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Microsoft to cut its low-end Windows Azure cloud pricing

By | August 16, 2011, 6:00am PDT

Summary: Starting October 1, Microsoft is making adjustments to its Windows Azure pricing and terminology in the hopes of attracting developers building and running smaller apps on its cloud platform.

Microsoft is continuing to make adjustments to its pricing for Windows Azure cloud-computing platform in an attempt to win over smaller developers.

Starting October 1, Microsoft is cutting the price of “extra-small compute” by 20 percent, according to an August 15 post on the Windows Azure Team Blog. Microsoft is doing away with the extra-small designation and using “small-compute hours” for all its cloud offerings (while providing those with extra-small hours with an appropriate small-compute-hour equivalent). The company also is allowing users more flexibility in how they allocate their compute hours.

Here’s Microsoft’s chart detailing the changes:


(click on the chart above to enlarge)

Microsoft introduced the “extra small instance” pricing option for Azure developers in the fall of 2010. The “Extra Small Instance” made its debut at $0.05 per compute hour, and was targeted at those creating and running smaller apps on Azure.

Microsoft introduced small instance pricing on the heels of Amazon’s unveiling of a new, free entry-level tier for new Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers. Developers had been after Microsoft for a while to make Azure more attractive to those doing pilots and smaller projects.

While on the topic of the ongoing AWS-Azure rivalry, it’s worth noting that Amazon announced earlier this month several new enterprise features and additions to its cloud platform. Amazon extended availability of its Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) service, while adding support for Windows Server 2008 R2. Amazon also announced AWS Direct Connect, which allows business users tocreate a connection to an AWS Region via dedicated 1 GB and 10 GB network circuits “in order to enhance privacy and reduce network latency,” according to Amazon.

Microsoft has a similarly named offering — Windows Azure Connect (codenamed Project Sydney) — which the Softies announced at the Professional Developers Conference last fall and have made available to beta testers. When I asked Microsoft officials how Azure Connect compared to Amazon’s Direct Connect, I received the following response via a spokesperson:

“Windows Azure Connect provides customers an easy way to set up secure network connectivity to their datacenter and Windows Azure. For example, customers can deploy a Windows Azure application that connects to their SQL Server database or domain join Windows Azure services to their Active Directory Environment.

“Windows Azure Connect and AppFabric Service Bus are complementary technologies. Windows Azure Connect provides secure network connectivity – in essence cloud-hosted virtual machines and local computers can communicate as if they were on the same network. The AppFabric Service Bus provides application-level federation and connectivity. In many scenarios, customer may need both technologies.”

In short, Microsoft is continuing to emphasize its ability to connect and secure both private and public clouds with its cloud offerings, while Amazon is focusing on the public cloud (even with offerings that have the word “private” in their names).

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Topics

Network, Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows Azure, Pricing Strategy, Windows Azure Connect, AppFabric Service Bus, Microsoft Windows, Pricing, Operating Systems, Marketing Research, Software, Marketing, Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Disclosure

Mary-Jo Foley

Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 25 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

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RE: Microsoft to cut its low-end Windows Azure cloud pricing
bitcrazed 16th Aug
This is REALLY great news! After receiving my monthly billing statement for the costs we've incurred while building out a couple of Azure based services, I was in the middle of drafting an email to Microsoft expressing my belief that they were not giving us enough compute hours to efficiently develop sites and services within our current plan.

Looks like someone was reading my mind wink Must get that damn chip removed :P
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RE: Microsoft to cut its low-end Windows Azure cloud pricing
krishnansriram 17th Aug
Wonderful. May be they should make it free for very small businesses. Charge should apply as the business grows, this way things can remain competitive. This may also encourage MS adoption more and in turn will benefit other MS verticals.
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RE: Microsoft to cut its low-end Windows Azure cloud pricing
shayyazuredev 3rd Sep
Extra small instances get the job done for many apps.
Great post.
Check out a very nice write-up on Windows Azure Pricing in the following link:
http://communities.quest.com/community/cloud_tools/blog/2011/09/01/introduction-to-pricing-in-windows-azure
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