The Azure Appliance is the newest product that has been launched by Microsoft during their Worldwide Partner Conference that was being held in Washington DC last week. Bob Muglia, President of the Microsoft server and tools business introducing the appliance explained that the product aimed at encouraging companies to take up cloud computing as part of running their online businesses.
This Azure solves the problem of corporate customers having to consistently and frequently install software updates like security checks, service packs etc if they use a Microsoft software pack. This problem is solved by the use of Azure Appliance which is actually a cloud-computing server that is managed by Microsoft from a distance. It is Microsoft who install all the alerts and updates on their end which frees up the customer who with the help of this service can then concentrate on their core businesses.
The cloud which forms the basis of this product is the latest trend in the computing world wherein people are able to access and use data as well as software information from internet connected devices as opposed to accessing it from any software pre-loaded on one particular PC. In the case of using the Azure appliance the good part is that all of the customer’s data and information will be stored at their own site but they will still be able to enjoy the features of cloud-computing. This unique feature serves as a big reassurance for those worried about privacy and security. This will be achieved by creating a private cloud for each customer.
According to Muglia, the Azure is not a single server appliance and will be best used by customers who can have internal deployments of around a thousand servers or so. “Windows Azure is designed to run on thousands of nodes at a time. It’s core value is survivability of node failures and you need to have a significant number of nodes beneath it,” this as per analyst James Staten who writes for the Forrester.
Microsoft has not yet come out with the pricing details on the product.