Microsoft brings the best public cloud platform, Windows Azure, to China

Today, it is my great honor to announce that Microsoft is bringing the best public cloud platform, Windows Azure, to China. One months ago, when Windows Server 2012 was officially listed in China, and now that Windows Azure is getting closer to China, this is another big step in our vision of a cloud operating system in China-meaning millions of Chinese companies will benefit from the multi-tenant public cloud and private cloud services.

We firmly believe that every customer has the right to choose their own time and manner of migrating to the cloud. Windows Server 2012 and Windows Azure give customers the right to choose the cloud solution that best suits them. Whether using the proprietary data center of the enterprise or the public cloud computing capabilities provided by Windows Azure, we will do our best to provide our customers and partners with an optimal solution to meet their business needs.

Today, we signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Shanghai municipal government and signed a landmark agreement to empower century Internet companies to use Microsoft technology to provide Windows Azure services in China through local data centers to meet local customer needs.

In particular, we are excited to be able to meet the huge demand of the Chinese market for public cloud platforms and to provide the security and reliability that customers expect. China's publicly-owned cloud computing market capacity will grow from $297 million trillion in 2011 to $3.8 billion in 2020, the research institute Forrester said in its recently released Asia-Pacific Cloud computing market Capacity Assessment report. In China, Windows Azure is ready to provide services to businesses that want to use cloud computing in their own way.

Doug Hauger, general Manager of Microsoft Server and Development Tools Division