(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — To the eager anticipation of developers and hosting partners, Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) announced the business and partner model for its new cloud hosting platform, Windows Azure (www.windowsazure.com).
According to Microsoft’s announcement at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2009, server and tools division president Bob Muglia said Azure will include a cloud services operating system, a web-based relational database in Microsoft SQL Azure, and connectivity and interoperability with .NET Services. Based on consumption, Microsoft will charge 12 cents per hour of computing, 15 cents per gigabyte for storage and 10 cents for every 10,000 storage transactions. Network bandwidth will be billed between 10 and 15 cents per GB.
Set for wide release later this year, the Windows Azure platform, currently in testing mode, delivers a rich development experience, automated service management and pay-as-you-go pricing, all backed by service-level agreements and support. Microsoft will offer partner promotional offers and discounts to help bring solutions to market faster, reduce IT complexity, and increase revenue opportunities. As part of the Microsoft Partner Network, partners will receive an additional five percent promotional discount.
“With the Windows Azure platform, we’re focused on delivering the best services platform to create compelling Web applications and services — which enables our customers and partners to quickly develop and deploy compelling solutions,” Muglia said. “What’s unique about the Windows Azure platform is that Microsoft manages the complexity, which allows partners to focus on what matters most for their business — building innovative services solutions and driving new revenue.” He notes that Azure can drive down total cost of ownership by up to 60 percent over three years.
MSDN Premium members will also benefit from special resources for developing and testing their cloud-based applications. Microsoft will also provide a development accelerator promotion for the quick development and deployment of applications with dynamic scaling, and predictable and discounted pricing.
