It seems that amongst the interest in Azure there are a set of questions that are being asked where the response is ”Don’t Know”. As it is early days in the Azure CTP, expecting definitive answers to these questions is unrealistic and we can only assume that Microsoft is listening and will use our input to come up with the right answers. Below are some of the most commonly asked questions for which there is no real answer yet.
When will Azure be released?
Microsoft’s Answer
At the launch during PDC08 Azure was slated for release during the second half of 2009. ‘Softies seem to think that there will be some announcement at PDC 2009 (November 2009)
My Opinions
Microsoft needs to come up with fairly concrete dates and features for production-ready Azure, particularly for the ISV’s and developers who need to get a handle on Azure. The learning curve is steep, the business case will take a lot of explaining and issues (such as regulatory issues) need to be identified up front. Without a clear roadmap, most IT shops will sit back and wait – there seems little point and incentive, particularly during the current economic climate, for investment in something that the start date of ROI can be figured into a calculation.
How much will it cost?
Microsoft’s Answer
The official position generally revolves around the terms ‘competitive’ and ‘consumption based’ – which is broad enough to mean anything. ‘Softie opinion is that more pricing details will be available by the end of this quarter.
My Opinions
The measure of ‘competitive’ is interesting depending on how you intend to take over the world – Google AppEngine is free, they want your site to push adverts; Amazon wants to utilise their spare capacity. Microsoft’s intentions can factor into their pricing and even then it will change depending on which part of the business Azure runs in. To be competitive they also have to compete with standard hosting services, where you can get good enough ASP and SQL Server hosting for about US$150 per year – in that case the pricing model for low-volume websites may need to be in the ‘free’ price range to encourage people to adopt the technology. ‘Consumption based’ is also a can of worms waiting to be opened and can affect how systems are built. For example, if CPU is cheaper than storage, you may compress everything first.
It seems likely that they will define some chunky unit of measure that would map to a typical non-cloud server configuration and set a per hour of use price.
Where will data be stored?
Microsoft’s Answer
Currently, during CTP, the data centre that runs Azure is located in Chicago with more planned and being rolled out. ‘Softies say that the first European data centre will be located in Dublin. Microsoft indicates that the location of the data will be configurable, but how configurable (for example all data in one country or primary data in one country with backup on a different continent) is not clear yet.
My Opinions
This is one of the biggest questions that is asked, particularly when people begin to understand that data is out of their control (although how much it is actually in their control is debatable). Personally I think it is less of an issue, but that is more of a philosophical position – the reality is that this is one of the most important questions that needs to be answered before organizations even begin considering using the cloud. If Microsoft partners with other organizations that provide cloud services (such as EMC) then this problem may go away by itself.
Can I have my own cloud?
Microsoft’s Answer
Microsoft is the only provider of Azure services and enterprises cannot buy the software and run it in their own datacentres.
My Opinion
The idea of a ‘private cloud’ is absurd and any changing of Azure to run off the cloud will become a whittled down version of itself – landing up as a mechanism for starting and stopping VM’s. I don’t think Microsoft's position will change soon but in 5 years or so it may become practical and desirable – after all Microsoft is in the software licensing business, not the utility computing business, and old habits may prevail whereby they sell Azure as licensed software.
Will there be SLA’s?
Microsoft’s Answer
SLA’s will be in place for production services and there will be some tiered SLA agreements. There are no details as yet
My Opinion
Obviously if you host a personal blog on Azure you don’t need five nines availability and you probably don’t care if the data is guaranteed to be safe. A big enterprise would obviously want something different and the SLA’s, with a clear standardization, will go a long way to paving the way for Azure. Having one carefully crafted and checked SLA with one organization is far simpler to manage than various SLA’s between everybody involved (power, OS, security, bandwidth, etc) that currently need to be in place. I imagine that the SLA’s will influence the pricing.
What about us in the channel?
Microsoft’s Answer
<sound of chirping crickets>
My Opinion
A big difference between Microsoft and Google is that Microsoft has a big channel that generally works well for them. A lot of people make money out of selling Microsoft licences and providing services around their products. In the cloud, all of a sudden there are few server licences, fewer product installations and fewer administrators. Microsoft needs to think about and communicate this very carefully and clearly – on the one hand they have to move forward but they can’t risk too much channel conflict. Either they need to find a way for their channel to re-align itself or find ways of allowing the channel to provide Azure services in some way.
Updates
Who has access to my data?
Microsoft’s Answer
<sound of chirping crickets>
Many ITTs I've come across ask this and some even insist on named personnel and even saying that sensitive data will be encrypted doesn't seem to make this question go away. I believe its the degree of control that's key here and clear statements from Microsoft to help people adopt 'Cloud Services for Enterprises' as the way forward.
My Opinion
This is actually a complex question to answer. Firstly it relates to the basic authorization mechanisms that exist – the data is after all on a public endpoint so security is a big issue and is covered by the .NET Access Control Service. Secondly there is the question about the Microsoft operators that administer the platform, and I think that there would have to be more detail in the SLA’s. Lastly it would depend on the country that the data is in and the local laws; the US could waltz in under the Patriot Act and you may not be able to do anything – the answer then being something like ‘anyone who has legal rights to your data’, which is a bit iffy.
I’ll update this post as I come across other questions and answers. Please comment or mail me if you have questions or answers.
Simon Munro