Microsoft Announces General Availability of Microsoft Cloud Platform System

Microsoft has released several enhancements to its hyper-scale, enterprise-grade, hybrid cloud platform, including the new Azure G-series of virtual machines and Premium Storage. The company also announced the general availability of the Microsoft Cloud Platform System, powered by Dell; and a new Azure Marketplace in Australia.

General availability of Azure in the Australia region will be completed by the end of October. This means that, by the end of 2014, Microsoft Azure will be operational in 19 regions around the world.

Microsoft also announced the introduction of the G-series of virtual machines and premium storage for Microsoft Azure. Powered by the latest Intel Xeon processors, Microsoft says the G-series will be the largest virtual machines available in the public cloud to date, while Azure Premium Storage will provide impressive performance per virtual machine. Together they will deliver enterprise-grade scale and performance that enterprises and developers need to run demanding workloads in the cloud.

The Microsoft Cloud Platform System (CPS), powered by Dell, brings together Azure, Windows Server and Microsoft System Center to deliver an “Azure-consistent cloud in a box.” With pre-integrated hardware from Dell and software from Microsoft, CPS delivers learnings from Azure to customers and partners with the control of an on-premises appliance. CPS will be available for purchase on Nov. 3.