2026 Trends in Applied Infrastructure & DevOps
In 2026, AI will mature into agentic operations and human-supervised development, driven by hybrid infrastructure, custom silicon and open governance for industrial-grade enterprise reliability.
Biography
Ellie Brown is a research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence working across the 451 Research Cloud Transformation channel and the technology, media and telecommunications data team. She manages the Cloud Price Index, the division’s benchmark tracking product for pricing for a selection of cloud infrastructure and managed services around the world. Ellie compiles and maintains a dataset collected from millions of hyperscaler SKUs and looks at trends in pricing, service additions and regional expansion plans for the major public cloud providers. Ellie’s additional coverage areas include the developing quantum computing and quantum network sectors, with research spanning quantum-suited verticals, new quantum hardware and software developments and the intersection of quantum technology, with key themes including AI and sustainability. Before joining S&P Global Market Intelligence in 2022, Ellie’s work experience included product strategy/planning and go-to-market activities for SaaS and AI startups, as well as scientific research in astronomy and work as a secondary teacher. Ellie holds a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in physics from the University of Utah and is pursuing a master’s degree in environmental policy and management with a concentration in sustainable energy from the University of Denver.
Geographic Coverage
Global
Recent Research from Ellie Brown
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Information security, cloud and AI vendors stand out as critical to businesses – Highlights from VotE: Digital Pulse
Overall, businesses expect technology vendors of all kinds to become increasingly important in the coming year. However, information security vendors, cloud infrastructure suppliers and AI tools vendors are particularly noteworthy and considered critical to how businesses operate.
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Survey Data Hub – Voice of the Enterprise: Digital Pulse, Vendor Evaluations 2025
Voice of the Enterprise: Digital Pulse provides a high-level view of the technology decisions, products, topics and attitudes affecting organizations.
The Digital Pulse, Vendor Evaluations 2025 survey examines evolving enterprise relationships with their technology vendors and suppliers, as well as the changing importance and requirements for these vendors.
This online survey of approximately 340 respondents was conducted from Sept. 4 through Oct. 24, 2025. The margin of error for top-line statistics is +/- 4 points at the 95% confidence level.
Reports
Overall, businesses expect technology vendors of all kinds to become increasingly important in the coming year. However, information security vendors, cloud infrastructure suppliers and AI tools vendors are particularly noteworthy and considered critical to how businesses operate.
Data files
Crosstabs (Excel tables | Download link in sidebar to the right) – Crosstabs of complete worldwide and regional survey results datasets, including key metrics and segmentation.
Charts and Figures (PowerPoint charts | Navigate charts in sidebar to the left | Download link in sidebar to the right) – PowerPoint slide deck of complete top-line survey results in charts and figures.
Data Insights Deck (PowerPoint charts | Coming soon) – PowerPoint slide deck of advanced charts supporting deeper analysis and insight.
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Data Insight: A slew of services to start Q4 – Hyperscale SKU changes for October 2025
451 Research's Cloud Price Index periodically tracks SKU changes at AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. The three made nearly 209,000 changes to their service portfolios in October, with the vast majority (nearly 200,000) of those changes categorized as new SKU additions.
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Take 5: Outsourcers and clients target different definitions of value
When an organization simply lacks time or talent for a project, outsourcing is an option. However, outsourcers generally believe they can add the most value when consulted about high-level areas like IT architecture, technology strategy and vendor/platform road maps. Take five minutes to read five Voice of the Customer qualitative interview comments and what they mean.
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Service providers look to vendors for enterprise AI support – Highlights from Voice of the Service Provider
Service providers see significant opportunities to support their customers' key IT initiatives, and the capabilities to capture those opportunities — namely, support for strategic planning, knowledge transfer and the curation of tools — are currently in development for many. Customer AI projects are critical areas of focus, and service providers view their own technology vendors as key sources of backing and support.
More research from Ellie Brown
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