Microsoft Fleshes Out Cloud OS Vision

Microsoft also released Windows Azure technologies that hosting service providers can run on their own Windows Server 2012 infrastructure for high-scale website and virtual machine hosting services. These capabilities are specifically designed for easy incorporation into hosting service providers’ offerings for deployment to their customer bases.

The new Windows Azure services for Windows Server technologies enable hosting service providers to use their Windows Server data centres to provide the same high-scale web site and virtual machine hosting capabilities announced this past summer in Windows Azure, Microsoft said in a post on the company’s STB News bytes Blog. These capabilities are specifically designed for easy incorporation into hosting service providers’ offerings for deployment to their customer base.

Track Record

“One of the reasons I believe Microsoft is uniquely positioned to deliver on the promise of the Cloud OS is that our products and services are deeply informed by our first-hand experience in running some of the largest Internet-scale services in the world,” Park said in his post. “Running more than 200 cloud services for over 1 billion customers and 20+ million businesses around the world has taught us – and teaches us in real time – what it takes to architect, build and run applications and services at cloud scale.”

Meanwhile, with the new release of the Windows Intune service and System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1, enterprise customers can centrally manage a full array of PCs, laptops and mobile devices. With one management console, IT organisations can crack the bring-your-own-device challenge, helping ensure secure and productive employee experiences with applications and data on virtually any device, anywhere.

The new Windows Intune cloud-based service and System Center Configuration Manager are a unified PC and mobile device management solution. Together they provide a comprehensive approach to securing and managing the new generation of powerful Windows 8 PCs, Windows RT tablets and Windows Phone 8 smartphones, as well as the diversity of other platforms in today’s modern enterprise, including Android and iOS.

More information about System Center 2012 SP1 is available here, and more information about Windows Intune is available here.

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Originally published on eWeek.