Microsoft will debut its hybrid-cloud platform, Azure Stack, this week, offering a technical preview that goes live Jan. 29.
Aimed at enterprise customers who aren’t ready to put all their sensitive information in the public cloud, Azure Stack allows users to deliver Azure services from their own datacenters. The platform’s architecture mimics that of Azure. Microsoft explained in a blog post what this means for developers:
Azure and Azure Stack have a standardized architecture, including the same portal, a unified application model, and common DevOps tools. The application model is based on Azure Resource Manager, which enables developers to take the same declarative approach to applications, regardless of whether they run on Azure or Azure Stack. Tooling-wise, developers can use Visual Studio, PowerShell, as well as other open-source DevOps tools thereby enabling the same end user experiences as in Azure.
In other words: Build once, deploy on either Azure or Azure Stack.
Microsoft is hoping that offering a hybrid model that plays nicely with its public cloud will spur more businesses to turn to the cloud, adding to the nearly 100,000 subscribers that are already signing up for Microsoft Azure each month. “Microsoft believes enterprises have to approach cloud as a model – not a place,” the blog post reads.
Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich and Chief Architect for Enterprise Cloud Jeffrey Snover will expand on this philosophy in a webcast on Azure Stack scheduled for Feb. 3.
In the meantime, you can sign up here to be notified when the technical preview is ready for download.
Upcoming technical previews will add more content, including OS images and Azure Resource Manager templates, Microsoft says.