Windows Azure taking shape – our perspective

February 5th, 2010 | No Comments |  Share  | Windows Azure taking shape – our perspective

Let me first start by saying, I am a true believer now …

We got involved with Microsoft’s Cloud strategy almost 18 months ago. We had just come off doing a couple cool applications on other cloud platforms, notably Salesforce.com. When we were invited to participate in the Azure Design Preview sessions, we went in with some excitement, but mostly uncertain of the path ahead. And after 18 months of working on this, when I look back at what got released and read what critics say, I must say that I am truly giddy with excitement. Visual Studio Magazine tried to get a pulse of the Azure world pre PDC and prompted me to think about our experience. With all the recent activity around Azure, I wanted to share my perspective on Azure

During PDC Microsoft showcased some customer wins (one of whom we have been working for some time now), but it didn’t seem to pack the punch I had expected. There were some big names like 3M, Domino’s that were being showcased. I was looking forward to the actual release with real billing, partnership announcements and customer wins. And of course, more cool technology pieces.

Over the past few months, we have seen quite a surge in activity around customer interest in Azure and real world wins like this one and others are definitely paving way for the early adopters to understand the business value. And certainly things like partnership announcements with Intuit and NSF are raising the bar and expectations for the platform higher. Not be outdone on the technology side, impressive features like PowerPivot, Azure Drive, Velocity and the recent announcement of RDP support and VM management have certainly strengthened Azure’s promise.

Over the next couple of months, we will be talking a lot about our customer wins as we wrap up the engagements and I expect some these engagements to get quite a bit of attention. We are extremely happy to be a part of this journey and Azure is going to have a big impact on Cloud Computing.