Microsoft to provide customers with more cloud storage
Summary: Microsoft made a couple of somewhat under-the-radar cloud-storage announcements this past week -- one involving SQL Azure and the other regarding Exchange Online.
Microsoft made a couple of somewhat under-the-radar storage announcements this past week.
At the Mix 10 conference, during one of the sessions, the SQL Azure team announced that existing SQL Azure customers will be given access to the SQL Azure 50 GB preview on a request basis. Microsoft isn't yet sharing availability or pricing details for the 50 GB option, but a spokesperson said they'd share those details "in the coming months" as part of the next SQL Azure service update. (Thanks to OakLeaf Systems' blogger Roger Jennings for the heads up on this one.)
On the cloud-hosted Exchange front, Microsoft also announced this week that it has increased the size of Exchange Online default mailboxes from 5 GB to 25 GB.
"This 5x increase is free of charge and automatically implemented on new users.You can increase existing users to 25GB if you need as your overall allocation for mailboxes has been increased to (25GB x number of users) instead of (5GB x number of users)," explained company officials in a blog posting this week. (I found that posting via Ars Technica.)
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Talkback
Not For Exchange Online for BPOS
BPOS is more than 2x as expensive as Google Apps ($120/seat/year vs $50).
Keep working MS, you may get me yet.
MS lack of security...
get in this quagmire of security nightmares when
Google Apps and services are Linux distro
derived and actually have security than some
after thought...
Geez
you say any Linux Distro is more secure. Security is a separate layer. I
agree with on one thing, we have to think ahead about security not after.
--Ram--
Most Fortune 500 companies run Windows too!
Most operating systems including Windows and Linux come with default security policies. The rest depends on the administrator's skills and the operational frameworks. Linux_Distro_01 should look for Linux vulnerabilities at http://www.cert.org and other security datbaases. The article in question really is talking about Microsoft cloud computing which runs inside state of the art hardened data centers. Microsoft Cloud infrastructure is ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certified with SAS 70 audited for security practices. The information about Microsoft cloud infrastructure security can be found at http://www.globalfoundationservices.com/security/documents/SecuringtheMSCloudMay09.pdf.
Microsoft takes a defense-in-depth approach towards its cloud platform architecture and enforces security at various layers - Physical, Network and Data.
The automation put in place to manage large Microsoft data centers takes human factor out of the equation and anyone experienced at running infrastructure knows that human involvement is one of the weakest links of system security.
In essence, Linux is not inherently more secure than Windows on-premise or Windows Azure platform.
BPOS
MJ
RE: Microsoft to provide customers with more cloud storage