Microsoft unveils Azure for private clouds

Auction site eBay signs up as early adopter and will deploy this year

Microsoft delivers a Windows Azure-based 'appliance' for enterprise private clouds

Microsoft today unveiled a Windows Azure platform solution to address enterprise private cloud infrastructures at its Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington DC.

The Windows Azure platform system would tie in Windows Azure, Microsoft SQL Azure and a Microsoft-specified network, storage and server configuration.

Microsoft is calling the solution an appliance, but it will be platform-optimised for flexibility in terms of the scale of applications as well as datacentre efficiency across thousands of servers.

The company has also announced tie-ups with hardware vendors Delland HP, as well as business ICT solution provider Fujitsu, and leading e-commerce web site eBay.

Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer said earlier this year that he was "betting the company on cloud computing".

The company is enabling Fujitsu to deploy Azure in Fujitsu datacentres, and developed a Fujitsu-branded system for deployment in private companies' datacentres.

Fujitsu explained that such a rollout will enable it to deliver a comprehensive set of cloud services and solutions, including system integration, cloud migration and managed services, to customers and independent software vendors.

Fujitsu also said it would run its own applications on the Azure appliance, and brand its own hardware to support Azure.

The Azure platform-based offerings will be available from its Japanese datacentres, starting at the Fujitsu Tatebayashi System Center by the end of 2010. Further locations will be added the following year.

Microsoft explained that the first customer to run the product would be e-commerce site eBay, which will deploy the system this year.

EBay technology vice president James Barrese said: "eBay has the right blueprint for next-generation SaaS applications with our platform’s architecture, scale and reliability, and [this appliance] will help eBay improve our user experience."

PC and server vendor Dell's strategic partnership with Microsoft will see the company use the product to deliver these services to its customers as well as to develop the appliance to run on its own hardware.

Dell Services president Peter Altabef said: "With the Microsoft partnership and this private cloud product, Dell is expanding its cloud services capabilities to help customers reduce their total costs."

Microsoft's server and tools president Bob Muglia added: "We're giving customers and partners the ability to deploy the Windows Azure platform in their datacentres.”

A big problem for enterprises deploying public cloud services from Amazon, Google and Microsoft is that firms can be left wondering in which country their data is being stored, owing to countries' different regulatory environments. Microsoft's private cloud system would address that problem.