Lest there be any doubt that Microsoft is “All In” the cloud, we recently were one of the primary sponsors of Cloud Expo at New York’s Javits Convention Center.

Highlight of the expo was a complete Azure Data Center in a box, a 30 foot compute and storage container shipped in and assembled on the spot! More about that later.

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"We are very serious about the cloud. We view it as a natural extension of on-premise software," said Yousef Khalidi, a Microsoft distinguished engineer working on the Microsoft Azure cloud offering, during his talk. "We believe in a hybrid model going forward, that would span the whole spectrum."    ( taken from an Infoworld article)


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Cloud Computing Expo, was hosted by Sys-Con. It is “the premier industry showcase on the East Coast and featured the brightest, most well-respected thought leaders and practitioners in the Cloud/Utility Computing space.”  It featured four days of presentations, panels and expo hall.  The event brought together approximately 3,000 Senior Technologists including CIOs, CTSs, VPS of technology, IT Directors and managers, network and storage managers, network engineers, enterprise architects, communications and networking specialists from all size organizations.  It was four days of keynote presentations, panel sessions, and a tradeshow floor jam packed with cloud focused companies.

Microsoft’s goal for participating at Cloud Computing Expo was to convince the world that we are very serious about the Cloud.

Highlights of the event:

  • Approximately 3,000 attendees
  • Microsoft, was a GOLD sponsor, with 6 sessions on the schedule with either Microsoft and/or Microsoft partners.
  • The Microsoft Global Foundation Services (GFS) datacenter container in our space
  • 4 key Microsoft partners participating (Avanade, Cognizant, Infosys and SOASTA) were there to  tell our entire Cloud story

General Takeaways:

  • Attendees at the booth responded consistently that we certainly conveyed our holistic approach  and the “We’re all in” messaging really came across well.  
  • Continued comments were “What’s Azure?” and: I didn’t know Microsoft had a CRM tool!?”
  • The container rocks!  It makes something intangible called the cloud very “real” and concrete for people.   PLUS, it was just really cool!
  • Having Microsoft partners woven into the presence and the sessions also made it clear that our customers can really get their solutions “landed” with Microsoft technologies.  Microsoft has always had a very strong partner ecosystem and this event was no exception. Having partners with us at the event was key in lending credibility and offering a different perspective to attendees.
  • Great interest in security and interoperability of Azure and the ability to easily develop and manage on premises and cloud apps seamlessly,


Data Centers built “while you wait” :-)

Within our 30x30 traditional expo hall booth space, came some very untraditional efforts. In an effort to make the cloud “concrete” for people we worked with GFS team to bring the datacenter container to the space… all the way from Italy.  After a stint in customs, it arrived a few days late and just a couple of hours before the show opened.  As people were coming in they saw the finishing touches of the set up… while not planned, it sure made it a bit more dramatic! This made a lasting impression to many attendees.

The GFS datacenter container was the focal point of our booth presence.  Attendees were able to walk through and actually see the layout of the inside.  Surrounding the space were kiosks highlighting Windows Azure, SQL Azure, Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS) and CRM Online to drive awareness and adoption of Microsoft Cloud Services.   

Here it is in various construction stages:

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Microsoft Conference Sessions:

Microsoft and/or Microsoft partners presented 6 sessions including:


Comments/ Blogs/Press:

For more information on the event see:

Let no-one doubt that we are “All In” the Cloud. image011

Bill

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