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At its primary technical conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft have released details of a new environment called Windows Azure, to support "cloud based services"; also known as software as a service or software based services, delivered across the internet to all types of business customers.

"It's a transformation of our offerings across the board to fundamentally embrace services," said Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, at the conference.

Microsoft is attempting to tap into the "cloud computing" market which research firm IDC estimates will grow at 16% a year until 2012 while also defending against rivals who are offering products and services that compete with its Office and Windows products. Those products account for the bulk of Microsoft's $60 billion plus in annual revenue.

Microsoft will provide core services for Office, Email and Intranets based around generic implementations of Microsoft products with tailored or bespoke implementations continuing to be the remit of its Partner network. The announcement by Microsoft is expected to raise awareness of the SaaS model and to drive greater levels of interest from the business community.

As a Microsoft Gold Partner specialising in cloud computing services and SaaS, entrustIT are ideally placed to assist businesses of all sizes to take advantage of the move away from locally run and managed technology. Contact us at enquiries@entrustit.co.uk for more information.