This week marked the general availability (GA) of two milestones for the cloud. Let take a look why they are milestones and their implications on the industry and customers …
Microsoft announces GA of Oracle Software on Windows Azure
Two days before Microsoft Build 2013 more details on the partnership were released, refined at OpenWorld and the offerings has now come to GA. This is a milestone because normally large tech stack vendors do not mix and match products in the cloud, the original announcement could have well passed as an April fool’s joke. But it wasn’t and it’s good to see it is GA now.
Having (as Microsoft calls) it the mission critical Oracle software as part of Azure, is certainly a coup for Microsoft. Windows Azure has now appeal for Java shops, with Oracle supporting and Microsoft enabling Java deployments on Azure. And having WebLogic and the Oracle Database available for Windows Azure customers is certainly also good news for them –as it gives them more choices. And ultimately it gives Microsoft the opportunity to actively target Windows apps running on Oracle on premise as potential candidates to move to Windows Azure. Only the executives in Redmond will know why Microsoft even went to partner with Oracle for the database – but rumors on the scalability of SQL Server are still around. So Microsoft gets a proven and scalable database for Windows Azure clients – a good move.
For Oracle it’s a validation that the company wants to remains an arms dealer in the technology race. As the Oracle database ran on various Windows operating systems it now runs also on Azure. Replace Windows operating systems with Windows cloud operating system (called Azure). And it does not look like traditional Oracle competitors IBM and Sybase (or SAP with HANA) would land a similar deal soon. We also see it as beneficial for Oracle, as it does have to open its technology stack a little more than it would have otherwise – supporting the Microsoft hypervisor Windows Hyper-V.
Amazon announces Amazon AppStream is now available to all customers
Earlier this week Amazon announced that its AppStream product is now generally available for all customers (Amazon does not use the term GA). This is a milestone because AWS for the first time bundles together multiple assets to provide a more advanced platform based service for developer than ever before. [Amazon AR reminds me of Amazon Elastic MapReduce and Amazon Elastic Transcoder, fair enough, so adding here - but I see them as less of a bundle than Amazon Appstream (e.g. the Transcoder - or pieces of it - are probably part of AppStream) - this my personal hopefully educated guess).]
Amazon AppStream is of significant value to companies developing compute intensive applications that at the same time require a significant download of data. So instead of downloading the data and re-computing it on a local device – why not just stream the screens to the device. This not only has bandwidth advantages, but also allows to stream to platforms that not even have the compute power to render these advances applications themselves. Consider smartphones and tablets as such devices. This has the potential to change not only the gaming industry (AWS showcase is a gaming company) but also (true) analytics and BigData fields. Coupling e.g. Amazon Kinesis with Amazon AppStream should make some powerful (and cool) applications.
And it’s a smart move by Amazon – we assume that the company is shrewdly putting together the assets from its experience of streaming Netflix content into the AppStream product. Think of AppStream being a more souped-up video streaming client that enables interactivity. And at least the initial load of AppStream should be very manageable to the infrastructure that Amazon supports for Netflix. It maybe even a great load balancing move – as e.g. game loads may behave differently than video streaming loads (e.g. there is a gaming spike when school is out – but no video streaming spike, which is after dinner). Ultimately AppStream does what all cloud providers want – it drives load and with that utilization. And in true retailer DNA fashion AWS offers the first 20 hours free, then at 8.3 cents per hour, which includes all compute, operating system and bandwidth costs.
We also see the Amazon WorkSpaces product in the same category – but it is still in limited preview.
Implications for customers
More choice is always a good thing for customers. When tech giants like Microsoft and Oracle partner - it's an opportunity for mutual customers. When a market leader like Amazon provides more powerful development tools, its good news in the first phase for ISVs, but in the second phase its good for customer again, as they will benefit from the dynamics an offering like Amazon Appstream can unfold.
MyPOV
The cloud is still a pretty young technology. And more choices are always good for a new technology, as it makes the addressable market larger (Oracle products on Windows Azure) or enables a new set of applications (Amazon AppStream). In 10 years from now we may complain about too much choice - but in 2014 - pas encore.
--------------------
More about Microsoft:
- Microsoft gets even more serious about devices - acquire Nokia - read here.
- Microsoft does not need one new CEO - but six - read here.
- Microsoft makes the cloud a platform play - Or: Azure and her 7 friends - read here.
- How the Cloud can make the unlikeliest bedfellows - read here.
- How hard is multi-channel CRM in 2013? - Read here.
- How hard is it to install Office 365? Or: The harsh reality of customer support - read here.
More about AWS:
