and budget. The right program for your moment.

If any of this is useful, I would love to talk.

Benjamin Brown, VP Custom Research, Futurum Research

Benjamin Brown

VP, Custom Research · The Futurum Group

Newsletter Sign-up Form

Get important insights straight to your inbox, receive first looks at eBooks, exclusive event invitations, custom content, and more. We promise not to spam you or sell your name to anyone. You can always unsubscribe at any time.

All fields are required






Thank you, we received your request, a member of our team will be in contact with you.