Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. have fought each other for dominance in mobile gadgets and Web searches. The latest front in their war is invisible: computing horsepower.
歌(Google Inc.)、微软(Microsoft Corp.)和亚马逊公司(Amazon.com Inc.)为争夺在移动通讯产品和网络搜索领域的主导地位而彼此争斗,它们的最新战线出现在计算能力(computing horsepower)这一看不见摸不着的领域。
Microsoft and Google are
increasinglytrying to unseat Amazon in the lucrative business of renting out computing
storage and number-crunching to thousands of companies.
微软和谷歌正在不断加大力度以图推翻亚马逊公司在一个有利可图业务领域的主导地位,这一业务就是向成千上万的公司出租计算机存储和数据计算能力。
Amazon dominates the market through its Amazon Web Services business, or AWS, which helps companies handle digital tasks, such as streaming Netflix Inc. movies over the Internet, and analyzing auto-accident records at insurance consultant Validus.
亚马逊公司通过其亚马逊网络服务(Amazon Web Services, AWS)主导着这一市场,这项业务负责帮助企业处理涉及大量数字计算的工作,如将互联网流媒体内容点播服务提供商Netflix Inc.的电影以流媒体格式在网上播放,替保险咨询公司Validus分析汽车事故记录。
Now Amazon is
trying to sell AWS to many of the big companies that are Microsoft's bread-and-butter, while Microsoft and Google are seeking to skim off the startups that have been AWS's best customers.
现在,亚马逊公司试图让许多作为微软公司基本客户的大企业成为AWS的客户,而微软和谷歌正寻求将一直是AWS最佳客户的那些初创公司发展为自己的客户。
Along the way, the trio are poaching each other's employees, slashing prices, talking trash and upending long-held strategies to control one of the fastest-growing areas of technology, known as 'cloud services.'
在这一过程中,这三家公司彼此互挖人才,进行削价竞争,相互诋毁,并不惜颠覆自己长久以来的战略以图控制"云服务"领域。"云服务"是发展最快的科技领域之一。
'The great tech wars are expanding into nearly every area of business, and cloud services are the latest battlefield,' said Bill Coughran,
formerly Google's
senior vice president of
engineering and now a
venturecapitalist at Sequoia Capital. 'Amazon has captured the hearts and minds of developers, but Google and Microsoft are gaining ground.'
在风险投资公司红杉资本(Sequoia Capital)担任风险投资家的库格伦(Bill Coughran)说,科技大战正扩展到几乎每一个商业领域,云服务是最新的战场。他说,亚马逊公司已经俘获了软件开发商的心,而谷歌和微软也在取得进展。库格伦曾担任谷歌公司负责产品工程的高级副总裁。
Firebase, a San Francisco software startup, has benefited from the battle. When Firebase got off the ground, Amazon offered it a $12,000 service credit for AWS. Another competitor, Rackspace Hosting Inc., offered $36,000 in free service. Firebase also got offers from Microsoft and Amazon through one of its investors, New Enterprise Associates, if it and other NEA-backed companies chose their cloud services.
旧金山的软件开发初创企业Firebase已经从亚马逊与其对手的相互竞争中获得了好处。当初Firebase刚刚创办时,亚马逊公司向它提供了12,000美元的信用额度以供其使用AWS的服务。而亚马逊的另一家竞争对手Rackspace Hosting Inc.则承诺向Firebase提供价值36,000美元的免费服务。Firebase还通过其投资者之一恩颐投资(New Enterprise Associates)获得了微软和亚马逊的服务承诺,如果它和恩颐投资支持的其他公司选择使用微软和亚马逊提供的云服务,后者将向这些公司提供使用其服务的信用额度。
James Tamplin, Firebase's co-founder, said his company opted for AWS 'largely because Amazon has a more
advanced infrastructure.'
Firebase的创始人之一坦普林(James Tamplin)说,他的公司之所以选择使用AWS的服务,很大程度上是因为亚马逊公司有更先进的基础设施。
Firebase now pays Amazon
monthly so when people surf to Firebase's Web services, it is AWS computers