Cloud benchmarks show smaller providers coming out ahead — but they’re still benchmarks

Grazed from GigaOM.  Author: Jordan Novet.

While benchmarks on cloud-computing performance come with their share of caveats, new data from Compuware show smaller cloud service providers such as Layered Tech coming out ahead of the big dogs.  Big-name cloud service providers capture the tech-press headlines day after day, but lesser-known players might deserve more recognition, at least based on new benchmarks out from Compuware.

The company found that, although Rackspace and Windows Azure were consistently fast in taking an application request, processing it and delivering it back, a handful of competitors are actually faster and more consistently so, while other providers are available more often. The figures from Compuware represent the average response times over a year of monitoring performance on 38 cloud facilities, as part of Compuware’s normal Global Provider View cloud-benchmarking application…

Comparing average response time, consistency (as a standard deviation of response time) and availability, Compuware has found that three of the top five data centers are run by Layered Tech (in Illinois, Missouri and Texas). There’s also Qube with its New York data center and Connectria’s Missouri data center. Altogether, Connectria came out looking the best. It ranked fourth for speed, eighth in consistency and second in availability…

Read more from the source @ http://gigaom.com/2013/04/29/cloud-benchmarks-show-smaller-providers-coming-out-ahead-but-theyre-still-benchmarks/