Hyper-V Cloud: Microsoft simplifies the private cloud

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

Microsoft has announced the availability of Hyper-V Cloud here at TechEd Europe in Berlin: a seven-part programme designed to speed up client companies constructing their own internal clouds.

Some of the seven parts of the programme are relatively simple and clearly understood – for example, Microsoft and a grab-bag of hardware vendors have agreed a reference platform suitable for the construction of a pool of physical machines and virtual hosts to make up a private cloud. Other parts are frankly mind-boggling, like the cashback scheme. If you move to Hyper-V cloud and make it work for you, whether you’ve virtualised already or not, then Microsoft has some money for you.

There’s always a bit of a “brain gap” when it comes to announcements about virtualisation – it takes a while for listeners to get their heads around the concepts and bat back a few apposite questions, and I think Microsoft caught the assembled press throng well and truly on the hop with the cashback offer. Yes, it does extend beyond domestic US clients. Whether it’s conditional on making use of the new hardware freshly published on the Hyper-V Cloud compatibility framework list is an intriguing question. It’s also a bit too early to figure out things like return on investment since, there are no customers using this newly announced toolkit yet.
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Microsoft needs to get real when it comes to hosting

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

So the reports are that Microsoft believes there is a huge untapped demand for internet-hosted cloud-based services like Exchange Server, SharePoint and so forth.

One report, from our friends at The Register, states: “Nine out of 10 will also want to deploy the web-based versions of Exchange, SharePoint, and Office 2010 – due in the first half of next year. Stephen Elop (Microsoft’s business applications chief) didn’t reveal the source of the data behind his claim, but the message was blunt.”

I think not. In fact, I will eat my hat if it gets 90% business uptake of hosted services. The reliance on unreliable internet connectivity is scary beyond belief, and although I am certain that Microsoft itself will have huge deployments of this stuff, it forgets that its cloud services are effectively local storage to their network infrastructure. It’s a very different matter when your business is sitting in a village outside Newcastle.

And, to bang the drum once again, the SLA and contractual documentation is still a frightening mess. At least Dick Turpin had the good grace to wear a mask.

Microsoft attempts to clean up its cloud

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

You may have read my not-terribly-polite post about the astonishing restrictions found inside Microsoft’s terms and conditions for its hosted services. Well here’s the follow-up.

Because yesterday, I (and a couple of colleagues) had an hour-long “full and frank exchange of views” with four senior Microsoft Redmond people responsible for the hosted services offering: Eron Kelly, Senior Director, Microsoft Online Services; Kore Kourbourlis, Senior Director, Compliance and Privacy; Brendon Lynch, Director, Trustworthy Computing; and Mike Ziock, Senior Director of Operations, Business Online Services.

We went through our concerns regarding data movement, implications for data protection issues under EU law, SLA, the sign-up process, terms & conditions and so forth. (more…)