(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Continuing with what is becoming an emerging theme of HostingCon 2010, Microsoft Windows Server Division senior product manager Michael Joffe discussed building cloud solutions that meet real business needs — using tools available today.
“Those that haven’t looked at the cloud in a big way,” recommended Joffe, “should do it.” He said, in his Tuesday morning HostingCon presentation “Roadmap to the Cloud: Tools, Guidance, and Best Practices,” that the tools available now can drive down costs and provide technologies to replace traditional, on-premise IT. “Hosters are the central point in this whole revolution. You’ve been in the cloud game for a long long time.”
Obviously a huge proponent of Microsoft solutions, Joffe notes that Microsoft’s solutions are actually quite interoperable. He noted that many people in the room might be surprised to know that you can run Linux on-top of Hyper-V. “You can have both Linux and Windows on the same platform.” And this can all be managed using Systems Center, which offers a single-pane view of all the resources. “It’s not just a Microsoft-view of the world.”
Joffe recommends that hosts don’t wait until the next big technology release to ramp up their cloud hosting efforts. Now is the time for hosts to gain expertise on hyper-V, standardize on hardware, standardize on Systems Center, fine tune their processes to drive costs down, and architect cloud services using the Dynamic Data Center Toolkit.
On the last note, there are a number of companies available to create a virtual data center solution. A representative of control panel vendor EMScortex was in attendance. He noted that his company can create custom white-label solutions for hosts that can speed their time to market.
Joffe noted that organizations will become less anxious about having their data in multi-tenant environments. This, combined with a host of other factors, means that the hosted solutions of tomorrow will play a huge role.
In developing the next-generation solutions, Microsoft actually went to where the action is. “This is the first time MS has talked with hosts to see what hosters are looking for for server products.” As a a key part of Microsoft’s success, hosts were asked for their input, responding that some of the things they’d like include reboot-less server updates, as well as off-premise management.
So, Microsoft is clearly trying to position itself as the Web host’s partner in delivering cloud solutions. And further, they are willing to let hosts use the stack of their choice.
