eBay, Dell, HP Get Microsoft's Azure ''Appliance''

Microsoft's is introducing an Azure "appliance" that will first be used publicly by eBay, and sold by the likes of Dell and HP.

eBay said Monday that it will be one of Microsoft's first customers to use the new Windows Azure platform appliance for cloud computing. The Windows Azure platform appliance is the first turnkey cloud platform that customers can deploy--in their own datacenter--across hundreds to thousands of servers. The platform appliance includes Windows Azure, SQL Azure, and a Microsoft-specified configuration of network, storage and server hardware.

"Microsoft’s focus on and investment in the Windows Azure platform appliance shows they are committed to world-class cloud computing solutions," said James Barrese, eBay vice president of technology. "eBay has the right blueprint for next-generation software-as-a-service-based applications with our platform’s architecture, scale and reliability. Joint engineering on the Windows Azure platform appliance with eBay’s massive, high-volume systems allows Microsoft to demonstrate its leadership in this space and helps eBay improve our user experience through a flexible, scalable and cost-effective solution."

HP also said that it plans to work with Microsoft on a Windows Azure platform appliance that will be managed by HP Converged Infrastructure on-premises (although customers will also have the option of using HP data center hosting services). The Converged Infrastructure for the Windows Azure platform appliance will include HP Networking and HP ProLiant servers, and could be deployed in HP Performance-Optimized Datacenters.

Dell is also jumping on the Azure bandwagon, adding Microsoft's new appliance to its current Dell Services Cloud. "The Windows Azure platform appliance will allow Dell to deliver private and public cloud services for Dell and its enterprise, public, small and medium-sized business customers," the company said. "Dell will also work with Microsoft to develop a Dell-powered Windows Azure platform appliance for enterprise organizations to run in their data centers."

to learn more about the Windows Azure platform appliance, head here.