A lot of the cloud buzz at Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) may be focused on the early success of the newly launched Microsoft Office 365. But while the Microsoft Windows Azure platform-as-a-service offering may not be front and center, there were still some key milestones to be shared around the Windows Azure Marketplace app store and the Azure Platform Appliance.

Microsoft reported the Windows Azure Marketplace now supports selling finalized cloud applications in the curated app store. Previously, the marketplace only supported building block components, training, service templates and premium data sets. Microsoft and its developer partners are currently offering 578 products on the Windows Azure Marketplace, 450 of which are applications, according to the press release announcing the support. And those statistics came with the promise of more to come.

As for the Windows Azure Platform Appliance, Microsoft highlighted those service provider partners that will be able to host their own Azure PaaS clouds. Fujitsu will begin offering the Fujitsu Global Cloud Platform powered by Windows Azure in August, with Japanese data residency services coming down the pipeline. HP plans to offer Windows Azure for public and private clouds later this year, and eBay is working on implementing on its own Azure appliance.

I’m starting to hear from Microsoft Windows Azure ISVs and appliance partners who want to share what they’ve cooked up on the platform, so stay tuned for more updates from WPC.
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