"IT leaders tell me that private cloud computing promises to help them focus on innovation over maintenance, to streamline costs and to respond to the need for IT speed," Satya Nadella, president of Microsoft Server and Tools Business says."We are delivering on that promise today. With System Center 2012, customers can move beyond the industry hype and speculation, and progress into the here and now of private cloud."
And, probably most telling is that Microsoft is backing their cloud play with a reported $8.64B R&D investment.
"As the great Gretzky said, a good hockey player plays where the puck is, but a great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be," Dewey Forrester, Microsoft senior director says. "Microsoft is bringing that same approach to our cloud strategy. Our goal is to help customers focus on their core business by providing Windows Azure as a robust and agile platform so partners such as Redknee deliver industry-specific applications and create business value for our mutual customers."
The Birth of BSSaaS
Platform providers like Microsoft are leading the way by providing a platform to help ISVs with deep billing expertise to develop vertical, cloud-based BSS solutions and they are investing in their partner ecosystem to accelerate time-to-market for partner solutions. Microsoft also brings a pre-integrated IT portfolio to the party as well—including Microsoft SQL Azure, Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. And their ISV partners seem to be taking full advantage of the opportunity too.
Redknee, a leading provider of convergent billing and charging solutions recently announced it has expanded its strategic relationship with Microsoft to support their strategy their cloud strategy. The release announced the integration of Redknee's convergent billing platform with Microsoft Windows Azure. This recently development illustrates how leading ISVs like Redknee are taking advantage of the Microsoft platform to create a full arsenal of deployment options for their customers. For Redknee, this means they are now able to offer on-premise, private cloud and public cloud deployment models enabling their customers to choose the option that best suits them.
In a newsletter article last November, Chris Newton-Smith, Redknee's vice president of marketing projected cloud-based billing solutions will reach $1.5B by 2015 and, by the looks of it, they are positioning themselves to fully capitalize on the opportunity with their partner.
"Redknee's commitment to invest in Microsoft Windows Azure reiterates our common goal with Microsoft to deliver solutions for communication service providers that empower them with greater business agility," Redknee's Skoczkowski says. "This joint solution provides exceptional flexibility for service providers that lower the barriers to entry for next generation, converged billing solutions by taking advantage of the benefits of the cloud."
Redknee isn't the first billing solution provider or Microsoft partner to take advantage of the Azure platform either, and they're not likely to be the last. In June of last year, Metratech announced its cloud-based billing solution on Windows Azure, Metanga. By September, Metratech was notably recognized by analyst firm, Gartner's in their 2011 "Hype Cycle for Communications Service Provider Operations" report.
The Winners
The most obvious winners will most likely be the ISVs who are able to harness the enormous momentum of cloud and demand for advanced BSS. The market demand and business drivers are carving a wide opportunity for those that come to market with a reliable and secure solution.
According to BusinessWeek, Microsoft's managed software sales breached $1B - two years ago. Billing vendors, like Redknee are achieving double-digit annual revenue growth and the party is just getting started.
CSPs stand to benefit a great deal as well. Having a low-maintenance, easy-to-use, cloud-based BSS architecture that's pre-integrated into their IT environment can enable CSPs to significantly drive down costs and emancipate valuable IT and computing resources to enable them to better focus them on areas of innovation and operational efficiency.
The enterprise is also a winner. Cloud-based BSS enables enterprises of all sizes to receive best-in-class IT solution that are pre-integrated, sophisticated, and can help them grow at a time where growth is imperative.
But, probably the most important winner is the source of the demand: the customer. Cloud-based BSS enables digital consumers around the world to experience the "always on" connectedness and consume content on the go, anywhere, and at any time.
