Salesforce and Microsoft named top platform-as-a-service vendors

Salesforce and Microsoft have topped a recent ranking of platform-as-a-service (PaaS) vendors by Forrester Research.

The analyst firm declared Salesforce the leading vendor, followed by Microsoft, among a ranking of seven PaaS vendors in its most recent Research Wave report. Cordys, LongJump and WaveMaker were listed as "strong performers".

The ranking examined PaaS vendors based on criteria including customer base, corporate strategy, the strength of their current platform and services for developers.

While Salesforce and Microsoft currently lead the pack, the report highlighted concerns with both companies. Microsoft was noted as having a shorter history in the PaaS market than Salesforce, and Forrester was puzzled by Salesforce's recent decision to acquire Ruby development specialist Heroku.

Overall, the analysts found that the PaaS market still has plenty of room for growth.

"Most PaaS vendors are small, and even big vendors such as Google and Microsoft have incomplete, new products," said Forrester analysts John R Rymer and Stefan Ried.

"Developers vote with their dollars and energy, and our data and conversations with clients suggest they are not yet voting for PaaS products in significant numbers."

The report comes as Salesforce is predicting a record financial year. The company said in its quarterly report that revenues jumped 34 per cent on the year, and that annual revenues will climb as high as $2.17bn (£1.34bn).