2013 was an amazing year for Windows Azure.  Every month saw new records for customer usage, and in April we hit a major milestone with the GA of Windows Azure Infrastructure Service, which received unprecedented adoption.  2014 is looking to be even better as we reached another breakthrough moment with Gartner recognizing Microsoft as a
Leader in the Enterprise Application Platform as a Service (aPaaS) market per its 2014 Enterprise aPaaS Magic Quadrant, published January 7, 2014.

Our enterprise customers tell us that they need a cloud services platform for developing new applications as much as providing infrastructures services for development, testing and hosting of existing applications. Windows Azure’s placement in both the aPaaS Magic Quadrant as a Leader and the Cloud IaaS Magic Quadrant as a Visionary on August 19,
2013, we believe speaks to the completeness of our vision across these scenarios and (far more importantly) our ability to execute successfully to meet the short and long term needs of our enterprise customers. This interest has meant tremendous growth for Azure in just the past six months from new customer sign-ups to the amount of data stored within the platform:

• Averaging 8,000 new customers a week
• Windows Azure uses more server compute than the entire planet used in 2000
• Demand for Compute continues to double every 6-9 months
• More information is stored in Windows Azure than has been printed in history

Ambitious Goals for Windows Azure

Our cloud-first approach has driven an increase in revenue of 103 percent in the first quarter of FY14 for our commercial cloud business. We continue to deliver on the Cloud OS vision by integrating our tools, management products and server platform with Azure to meet the needs of developers and IT.

Developers have been asking for a seamless cloud development experience, and Visual Studio 2013 (VS), which launched last month, provides the ability for developers to write code, deploy directly to Azure and manage their environments without having to go to the Azure Management Portal.

We also added over 200 new services over the past year to Windows Azure, such as Mobile Services, Media Services and Web Sites, for customers who are driving new business value through cloud-native applications. And in the last year, we continue to expand our datacenter footprint around the world with launches in  mainland China and Japan and an intent to launch in Australia and Brazil.

Open and Flexible Windows Azure

Windows Azure has also become a driving force for change at Microsoft, as we have adopted and begun supporting technologies that are not proprietary to Microsoft. This includes new frameworks and languages like node.js, Java, PHP and Python, as well as non-Windows operating systems like SUSE, CentOS and Ubuntu. Customers can use Azure for mobile development of non-Microsoft devices and operating systems like iOS and Android. Our recent partnership with Oracle makes Windows Azure the most comprehensive, fully supported cloud platform for Oracle Database and WebLogic Server. All of this means Windows Azure is becoming the cloud platform for anyone and everyone.

Our Customers Tell the Story

Many of your peers have adopted Azure and are achieving success. Learn about what some of our customers are doing with the cloud in the case studies below:

• Microsoft Teams Up with NBC Sports Group to Deliver Compelling Sports Programming Across Digital Platforms Using Windows Azure
• easyJet European Airline Improves Service and Scalability with Hybrid Cloud Solution
• NBC News Picks Windows Azure over Amazon to Host Push Notifications to Mobile Apps
• Mando Group Deliver a Cross Platform Mobile Solution for TalkTalk Business Powered by Windows Azure
• Lufthansa Systems Uses Hybrid Cloud to Trim IT Delivery to Hours and Reduce Costs
• 3M Unit Boosts Revenue by 50 Percent with Choice of Cloud Service
• Electronics Retailer Enhances Partnerships, Drives Traffic with Cloud Technology

We are excited that Gartner has recognized both our ability to execute and our completeness of vision in the aPaaS market, and look forward to bringing new Azure services and helping our customers become cloud nimble in 2014. If you’d like to read the full report, “Gartner: Magic Quadrant for Application Platform as a Service,” you can find it here.

*Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all
warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.