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Microsoft Drops Fees for Data Transfers to the CloudStarting July 1, Microsoft will offer free inbound data transfers to its Windows Azure cloud computing platform.
The cut in pricing,announced this week, is available to all Windows Azure customers, according to the company.
Users of Windows Azure still get charged for outbound data transfers, which are region specific. Outbound data transfers are priced at $0.15 per GB in North America and Europe, as well as $0.20 per GB in the Asia Pacific region.
The pricing structure for Windows Azure remains rather complex ever since its introduction in July 2009. Essentially, organizations using Windows Azure pay for the compute time, data storage and data access, plus the bandwidth of the data transferred in and out of the cloud. The various cloud computing phases get priced at specific rates, usually per GB. There's also a monthly fee rolled into the overall cost if an organization uses SQL Azure.
Microsoft offers different monthly plans and discounts, as well as pay-as-you-go plans. To get an idea of the pricing complexity, see Microsoft's "Windows Azure Platform Offer Comparison Table" here.
Microsoft has attempted to make the process of calculating Windows Azure costs a little easier by introducing a Windows Azure Pricing Calculator, which apparently was first released in May. Users of the calculator will get a warning before using it that the calculator's results don't imply "a commitment on the part of Microsoft." Rob Sanfilippo, an analyst with the Directions on Microsoft consultancy, described the calculator as "a starting point."
"The estimation tools are getting better, but organizations should be wary of usage when first deploying cloud-based applications to determine whether there are unexpected resources required," Sanfilippo stated via e-mail. "Variables such as the number of users, types of usage, length of deployment, and development architecture can affect costs in unexpected ways if they are not carefully considered and tested."
Microsoft offers a free 90-day "extra small" trial of Windows Azure, which is available until Sept. 30, 2011.
In other Windows Azure news, Microsoft this week announced the release of the June Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Windows Azure AppFabric. AppFabric is a middleware platform used to develop, deploy and manage Windows Azure cloud-based applications, according to Microsoft's description. The new CTP contains developer tools for Visual Studio, an application manager program and .NET Framework extensions, among other enhancements.
Microsoft provides a demo of some of the new CTP's features in a Channel 9 video here.
