Azure: Microsoft’s ‘You Get What You Pay For’ Cloud
We know Amazon (AMZN) offers an uptime guarantee of 99.95% on its EC2 cloud (measured in five-minute increments). So when Microsoft (MSFT) introduced the world to its Azure cloud in October, we wondered: What kind of reliability could we expect from Microsoft?
Seems the answer is, it depends on how much you're willing to spend.
Speaking at a Windows Azure meetup at Microsoft's midtown Manhattan offices earlier tonight, company executives said Microsoft is leaning towards a "tiered service level agreement," with cheap cloud access offered with lower performance guarantees, and premium pricing to be charged for high-reliability service.
Execs added that a tiered SLA is only the company's thinking at the moment, and may change before Azure goes live.
More details on Azure from the meeting:
See Also:
Unanswered Questions About Microsoft's New Cloud Service "Azure"
Microsoft's Smart Cloud Catch-Up Plan: Three Years Of Free Software
Cloud Computing Reality Check: Microsoft Servers Crushed By Windows 7 Downloads
