Partnership will drive application and services innovation in UK and create new opportunities for ISVs
London, 4 November 2010 - Expanding a partnership announced in July at Microsoft’s World Wide Partner Conference[1], Fujitsu and Microsoft will today announce plans at The Government Leaders Forum to utilise the Microsoft Windows Azure platform to deliver cloud computing benefits to UK businesses. The partnership will enable the delivery of innovative application services to UK organisations and provide new opportunities for the Independent Software Vendor (ISV) community, both of which will lead to cost reduction, greater business responsiveness and increased choice.
Windows Azure is a flexible cloud computing platform offering from Microsoft which enables applications to be hosted and delivered to end users directly from the cloud. Fujitsu will work alongside Microsoft as a strategic partner providing services to enable, deliver and manage solutions built on Windows Azure.
In addition the partnership will create an eco-system which will allow smaller ISVs to exploit the Windows Azure platform to bring innovation to the UK market. Fujitsu will provide services to enable ISVs to migrate existing intellectual property (IP) to the Windows Azure platform and allow ISVs to deliver their software solutions as services using Windows Azure. ISVs can leverage Fujitsu’s trusted service delivery capabilities and experience of delivering IT services to the UK market.
Roger Gilbert, CEO Fujitsu UK & Ireland comments, “The Fujitsu and Microsoft Windows Azure partnership offers a significant opportunity to bring cost and agility benefits to UK businesses securely and reliably. ISVs have a great opportunity to provide their services with the support and technology back-up which comes from working with industry leaders. Fujitsu’s end-to-end management of services and long history of expertise in application delivery will ensure services are delivered with quality and integrity.” 
Gordon Frazer, Microsoft’s UK managing director comments, “The introduction of the Windows Azure platform marks an important industry milestone in the transformation to cloud computing and presents an exciting opportunity for private and public sector organisations, as well as the ISV community. With decades-long experience and a proven track record together, Fujitsu and Microsoft can provide support to ISVs as they transition and migrate their largest and most complex environments to take advantage of the opportunities of the Windows Azure Platform.”
This announcement of the availability of cloud services in the UK forms part of a global partnership between Fujitsu and Microsoft which was announced earlier this year[2] and is part of a portfolio of cloud offerings available from Fujitsu.
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[1] Fujitsu and Microsoft Expand Partnership to Provide Global Cloud Computing – July 12, 2010 http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2010/jul10/07-12MSFujitsuAzurePR.mspx
[2] http://www.fujitsu.com/uk/news/pr/fs_20100712.html.