By Michael Brown 1

“Mobility and cloud are the future of business, and the future is now,” declared Brad Anderson, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud & Enterprise Division.

Using Microsoft’s own TechEd North America 2014 Conference as a platform, the company announced a series of new services, products, and partnerships that are available now or will launch over the course of the summer. These new features are intended to help remove the barriers to entry for cloud adoption by IT professionals, developers, general technology users and of course, MSPs. This is a fantastic example of how many of the major players are working on complete overhauls to better provide services in the cloud computing and file sharing sector.

Utilizing Private Cloud Connections – Microsoft is putting the cloud first by establishing private cloud connections. The Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute will enable the creation of private connections between Azure’s cloud computing services and on-premise environments.  Microsoft hopes that ExpressRoute will give organizations more reasons to embrace the cloud, featuring improvements in speed, security, and reliability through alliances with providers like AT&T, Verizon, BT, Equinix, Level 3, SingTel, TelecityGroup, and Zadara Storage. Utilizing the networks of these providers, ExpressRoute connections will never touch the public internet. This will make for a faster, more direct, and more secure cloud computing.

Simplifying Cloud Storage – Azure has radically simplified and streamlined cloud storage by enabling a single file share from multiple virtual machines.  This reduction in process should help to save both time and money. Services similar to this can then in turn allow MSPs to save both time and money for their clients. Microsoft is also providing a dedicated cloud-based file sharing server to help businesses move their applications to the cloud.

Improved Security for the Cloud – Yet, the biggest apprehension for most organizations that are considering moving their business to the cloud remains lingering concerns over network security. To combat this anxiety, Microsoft has beefed up their secure network security across on-premise and cloud environments with several new technological offerings. MSPs should be aware of any cloud provider’s security measures thoroughly, as this is likely the most questioned aspect of making a transition to the cloud.

Protecting Data from Loss and Disaster –

Microsoft Azure Site Recovery looks to enhance Microsoft’s disaster recovery efforts.  In the event of an outage at their primary datacenter, this new offering will enable the replication and recovery of virtual machines and services to Azure in a more cost-effective manner than previously.  They are also looking to expand on their data loss prevention functions. The existing Data Loss Prevention capabilities available in Microsoft Exchange will be expanded to include documents stored in cloud based SharePoint Online and OneDrive (Office 365).  This improvement in the prevention of data loss will help to deter the sharing of sensitive content inside and outside of an organization.

These types of big overhauls in related to cloud based services are becoming more common among small and large players (like Microsoft) alike. The more companies that are willing to drastically improve their cloud offerings, the more choices MSPs will have in providers.

It’s now clear that the future of business is already here – and it’s in the cloud. As Microsoft and others make this a top priority, we expect more businesses to transition some (if not all) of their key functions to a cloud environment, specifically file sharing. What are your thoughts on Microsoft’s latest news? Be sure to share in the comments section below.