Microsoft is following the likes of Google and
Amazonwith acloud computing serviceto provide
businesses with a way to buy computing services on demand over the
internet.
The company aims to offer IT directors an alternative way to buy
software. Rather than pay for licences for software installed on
site, an IT director will be able to buy Microsoft software on
demand, paying on a per-use or monthly subscription basis.
Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, said, "The combination of
software plus services gives customers advanced choice and
flexibility in how they access and manage software."
Microsoft has introduced a new licensing model to support
its
online services strategy. New customers and customers without
Microsoft Software Assurance can purchase Microsoft Online Services
as a per-user subscription. Businesses with Software Assurance on
their Microsoft Client Access Licenses will be offered a discounted
user subscription.
If a business buys a subscription, Microsoft said users will be
able to choose to run the software either via the internet, using
Microsoft Online Services, or through access servers installed on
site.
Analyst Gartner urged IT directors to begin evaluating the
Microsoft service, as software as a service (SaaS) will become
increasingly important for IT departments. Garter predicts that by
2012, 20% of businesses will be running the Microsoft Online
Services for e-mail.
The Microsoft service would face several major challenges, said
Matt Cain, a research vice-president at Gartner. "Providing
large-scale SaaS for business requires significant expertise in
high availability, security, multi-tenant architectures, network
topologies and problem resolution. Furthermore, Microsoft is
retrofitting its existing software to the multi-tenant server
model. It will not be until the next version of Exchange (due in
2011) that its core products are better designed to run in a
multi-tenant SaaS model."
Microsoft plans to offer Exchange Online and SharePoint Online
together with Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting
as a suite of services or as individual service offerings.
A beta version of Microsoft
Online Services is now available. The new services are
scheduled to be available to businesses in the second half of the
year.