Microsoft, Dell, HP, Fujitsu Team Up to Sell Cloud Servers
Microsoft has formed an alliance with Dell, HP, and Fujitsu to sell pre-configured Microsoft Azure-powered cloud servers. By pre-configured, they mean that the servers should be ready to go without any further configuration required. As such, they call them “appliances” rather than servers.
These appliances will allow companies to take advantage of the “private cloud”, with which they run their own applications and storing them in their own data centers. This differs from the “public cloud”, in which the applications are on servers in third-party data centers.
Potential customers are expected to be larger businesses with scalable enterprise server needs. The first in line is the auction super site Ebay.com. The Azure software itself, however, will be more widely available. Microsoft is joining numerous other big IT companies that are now offering cloud services, including IBM, Google, and Amazon.
Source: The China Post
Photo: Flickr
Tag: azure, cloud computing, dell, ebay, fujitsu, hp, microsoft, servers
Are mega data centers cost effective?
In an attempt to save money, it has been the trend over the last few years for tech companies to reduce their existing data center inventory and invest in several large data centers. Perhaps the most famous instance of this occurring is HP, which cut its IT costs in half by reducing the number of operating data centers from 85 to 6.
While on the surface this seems like a good strategy, there is one hidden expense big business has failed to overlook: property taxes. Microsoft recently discovered this problem when its Quincy, Washington Azure cloud computing facility stopped receiving tax incentives from the local government. A lot of money was invested in the data center, but Microsoft had to close it down because it was no longer possible to break even with the new taxes.
Bigger isn’t always better. It takes hundreds of millions of pounds and many months to build a mega data center, but only a few signatures to sign a tax law yielding it essentially ineffective. The hosting industry is competitive enough and margins are so thin that even a modest increase in taxes could put a provider out of business. As the popular saying goes, never put all your eggs in one basket.
Photo | Flickr
Tag: azure, cloud computing, data center, hosting provider, hp, large data center, mega data center, microsoft, property tax, taxes