Microsoft's Next Generation Network Points to Cloud Computing

In accordance with the vision that Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect (Ozzie has taken the title of Chief Software Architect from Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates back in 2006, and along with Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer, is one of Gates' replacements), Microsoft is evolving toward a Software plus Services business strategy. But on its way to cloud computing, the Redmond company needs a solid infrastructure to support its Software + Services offerings. And such an infrastructure is synonymous with a next generation network, more specific a content delivery network. Currently, following an agreement inked back in August 2006 with Limelight Networks, the no. 2 content delivery provider on the CDN market behind Akamai, Microsoft is hard at work putting together just such an infrastructure.

During a presentation at a conference for web architects, Debra Chrapaty, Corporate Vice President of Global Foundation Services for Microsoft, revealed that: "Right now we're actually building our own edge network. We're going to put nodes all over the world that we can leverage a little more broadly than we could by using a partner. We're architecting one of the world's largest networks. In environments like ours, we could look at network costs, if we continue to scale and support the world's data, in the billions of dollars. The numbers are really enormous," Chrapaty was quoted saying by Data Center Knowledge.

Microsoft's venture into the content delivery network market was taken a step further with speculation, pointing to the fact that the Redmond company, following its partnership with Limelight Networks, is now looking to buy the CDN provider. Such a move would ensure not only a cozy position on the CDN market for Microsoft, but would also function as the foundation for the building of the company's cloud computing infrastructure. In the immediate future, however, it is clear that Microsoft is focused on optimizing the delivery of media content and online services across its global Internet properties.