Guess Which Vendor this Utility Computing Solution is From?

A friend sent me some compelling-sounding product info on a certain utility computing solution. Check it out:

Traditionally all layers of computing environments have been static, configured (usually manually) to support a single computing solution. For example, hardware is assigned for specific uses (web server or database); the OS is tied to the hardware and storage is designated to specific locations. Applications are installed to run inside this specific, static environment. There are significant testing requirements since all layers of this environment have to be hard-coded to work with one another. The result is a tightly bound configuration that does not adapt well to changes in business needs or to the introduction of new and updated applications.

Instead, this vendor says, it makes sense to move to a virtualized utility computing environment.

This vendor is Softricity, which Microsoft acquired last May. My immediate reaction was, will Microsoft use some of the data center space it's building/planning to offer a hosted version of Softricity? Office Live today, SoftGrid Live tomorrow...

Earlier today, Tier 1 Research analyst Dan Golding mentioned in an interview with the WHIR that "there isn't an industry in the world where there are more than four or five major competitors". He was talking about CDNs, but Sun's Greg Matter agrees that the same might apply to Internet computing.

Microsoft quite obviously intends to be one of the 5 Big Computers. Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie is all about the software to services transition - and he's got a $980 million budget for just one data center. Will one of the remaining 4 spots be yours?

During Tier 1's hosting conference last fall, I was intrigued with CEO Andy Schroepfer's recommendation that business hosting providers consider partnering with Microsoft Live. That raises a very good question for dedicated server providers whose core business is wholesaling to shared hosting resellers: what's on the next chapter of your business plan?