Professional Developers Conference 2008

Microsoft Aims for Blue Skies with Azure Platform

| Oct 29, 2008 | Internet/Managed Services - U.S. | Show Update

| Analyst: Counse Broders

Current Perspective: Neutral/Positive
Vendor Importance: High
Market Impact: High

Event Summary

October 27, 2008 – At the Professional Developers Conference 2008, Microsoft unveiled the Azure Services Platform, a set of technologies that use Web-based “cloud” computing to deliver a suite of services that developers can use to deliver compelling new applications across the PC, Web, and mobile phone or PDA. The new platform extends to developers the ability to develop and deploy new applications into the cloud rapidly. The foundation of the platform is Windows Azure, a new cloud-based operating system that serves as the development, run-time, and environment for the Azure Services Platform. The Azure Services Platform is designed to scale to carry computation, storage, and networking loads associated with Web delivery. Developers can use this to build, deploy, and maintain new cloud-based applications, relying on familiar tools such as Visual Studio and services including Live Services, Microsoft .NET Services, Microsoft SQL Services, Microsoft SharePoint Services, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Services. Additionally, developers can soon market new applications built on the platform directly to their own customers.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Slightly positive on Microsoft’s Azure cloud-based OS launch, because the introduction of the new hosted platform gives the company the opportunity to outline its technical strategy to support applications delivered to end users via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Up to this point, this has been unclear. The Azure operating system, which in conjunction with other Microsoft developer services such as Live Services and .Net services, will function as a development and deployment environment for moving Windows applications to the Internet.

• Vendor Importance: High to Microsoft, because in spite of some previous moves to offer Windows applications through the cloud via partners or its own hosted offerings (see “Microsoft Clarifies Cloud Strategy, but the Future Looks a Bit Murky for Hosting Partners,” July 14, 2008), the company held off on making any sweeping changes in the primary way that it delivered its OS or associated productivity applications. This is even as competitors such as Google stepped up with their own cloud-based productivity applications designed to rival Microsoft’s desktop dominance, but as demand for SaaS-based solutions swells, the Azure debut shows Microsoft is ready to take its place at center stage in the cloud.

• Market Impact: High on the managed applications space, because even though Microsoft may have lagged behind competitors in detailing a clear cloud strategy that will promote application development, the company remains a giant in the industry and, by finally coming to market with a delineated plan to help ISVs develop and deploy new Windows-based software, the likely result will be a more dramatic increase in the number and types of SaaS-based applications available to customers gravitating toward a Web delivery model.

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

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