Microsoft CEO Nadella Suggests Some Customers Favor Azure

While touting a string of recent major customer wins for the Azure cloud platform, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Wednesday hinted that Amazon’s push into new industries such as groceries and health care could be leading some customers to choose Azure over Amazon Web Services.

Recent Azure wins cited by Nadella include a three-year deal with grocer Albertsons, announced last week, and a five-year deal with retailer the Gap, announced in November. In recent months, customers including Walmart and Walgreens have also signed deals for Microsoft cloud offerings including Azure and Office 365.

Ned Bellavance, director of cloud solutions at Blue Bell, Pa.-based Anexinet, said in an email to CRN that Microsoft’s cloud offerings are driving strong demand among customers. “There are still a lot of companies that are looking to migrate to Office 365, especially with the launch of Teams,” he said.

“I’ve also seen a sharp uptick in companies making the move to public cloud,” Bellavance said. “It isn’t just SMBs or enterprise accounts either. Companies of all sizes are taking a closer look and finding the public cloud and Azure, in particular, has all the necessary features and functionality they are looking for.”

Read the full article at CRN.com