Despite Microsoft's phenomenal cloud growth last year, Amazon Web Services ended the year controlling 30 percent of the worldwide cloud market, Synergy estimated.

In other top stories this week, Samsung struggled in its fourth quarter. Also, EMC and Ingram Micro break up their eight-year partnership.

Former SoftLayer CEO Lance Crosby resigns after IBM veteran chosen to lead Big Blue's cloud division.

IBM goes on offensive, adamantly denying reports it will lay off 26 percent of its workforce anytime soon.

For the week ending Jan. 23, CRN looks at IT companies that were unfortunate, unsuccessful or just didn't make good decisions.

Solution providers take note of the huge amount of money flowing into SDN startups, with one saying the Pluribus investment was due to its 'software-defined everything' approach.

Logicalis, a solution provider offering both on-premise and cloud solutions, is making available a new encrypted flash storage option to customers of its public cloud that require high performance and compliance with PCI, HIPAA or other regulations.

Currency fluctuations and the sale of its x86 server and business processing outsourcing businesses combined with other factors to give IBM a mixed fourth quarter.

Details emerge about Big Blue's internal shakeup from channel changes, executive changing of the guard and reorg of business units.

Cisco and HP are the big winners when it comes to sales of hardware and software used to build cloud infrastructures, while IBM's part of the business quickly shrinks, according to a new study.

IBM's Z13 enterprise-class mainframe is designed for mobile economy with an emphasis on security and realtime data analytics.

The number of patents granted to U.S. firms grew to an all-time high in 2014, thanks in large part to tech companies.

Synnex enjoyed massive growth in its fourth quarter, with year-over-year earnings for the distributor soaring 56 percent and annual sales climbing 25 percent.

"Transition" seemed to be the watchword in the software industry with new technologies and new business models, replacing the old and outdated. Here's our picks for the top 10 software stories of 2014.

Perficient said Thursday it is acquiring Zeon Solutions, a 400-person IT consulting firm focused on developing and supporting e-commerce services.

Equinix adds IBM SoftLayer to its burgeoning network of partners, bringing with it direct access to IBM's full portfolio of cloud-based enterprise applications -- a first for Equinix's emerging platform.

IBM gains an important ally -- Rackspace -- within its OpenPower Foundation, which offers an alternative to Intel x86 server microprocessor technology.

The FlashStack CI becomes the latest in a crowded field of converged infrastructure solutions offered in partnership with Cisco UCS and Nexus technology, although one Pure Storage partner says there's plenty of room for all.

IBM, however, says each level of deploying and managing an app on the IBM platform has a partner component that allows partners to generate recurring revenue.

Cisco Systems' acquisition of Chicago-based Neohapsis is part of a broader trend of technology and security vendors adding on a mix of managed and professional security services to meet customer demand.