Though Amazon Inc. has maintained an iron grip on the infrastructure-as-a-service market for nearly a decade now, its competitors are still trying as hard as ever to lure users away. This rivalry returned to the fore last week after Microsoft Corp. added a new series of GPU-powered instances to Azure that promise to help speed up graphically-intensive workloads.

The lineup is made up of two sub-categories: So-called NC virtual machines based on Nvidia Corp.’s VDI-optimized M80 GPUs, and NV instances that are equipped with its K80 cards to support more advanced applications like scientific simulations. The chips are accessible through a speedy discreet device assignment interface (DSA) that Microsoft says can provide better performance than what Amazon and other rivals offer. But while the company may be inching ahead in some areas, it’s facing rapidly increased competition in others. Its lucrative cloud-based productivity business is under especially much pressure.

Last week saw Dropbox Inc., a Microsoft partner, launch its long-awaited Word alternative into public beta together with a pair of complementary mobile clients. The service attempts to set itself apart from Redmond’s ubiquitous word processor by providing various unique collaboration functions, most importantly the ability to ping someone by including their username in a document. It’s the same competitive strategy that has been adopted by Quip Inc., a fast-growing document editing startup that was acquired by Salesforce.com Inc. against the backdrop of Dropbox’s announcement for $582 million.

Both companies maintain strategic partnerships with Microsoft while also actively targeting users of its cloud services. The acquisition of Quip will enable Salesforce.com to open a new front against the search giant and bolster its collaboration chops in the process. Bret Taylor, the co-founder and CEO of the startup, said on Twitter that the word processor will continue to be available in its current standalone form after the deal completes.

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