The Windows Azure blog reports on a “breakthrough moment” in 2014 that builds upon the momentum generated by Windows Azure in 2013: Gartner has recognized Microsoft as a leader in the Enterprise Application Platform as a Service (aPaaS) market in its 2014 Enterprise aPaaS Magic Quadrant report published earlier in January.
In its report, Gartner says that “Enterprise CIOs, IT planners and architects at a growing number of organizations are turning to the cloud for their new application initiatives,” and examines the “leading vendor offerings in the enterprise aPaaS market designed to support and advance these initiatives.”
Specifically, Gartner points out that “Microsoft's offering, Windows Azure, has evolved into an environment that supports IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and PaaS models. As a result of adding full IaaS capabilities, as well as fleshing out its private cloud strategy, the vendor now provides the onramps that are making PaaS much more approachable for enterprises.”
Microsoft’s “approach is to focus on a ‘cloud first’ push toward frequent updates and an aggressive approach to features and enhancements. Its long-term goal is to deliver the full range of .NET application infrastructure capabilities as Azure PaaS services … It has also recently added Windows Azure Mobile Services, a cloud mobile back-end service offering that supports multiple clients beyond its own mobile client strategy. Its presence in other cloud environments (for example, SaaS through Dynamics CRM Online and Office 365, including SharePoint Online) also contributes to the vendor's broad cloud strategy.”
This success is also reflected in the Windows Azure blog: “Every month saw new records for customer usage, and in April we hit a major milestone with the general availability of the Windows Azure Infrastructure Service, which received unprecedented adoption.” In the past six months, Windows Azure has drawn an average of 8,000 new customers every week – and “more information is stored in Windows Azure than has been printed in history.”
Microsoft’s cloud-first approach has driven an increase in revenue of 103 percent in the first quarter of FY14 for its commercial cloud business and expanded its datacenter footprint around the world with launches in mainland China and Japan and an intent to launch in Australia and Brazil.
Head on over to the Windows Azure blog to find out more about how Windows Azure has become a driving force for change at Microsoft, as it adopts and supports non-Microsoft technologies and becomes the cloud platform for anyone and everyone. You can also find stories about customers who have adopted Windows Azure and using it to succeed.
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Athima Chansanchai
Microsoft News Center Staff