Microsoft Azure cloud services through data centres in India

Microsoft announced this Tuesday that its commercial cloud services including Office 365 and Azure will be offered by 2015 through local data centres based in India as it is gearing itself for the domestic marketing race worth $2 trillion with rivals like IBM and Google. Microsoft is headquartered in US and aims at setting up 3 data centres in 3 Indian cities. The firm’s cloud business recorded a growth over 100 percent in India. Happy with the success, the firm has decided to take this progress one step forward by setting up its data centres in India. This is also a means for adding to the Microsoft’s global infrastructure. building data centres will be a means to target business for Microsoft and it will also be a help for  India – as the institutions and government would be able to keep their within the country’s geographical boundaries.

Since a large number of Indians add to the internet population every day, it is better to have local data centres. It will ensure speedy and reliable access to the data. Satya Nadella (microsoft’s 3rd CEO after Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates) stated that here cloud computing services are worth a market opportunity equalling $2 trillion. It’s his first visit to India after being posted on the job. He also said that the project will begin with a very high initial footprint. A global cloud infrastructure can help in revitalizing the productivity. For India this is another step in realizing the dream of digital India and opening up new possibilities in the field of education, financial inclusion, health care, e – governance and so on. Microsoft’s business combines reach and depth together as stated by Sanchit Vir Gogia (CEO, greyhound research).

Windows OS provides reach and the enterprise relationships provide depth. Even though Microsoft couldn’t hit the mobility curve, it is still a great player in cloud technology. Cloud computing is all about renting storage, processing or application software ‘on’ the internet. Majority of the companies have moved to this model for saving time, money and improving their services. Local data centers reduce latency and maintain privacy and security regulations. Nadella said that nearly 250 million Indians use internet and therefore there is a great demand for cloud computing services in the country. According to regulations set by some countries, the data should always reside on local data center. Although, the revenue generated by Microsoft’s cloud computing services is quite less when compared to other markets. However, with the increasing mobility and digitization, the demand for cloud services is also increasing. Microsoft started its operation in India in 1990 and now currently employs 6000 people.