Microsoft’s approach to Cloud is comprehensive

This blog post appeared on https://blogs.technet.com/b/server-cloud/archive/2011/08/26/customers-reap-benefits-from-microsoft-s-comprehensive-cloud-approach.aspx   Great information.

 

Take a look at Brad Anderson’s, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, perspective on Microsoft’s cloud computing strategy, our private cloud solutions and the economics of those solutions versus VMware:

Customers tell us they want to understand where virtualization ends and cloud computing begins. I hear it frequently: “How can I best invest today to get the benefits of the cloud?” Recently I shared my thoughts on the shifting conversation in the industry from virtualization to cloud computing. My point: virtualization is an important beginning, not the final destination. The future will be about the cloud.

At Microsoft, we have a broad view of that future and what it will enable: an app-centric cloud platform that crosses on-premise, private and public cloud environments. We’ve been comprehensive in our approach, spanning the infrastructures, platforms and applications our customers need to run their business. You can see that comprehensiveness in our current offerings: our private cloud solution built on Windows Server and System Center; our public cloud platform, Windows Azure; and software offerings such as Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

My team and I are particularly focused on private cloud solutions and building the technology that enables them. Our app-centric approach to the private cloud goes beyond virtualization to give you deep application insights that drive real business value. It works with the investments you have today and is available through partners and hosters — or you can “build it yourself.”

I believe our approach is pretty different from that of VMware. We’re focused on an app-centric cloud, and they, as a virtualization company, are focused on, well, virtualization.

That difference in focus, and approach, could not be more apparent when you look at total cost of ownership (TCO). I often get asked by customers, “As your private cloud grows, requiring more virtual machines and more memory, should your costs grow?” The answer is no. As your private cloud grows you should benefit from economies of scale, and Microsoft delivers that with unlimited virtualization rights and lower costs — consistently and predictably over time. Not all cloud computing vendors can say that. VMware’s model, charging per virtual machine and by application memory needs, means that as your density grows, so do your costs — with our research indicating that the cost of a VMware private cloud solution could be 4x to nearly 10x higher than a comparable Microsoft private cloud solution over a period of one to three years.

Microsoft believes the economics of the cloud should benefit customers, not just the vendor. You can learn more about the long-term cost savings of our Microsoft private cloud solution and get started building one, today, with a new offer from Microsoft Services. You can also read more about our approach to cloud computing and how we think it’s different than our competitors in today’s Microsoft News Center feature story.

No matter what stage of the cloud journey you are on, we have a solution for you and we can help you get cloud benefits — on your terms.

Brad Anderson