Microsoft is making important moves in the private cloud space, but is looking at the high-end enterprise segment of the market to get things rolling.
Carl Brooks, writing in SearchCloudComputing, notes that Microsoft has developed an appliance, called the Windows Azure Platform Appliance, that supports its cloud environment. However, unlike most Microsoft tools, is not targeted at Joe developer, Joe end user, or Joe SMB.
Not too much was made available in the way of details in terms of hardware, software or networking. But Brooks says that the Azure appliance “is not for the faint of heart, nor is it available to the general public. Microsoft said it is targeting IT organizations that buy hundreds or thousands of servers at a time, like governments, service providers and very large enterprises.”
It was said that current customers including Dell, HP, Fujitsu and eBay are installing the appliance within their data centers. (Ironically, Fujitsu is also a potential competitor to Microsoft in the cloud space.)
Brooks reports on another private cloud offering from Microsoft: System Center Virtual Machine Manager Self Service Portal, formerly the Dynamic Data Center Toolkit, an infrastructure and automation toolkit designed to run in a Windows Server 2008 data center.
Joe McKendrick is an author, consultant and speaker specializing in trends and developments shaping the technology industry.
Disclosure
Joe McKendrick
Joe McKendrick is an independent consultant, editor and speaker.
Joe has performed project work (white papers, articles, blogs, research and presentations) for the following companies in the IT marketspace:
- CBS Interactive/CNET/ZDNet (this blog)
- ebizQ
- Evans Data
- Gartner
- IBM
- Informatica
- IDC
- Microsoft
- Systinet/HP
- Teradata
- Unisphere Reseach, a division of Information Today, Inc.
- WebLayers
Joe has also performed research work for the following sponsoring organizations in partnership with Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc.
- IBM
- Luminex
- Noetix
- Oracle Corp.
- Teradata
- Informatica
- International Oracle Users Group
- Oracle Applications Users Group
- Professional Association for SQL Server
- International DB2 Users Group
- International Sybase Users Group
- SHARE (IBM large systems users group)
Biography
Joe McKendrick
Joe McKendrick is an author and independent analyst who tracks the impact of information technology on management and markets. Joe is co-author, along with 16 leading industry leaders and thinkers, of the SOA Manifesto, which outlines the values and guiding principles of service orientation. He also speaks frequently on Enterprise 2.0 and SOA topics at industry events and Webcasts, and serves on the program committee for this year's SOA & Cloud Symposium in London. As an independent analyst, he has also authored numerous research reports in partnership with Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc. for user groups such as SHARE, Oracle Applications Users Group, and International DB2 Users Group. In a previous life, Joe served as director of the Administrative Management Society (AMS), an international professional association dedicated to advancing knowledge within the IT and business management fields. He is a graduate of Temple University.
