Developer blues
Microsoft's annual developer-fest - PDC - is underway right now, and the big news so far is the apparent availability of Azure - the cloud computing platform first announced over a year ago.
"Customers want choice and flexibility in how they develop and deploy applications," said Microsoft chief software architect Ray Ozzie. "We're moving into an era of solutions that are experienced by users across PCs, phones and the Web, and that are delivered from datacenters we refer to as private clouds and public clouds.
"Built specifically for this era of cloud computing, Windows Azure and SQL Azure will give developers what they need to build great applications and profitable businesses."
However, managed service provider Claranet reckons the availability of platform is just the beginning. "The key thing to remember is that the cloud services provided by Microsoft, Google, Amazon etc are just platforms at the moment, and for mission critical applications where availability is crucial, an additional level of service and reporting is essential," said Michel Robert, MD of Claranet UK.
"The exciting prospect is the increasing range of cloud platform options that we are able to pick and choose from, integrate with our managed hosting solution, and overlay with a service tailored for each customer. This will mean even greater choice and flexibility for them."
So while Microsoft is hoping, through Azure, to ensure its army of third-party developers don't defect when they move to the cloud, it's going to have to fight off some pretty stiff competition. It looks like customers will get the choice Ozzie says they want.
