Monday, April 06, 2009 3:55 PM
by
stevecla01
Windows Azure, Windows Server, Public Clouds, Private Clouds
Last week Steven Martin wrote a very useful blog post for those trying to get their head around Windows Azure – especially as it relates to Windows Server and the licensing of both products. There were a few real nuggets in here I thought it may be useful to highlight
- Windows Azure is an extension to the Windows Server code base
- Windows Azure innovations are being shared with the Windows Server code base. Down the road, many features that drive our cloud fabric in Windows Azure will land in our premises technology, including Windows Server and System Center
- We don’t envision something on our price list called “Windows Azure” that is sold for on-premises deployment.
- As the Windows Azure innovations go back in to Windows Server, they’ll be available outside of a Microsoft datacenter for customers to host on their own premises or with Microsoft partners under the SPLA licensing model.
Point 3 is a key one as there are lots of questions about private and public clouds and many of the benefits of scale that we can bring to developers and customers is through running Azure in our massive scale datacenters. Steven also includes a handy table to help determine which is the best approach to take. I’ll repeat it here
| Scenario | Microsoft Approach | What You Consume |
| You’re an enterprise who wants to get more capacity and flexibility from your datacenter. | We are working night and day to expand the virtualization and management capabilities in Windows Server and System Center to meet this need. | Windows Server & System Center Virtual Machine Manager |
| You’re an ISV who wants to build an application in the cloud to get geo-scale without geo-cost. | We are working hard to make Windows Azure and the broader Azure Services Platform the most compelling option to host and scale this application. | Windows Azure – via consumptive business model (cloud hosting) |
| You’re a mid-size business and want to consolidate your server environment and outsource some pieces. | We offer Exchange Online and more for hosted email both directly as well as through partners. We continue to build on core app server and web server capabilities in Windows Server to help customers stretch their capacity. | Exchange Online Windows Server Windows Server Hosting Partners who offer Windows Server as a service |
| You’re a small business with no IT experience and prefer not to manage a local server for your application that drives your business. |
This customer would license an application experience (SaaS) through an ISV or CRM provider that runs on Windows Azure or Windows Server Hosting partners. | Windows Azure – via consumptive business model (cloud hosting). Windows Server Hosting Partners |
| You’re a hoster / IT Outsourcer and want to increase your hardware utilization through Virtualization. | Virtualization will continue to be a key area of focus for the next version of Windows Server. Future versions of Windows Server (licensed directly and through SPLA) and System Center will reflect innovations from Windows Azure. | Windows Server System Center |
I also noticed a related post on InformationWeek that includes an interview with Bob Muglia who calls out an important subtlety of this whole private/public cloud debate – namely that applications have to be designed with this in mind and the idea of simply moving an app between these two worlds isn’t quite as simple as many would have you believe.
