Compuware has released the one-year average results of the top 25 cloud service providers’ global performance rankings.

These rankings allow organizations shopping for a cloud service provider to compare and track the provider's global performance and make informed cloud purchasing decisions before migrating to the cloud.

The ranking results are published on CloudSleuth - sponsored by Compuware – the industry’s only partner-driven cloud performance community. Using Compuware’s Global Provider View application, more than half a million tests were performed over the last 12-months on the average global response times of the world’s top cloud service providers, measuring their global service quality from the end-user’s perspective.

Microsoft Windows Azure (Chicago) tops the list with the best performance, followed by Google App Engine ranking second, GoGrid ranking third, OpSource ranking fourth and Rackspace ranking fifth.

One of the biggest inhibitors to the widespread use of cloud-based applications is user frustration due to poor application performance. Studies have shown that users are becoming increasingly impatient — when page load times approach six seconds, the page abandonment rate approaches 33 percent.

Users experiencing poor performance will leave with a negative impression of a site and are much less likely to return. High abandonment rates directly impact revenue and ROI, so the ability to effectively manage application performance should be a key component of every organization’s cloud monitoring strategy.

“We know that distance, routing and peering play an important role in determining website performance, and it is clear that some providers, such as Microsoft Azure-Chicago, have effectively mastered the combination,” said Steve Tack, Chief Technology Officer of Compuware’s APM business unit.

“Organizations need to understand what levels of performance – i.e. speed and availability – are needed from their cloud-based applications in order to deliver fast, reliable and highly satisfying end-user experiences. Simply using hardware availability SLAs to manage service providers isn’t effective from an end-user perspective. Organizations need to measure the true experiences of their most important end-user segments, including those that are far away, to ensure their cloud service provider can deliver fast and reliable experiences in key regions.”

The Global Provider View uses the Compuware Gomez Performance Network (GPN) to run end-user performance tests – measuring response time and availability – against a standard reference application that is hosted by the cloud service providers listed in the rankings. Gomez has developed a worldwide reputation for the quality and impartialness that clearly defines the methodology used for each of its benchmarks. CloudSleuth subscribes to the same open methodology in its performance visualization practices.