So the secret’s out!
Microsoft’s Cloud will give us a number of key aspects.
First is the foundation or Windows Azure, this can be seen as the cloud OS but is much, much more than that. It is an infinitely scalable Computation, Storage and Management system providing hyper-visor powered virtualization for cloud hosted apps be it web or otherwise.
Next we have the application building blocks or Azure services. Here we find the gestation of BizTalk services and SQL data services. We have .Net services covering the service bus, workflow and access control (federated identity and more). Next along we have SQL services today giving us database, data sync and reporting with ETL, reference data and others hot on its heels. And then we have Live services the Mesh, Contacts and Calendar functins and again more to come.
The future promises Sharepoint and CRM services as building blocks to add even more to the mix.
And finally sat on this is and will be Microsoft’s own application offerings of Sharepoint online, CRM online, Office Live and Windows live.
This is a major future gamble for Microsoft and as such the other announcements this week almost act as supporting acts – take the example of ‘Oslo’ introduced as part of the cloud message allowing users to model on and off premise.
This is a great start to an exciting PDC. My only concern is that Live services feel a little like an aftr though or blot on…