This week brought the entrance of another small company to the cloud: Microsoft.
My general statement is pretty much the same response I had to Salesforce.com when they announced their Platform as a Service offering, "Welcome to the neighborhood, Microsoft."
But Microsoft is simply following trends rather than leading them. In this instance, they are validating what I have been saying for more than six years. Web app distribution is the future, the market is ready for a new distribution platform and if they are not leading, then they will follow along.
No software giant is immune to the greater trend in Web app market adoption.
About Azure specifically
While Azure has some interesting components, it is a long way from practical for current business solutions. Like many cloud solutions, you have to rewrite your application to fit this model, or write a new application altogether. Albeit cleverly disguised, this product is not innovative.
You see, there are a lot of things in the distribution of software beyond raw computing power. All Azure is right now is another place for raw computing power to exist. It doesn't solve any business problems.
Furthermore, there are other systems out there that are already gaining traction in this space. Amazon has been doing this for sometime now.
Grids, Virtuals, Clouds, they are all just methods for raw computing resources. Raw computing resources do not address the business problem that you want to solve.
Assuming that everyone has computing resources that are up all the time, then what? It's back to Opportunity Computing, not Utility Computing. You have the opportunity to access your computing resources, but there is no value in that access.
I think Etelos is well positioned for this because we long ago realized that the distribution of applications is separate from the hosting of the applications. The architectural model of services outside the application that add value in packaging, deploying, distributing, billing, marketing support, integration -- and yes I mean integration across applications and across platforms -- these are the real business solutions that are more valuable and necessary to the end user. The end user is more and more becoming less interested with where the application lives and more vested in what it does.
When it comes to existing Web applications gaining adoption, Microsoft is far behind. I don't know very many partners building web apps using the Microsoft stack. I do know several client server companies that want to move their apps to the Web and Azure can't help with that, but Etelos can.
Etelos helps businesses that want to distribute their applications online, do just that. Separating deployment from hosting. At Etelos, I have long said that I don't care where the app is hosted. Distribution of applications is a lot different than that of raw computing power, which is what the popular cloud computing solutions are truly selling.
If you need to host an application in your own data center, great! If you need to host it with Amazon Web Services great! If you want Microsoft Azure, or hosting du jour, great! As long as the end user is satisfied with the performance and reliability of the application -- great!
Now what?
If you need to sell, distribute, deploy, service, bill, support, develop channels, and the list goes on. Well, then Azure isn't for you.
At Etelos, we are here to help. You need a Web app distribution platform, outside of just a place to host it. You need to be able to scale not just one service, but all the back office services. The distribution of applications is the bigger trend.
Running apps in the cloud was so six years ago.
My general statement is pretty much the same response I had to Salesforce.com when they announced their Platform as a Service offering, "Welcome to the neighborhood, Microsoft."
But Microsoft is simply following trends rather than leading them. In this instance, they are validating what I have been saying for more than six years. Web app distribution is the future, the market is ready for a new distribution platform and if they are not leading, then they will follow along.
No software giant is immune to the greater trend in Web app market adoption.
About Azure specifically
While Azure has some interesting components, it is a long way from practical for current business solutions. Like many cloud solutions, you have to rewrite your application to fit this model, or write a new application altogether. Albeit cleverly disguised, this product is not innovative.
Posts to Read on AzureSuppose you get your application to run on Azure (well, suppose you write a new application that runs on Azure), then what? Have you solved all of your distribution problems? How do you add accounts? Users? Billing? Multiple versions of the product? Support? Marketing? Channel development? Deployment of new accounts?
ZDNet's Phil Wainewright had a good post Microsoft Mainstreams the Cloud
Information Week's interview with Ray Ozzie.
You see, there are a lot of things in the distribution of software beyond raw computing power. All Azure is right now is another place for raw computing power to exist. It doesn't solve any business problems.
Furthermore, there are other systems out there that are already gaining traction in this space. Amazon has been doing this for sometime now.
Grids, Virtuals, Clouds, they are all just methods for raw computing resources. Raw computing resources do not address the business problem that you want to solve.
Assuming that everyone has computing resources that are up all the time, then what? It's back to Opportunity Computing, not Utility Computing. You have the opportunity to access your computing resources, but there is no value in that access.
I think Etelos is well positioned for this because we long ago realized that the distribution of applications is separate from the hosting of the applications. The architectural model of services outside the application that add value in packaging, deploying, distributing, billing, marketing support, integration -- and yes I mean integration across applications and across platforms -- these are the real business solutions that are more valuable and necessary to the end user. The end user is more and more becoming less interested with where the application lives and more vested in what it does.
When it comes to existing Web applications gaining adoption, Microsoft is far behind. I don't know very many partners building web apps using the Microsoft stack. I do know several client server companies that want to move their apps to the Web and Azure can't help with that, but Etelos can.
Etelos helps businesses that want to distribute their applications online, do just that. Separating deployment from hosting. At Etelos, I have long said that I don't care where the app is hosted. Distribution of applications is a lot different than that of raw computing power, which is what the popular cloud computing solutions are truly selling.
If you need to host an application in your own data center, great! If you need to host it with Amazon Web Services great! If you want Microsoft Azure, or hosting du jour, great! As long as the end user is satisfied with the performance and reliability of the application -- great!
Now what?
If you need to sell, distribute, deploy, service, bill, support, develop channels, and the list goes on. Well, then Azure isn't for you.
At Etelos, we are here to help. You need a Web app distribution platform, outside of just a place to host it. You need to be able to scale not just one service, but all the back office services. The distribution of applications is the bigger trend.
Running apps in the cloud was so six years ago.