The new platform will feature an "efficient, virtualized" environment with a "fully automated service management system" providing "highly scalable" storage services -- as with EC2 you only use the storage you need. The service will "scale to millions of machines" across Microsoft's data centers, the advertisement added.
Basing its Web-based strategy on a "software-plus-services" approach that combines traditional packaged software with cloud offerings, Microsoft officials have made a series of public statements over the last 18 months that make it clear that the Redmond, Wash. software giant is pushing with increased urgency to respond to the cloud computing movement that threatens to sweep traditional PC-based applications before it, including business platforms like Microsoft's dominant Office suite.
At Microsoft's annual Mix08 conference in March, Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie said that the "utility computing model will reshape ... enterprise applications and solutions. All our software will be significantly refactored to provide a level of symmetry between enterprise-based software, partner-hosted services, and services in the cloud."
Exactly how that "refactoring" will take place remains unclear. In April Microsoft debuted Live Mesh, an ambitious plan to weave PCs, devices, and cloud computing to allow users to synchronize data across devices, automatically back up data on the Web, share content, and remotely access Internet-connected devices such as smartphones and laptops.
Red Dog, if it matches the descriptions currently circulating, will go one step further to give developers and enterprises the power of Microsoft's cloud-computing infrastructure to offer their own customers and employees Web apps and services.
To realize the benefits of cloud-native software, an application must actually be cloud-native—designed to run in the cloud, interacting with disaggregated cloud services, fully manageable as code—to deliver the expected benefits.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
