Microsoft Steps Up to the Ring with Windows Azure in Direct Competition with Amazon Web Service The land of Infrastructure -as-a-service (IaaS) shook a little bit more this week as another titan rose in competition for the enterprise’s bustling pot of gold. Microsoft has finally delivered their promised revamp on the Windows Azure services which also serves as a direct reply to the already in-motion Amazon Web Service (AWS). AWS, with its long head start dominates the IaaS market with an estimated $1.8 billion in revenues for cloud services alone in 2012. It is projected to skyrocket to $20 billion by 2020
Windows Azure
Past Predictions in the Automotive Cloud Gradually Evolving to Reality Many of the predictions in the automotive sector that happened in previous years are evolving into a competitive reality. They are becoming more practical than one probably thought they could be. However, some are taking an about turn and making a leap for the better or for worse. It is the latter that will start this discussion, beginning with the emergence of the powerful brand-based cloud over that of dealers. Dealer Cloud-into-Brand Cloud Some of the major predictions of past years were that the information systems that were available in
The Storage Wars: Microsoft Hops Onto The Price-shed Bandwagon Last week’s wrap-up of the on-going cloud storage price wars between Google and Amazon ended off with a humble suggestion for Microsoft: wait for nothing and plunge straight into the cloud storage price-drop showdown. It turns out that the software giant actually did make up its mind to join the party real soon, responding to the soaring market competition in style. Microsoft made a pronounced entry into the ballroom by announcing price sheds for its Windows Azure Storage, and that as well, as much as a hefty 28 percent (how’s that for a stunner). “Reducing prices
5 Cloud Course Teaching Platforms Though Cloud Computing has been in the offing for some years now, its inner core is still enshrouded in a cloak of mystery as people only see the surface. One of the more important sides of the service include the platform, which is useful for teaching the fundamentals of the technology that ties together all networks in a developing cloud. Though the platform is important for developing concepts and doing practical work, it is, however, still the best stepping stone for learning about the subject. This is because app-based platforms are always evolving. There have
Infosys Launches Its Unified Cloud Ecosystem With so many cloud options in hand, convergence is the need of the day. This was the focus of HP’s big recent push into cloud computing (See: “Waiting for Cloud Standards Is Like Waiting for Godot” ). Now, Indian IT consulting major Infosys has announced the launch of the Infosys Cloud Ecosystem Hub as an integration mechanism to bring all cloud services under one roof. It promises to enable “enterprises to create, adopt and govern cloud services across the ecosystem.” It features a “smart brokerage feature” that claims to provide “an enterprise-wide decision support mechanism to select, compare and
Does Microsoft Windows Azure Threaten vCloud? It appears like Microsoft is desperate to become the OS for cloud computing. At Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference on July 10th, the company has announced its Windows Azure’s white-label version which is targeted at the web hosts currently based on Windows Server. This can be viewed as a challenge for VMware, which is trying to push its vCloud agenda. In recent years, VMware is spanning cloud-based and on-premise deployments. In the past, Microsoft has received flak for not having a lawful hybrid cloud-strategy. But, Microsoft appears to be back on the right track with
Microsoft’s Plans for Cloud Computing Influence: Incubating Startups For a long time now, Microsoft’s selling proposition has been to make Windows and Office users customers for life. There’s an even chance that if you were a Windows 3.1 user years ago, you are a Windows 7 user today. Of course, there are many who have shifted allegiance to the Mac, but compared to the hundreds of millions who still sign on to a Windows machine every day, that number is disproportionately small. If you combine this with the user base of Microsoft office, and there are Office users on platforms
