Recently, Microsoft announced the preview of the new Windows Azure services as well as several updates and new enhancements to existing services.
The announcement was made on 6 June, via a Windows Azure Corporate blog post authored by Bill Laing, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Server and Cloud Division.
“Windows Azure is now easier to use, more flexible, open, and powerful,” states Valentinos Georgiades from Microsoft Malta. “The new services and the many updates that have strengthened this unique product are in line with Microsoft’s constant efforts to enable seamless experiences across devices and through the cloud.”
The new Windows Azure services include Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) capabilities, including Windows Azure virtual machines for Windows and Linux-based applications, as well as the Windows Azure virtual network to securely link Windows Azure with on-premises networks, Windows Azure web sites which enable developers to quickly and easily deploy web sites with support for multiple frameworks and popular open source applications and an integrated Windows Azure preview portal.
Updates to the existing services of Windows Azure include interoperability updates such as new libraries for Java and Python, improved developer productivity with updates to the Windows Azure SDK and support for Visual Studio Team Foundation Services, improved application services, including updates to Windows Azure Active Directory, the Content Delivery Network (CDN), distributed caching, and support for Media Services and Windows Azure SQL Reporting for secure, flexible and cost effective cloud-based reporting.
“Windows Azure provides an open and easy to use set of services to build and run any application in the cloud,” continues to explain Valentinos Georgiades. “Windows Azure gives customers choice and flexibility to move existing applications and to develop new ones using the language and platform of their choice. With Windows Azure, customers get the best of Microsoft’s cloud computing, leveraging a flexible, reliable platform in their own datacentre, one of Microsoft’s secure globally-distributed datacentres or a combination of both.”
Referring to these new services and upgrades within the context of cloud services, Valentinos Georgiades explained how in line with Microsoft’s long-standing commitment to the cloud, its vision is to give customers choice and enable them to reap the full benefits of cloud computing, including openness, flexibility, scalability and cost efficiencies – both now and in the future.
“Microsoft is investing heavily across our products and services to deliver the world’s most robust computing platform and applications to our customers – whether they want traditional, hybrid or cloud computing models. This commitment means Microsoft’s comprehensive set of cloud computing solutions span the platform, application and infrastructure layers. This unique comprehensive approach gives customers the ability to transition to the cloud on their terms.
This recent announcement has been Microsoft’s largest release in Windows Azure’s history. Windows Azure is currently using more server compute than the entire planet used in 1999. The compute usage has doubled in the last six months, and storage doubled in the last two months. Windows Azure currently has tens of thousands of Azure customers and hundreds are being added daily. Additionally, worldwide enterprise subscriptions grew 50%+ in the last six months. Windows Azure will expand to 46 new countries this summer and will extend its local pricing, settlement and payment options to each of those countries.
For more information visit www.windowsazure.com