Pull-down bar options described below
Pull-down bar options described below
Liftr Cloud Regions Map Pull-Down Key
Bare Metal Servers
Bare metal servers are specific instance sizes that reserve all of a physical server (the server “hardware”). Each instance type is based on a physical server specification–a specific model of processor that has a known number of cores with a specific total system memory that determines the type’s memory per core profile. Bare metal servers reserve the maximum specifications available for a type and are often offered without an operating system.
A large solid dot indicates that bare metal servers are available in that region. A small empty circle indicates that no bare metal servers at all are present in that region.
Storage-Optimized Instance Types
Storage-optimized instance types are specifically configured to provide compute services with storage capacity. GCP does not offer an explicit type family in this class, but storage-optimized type families are offered by AWS (H1, I3, D2, I3en types), Azure (L and Ls v2 types) and Alibaba Cloud (i1, i2, i2g types).
A large solid dot indicates that storage-optimized instance types are available in that region. A small empty circle indicates that none are present in that region.
Functions-as-a-Service
Functions-as-a-Service (also referred to as “serverless”) is a server packaged as a logic execution engine, so the IaaS reservation is hidden by the PaaS service. All tracked CSPs offer functions as a service: Alibaba Function Compute, Amazon Lambda, Google Cloud Functions and Microsoft Functions / Microsoft Event Grid.
A large solid dot indicates that serverless functions are available in that region. A small empty circle indicates that no serverless functions are present in that region.
IoT Gateways
IoT Gateways are PaaS services designed to support bidirectional data transfers at scale, for streaming data from IoT sensors to a cloud and for smaller transactional management control and image update communications between IoT devices and a cloud. All tracked CSPs offer IoT Gateways: Alibaba IoT Platform, Amazon IoT Core, Google Cloud IoT Core and Microsoft IoT Hub.
A large solid dot indicates that IoT gateway services are available in that region. A small empty circle indicates that no IoT gateway services are present in that region.
Liftr Cloud Regions Map Pull-Down Key
CSP Rolling 6-Month CMGR
CMGR means “compound monthly growth rate.” This CMGR metric shows the growth of each region of the CSPs we track. This measure of size is a factor of the number of instance type families offered in the region and the number of sizes offered in each type family (specific core counts and memory configurations). Because we scan these CSPs monthly, we are able to calculate changes in this metric from month-to-month.
Regions with larger CMRG are shown with larger icons. Positive and zero CMGR values are shown by a solid circle, negative CMGR values are shown by a solid square. Every active CSP region has a CMGR value.
Accelerator Classes
We divide compute accelerators into four classes based on the architecture they use to accelerate math-intensive code. We show where these architectures are available for each CSP and region. See below for accelerator class definitions.
Circle size denotes the number of accelerator classes available in a region. A small empty circle indicates that no accelerators are present in that region.
Accelerator Brands
We record many details about tracked CSPs’ IaaS accelerator options. We show accelerator chip vendor brands and general model numbers of the chips offered by tracked CSPs in each region. See below for a complete list of accelerator manufacturers and brands currently deployed by tracked CSPs.
Circle size denotes the number of accelerator brands available in a region. A small empty circle indicates that no accelerators are present in that region.
Processor Brands
We record many details about tracked CSP’s IaaS processor options. We show processor chip vendor brands and the generations of those brands offered in each region. See below for a complete list of processor brands currently deployed by tracked CSPs and a list of which processor generation code names we compare to each other.
More processor brands available in a region are shown with larger circles.
Bare Metal Servers
Bare metal servers are specific instance sizes that reserve all of a physical server (the server “hardware”). Each instance type is based on a physical server specification–a specific model of processor that has a known number of cores with a specific total system memory that determines the type’s memory per core profile. Bare metal servers reserve the maximum specifications available for a type and are often offered without an operating system.
A large solid dot indicates that bare metal servers are available in that region. A small empty circle indicates that no bare metal servers at all are present in that region.
Storage-Optimized Instance Types
Storage-optimized instance types are specifically configured to provide compute services with storage capacity. GCP does not offer an explicit type family in this class, but storage-optimized type families are offered by AWS (H1, I3, D2, I3en types), Azure (L and Ls v2 types) and Alibaba Cloud (i1, i2, i2g types).
A large solid dot indicates that storage-optimized instance types are available in that region. A small empty circle indicates that none are present in that region.
Functions-as-a-Service
Functions-as-a-Service (also referred to as “serverless”) is a server packaged as a logic execution engine, so the IaaS reservation is hidden by the PaaS service. All tracked CSPs offer functions as a service: Alibaba Function Compute, Amazon Lambda, Google Cloud Functions and Microsoft Functions / Microsoft Event Grid.
A large solid dot indicates that serverless functions are available in that region. A small empty circle indicates that no serverless functions are present in that region.
IoT Gateways
IoT Gateways are PaaS services designed to support bidirectional data transfers at scale, for streaming data from IoT sensors to a cloud and for smaller transactional management control and image update communications between IoT devices and a cloud. All tracked CSPs offer IoT Gateways: Alibaba IoT Platform, Amazon IoT Core, Google Cloud IoT Core and Microsoft IoT Hub.
A large solid dot indicates that IoT gateway services are available in that region. A small empty circle indicates that no IoT gateway services are present in that region.
Accelerator Class Hardware
- GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is used to accelerate graphics and highly parallel matrix math calculations similar to those used in graphics. NVIDIA is the primary GPU supplier to clouds, with AMD also in the market.
- FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) can be programmed at a hardware level to optimize performance for specific algorithms that are not well suited to GPUs or general-purpose processors. Intel and Xilinx are the primary FPGA suppliers to clouds.
- CNA (Custom Neural Accelerator) is designed for optimal acceleration of specific classes of DL (Deep Learning) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) algorithms. Clouds are mostly designing their own CNAs, such as AWS’s Inferentia chip.
- MOE (Math Offload Engine) is designed to accelerate broad classes of math calculations, much like a GPU but with the graphics bits stripped out. Google was one of the first to do this with its Cloud TPU chips.
Today, GPUs are the most commonly deployed hardware accelerator in cloud data centers.
Accelerator Brands, as of Feb 2020:
- AMD FirePro S7150
- AMD MI25
- AWS Elastic Inference
- AWS Elastic Graphics
- AWS Inferentia
- Google Cloud TPU v2
- Google Cloud TPU v3
- Intel Arria 10
- NVIDIA Tesla K80
- NVIDIA Tesla M40
- NVIDIA Tesla M60
- NVIDIA Tesla P4
- NVIDIA Tesla P40
- NVIDIA Tesla P100
- NVIDIA Tesla T4
- NVIDIA Tesla V100
- Xilinx Virtex UltraScale+
Processor Brands and Generations, as of Feb 2020:
Processor Generations:

Processor Brands:
AMD EPYC
AMD Opteron
AWS Graviton
Intel Xeon
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