Microsoft is reportedly planning to rename its public cloud platform from ‘Windows Azure’ to ‘Microsoft Azure.’ The announcement will apparently come today, with an effective date of April 3 2014.
Foley stated that multiple anonymous sources have confirmed Microsoft’s plan to rebrand its cloud platform from “Windows Azure” as “Microsoft Azure.” This move is claimed to be a “part of the company’s push to emphasize its cross-platform services prowess.”
According to the ZDNet report, “The rebranding makes sense, given Windows Azure isn’t all about Windows. Azure customers can run Linux in virtual machines on the operating system. Azure users also can run Oracle databases and middleware, and use non-Windows-specific development tools, including Java, Ruby, PHP and Python.”
Further confirming this news from ZDNet’s Foley, VentureBeat verified the name change with its own source familiar with the matter. The report noted that the company will announce the name change and provide more details later this week at the Build developer conference in San Francisco.
Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella has been implementing a lot of changes to gain traction for Windows as well as Windows Phone products. The company is expected to release Office for Apple’s iPad. It’s also speculated that Microsoft will extend Azure support for other platforms too.
Apart from being Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Azure also allows developers to build, deploy and manage applications. Azure can run Linux in virtual machines, supports certain functions of Microsoft’s Xbox One game platform and is compatible with a wide range of apps, program languages and frameworks.
