Windows Azure from PaaS to IaaS: What’s in it for Microsoft Dynamics ERP?

Microsoft plans to take Windows Azure from being solely a PaaS (platform-as-a-service) to enable IaaS (infrastructure-as-a service), including Windows and Linux virtual machine instances.

In addition to simplifying the way customers build and manage applications in Azure, users can now provision and manage virtual private networks (VPNs) in Windows Azure as well as securely extend on-premises networks into the cloud, according to Microsoft. It gives IT administrators control over network topology, including configuration of IP addresses, routing tables and security policies.

But what exactly does this news mean for Microsoft Dynamics ERP products that will be running in Azure starting at the end of this year?  Perhaps not much at first.

"When you first see it and there's talk about infrastructure-as-as service (IaaS) on Azure, which is direct competitor to Amazon's EC3, people look at it and they get excited but when you dig deeper, I think what you're going to see is that it's not Dynamics prime time [for these offerings yet]." said Greg Pierce, Cloud Strategy Officer for Concerto Cloud Services at Tribridge.

The IaaS capabilities that Microsoft have announced will allow users to configure virtual machines in one of five sizes, and support up to 20 virtual machines at once running either Windows or Linux operating systems.  

"By combining infrastructure and platform services, these new capabilities of Windows Azure give you greater flexibility in how to build or bring your applications to the cloud," said Bill Laing, Microsoft's cloud and server corporate VP, in a blog post.

Rob Helm, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, ...