Microsoft introduced its Windows Azure platform appliance — a turnkey cloud services platform for deployment in customer and service provider data centers. Dell, eBay, Fujitsu and HP are early adopters of a limited production release of the appliance.
Microsoft said its new Windows Azure platform appliance consists of Windows Azure, Microsoft SQL Azure and a Microsoft-specified configuration of network, storage and server hardware. The appliance is optimized for scale out applications and datacenter efficiency across hundreds to tens of thousands of servers. Large enterprises and service provider partners deploying the appliance in their data centers will have the benefits of the cloud services that Microsoft offers today, while maintaining physical control of location, regulatory compliance and data. The appliance offers the ability to scale up and down from one to thousands of application instances depending on demand.
Microsoft also disclosed details regarding a project code named “Dallas” — an information service powered by the Windows Azure platform that provides developers and information workers access to third-party premium data sets and Web services.
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