Cloud services are becoming one of Microsoft"s biggest businesses. In April, the company announced that its Windows Azure cloud server division was now bringing in over $1 billion in yearly revenue. Today, Microsoft announced a new venture with AT&T that offers enterprise customers a service that combines new cloud integration technology developed by AT&T with Microsoft"s Windows Azure.
Microsoft"s press release says that their collaboration with AT&T will allow customers to connect their applications and services from their own private cloud service to Microsoft"s Windows Azure service via a virtual private network.
So how does AT&T fit in? The press release states that it will use what the company calls AT&T NetBond to combine computing and networking features that will help automate a number of tasks. It adds:
It allows the network and compute resources to flex in tandem to support the fluctuating demands on systems that enterprise cloud users often experience throughout the year. AT&T customers are already able to take advantage of the technology with AT&T’s own cloud offers. The new cloud solution takes advantage of the Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology underpinning AT&T’s virtual private network solution.
Microsoft and AT&T did not disclose the financial specific of this new partnership. The new cloud service will launch in the first half of 2014.
Source: Microsoft | Image via Microsoft