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Q&AAjay Sawhney, President & CEO,

National e-Governance Division, DIT, GoI

VIEWPOINTBeing open in the Cloud

TECH TRENDSEvolving an Openness agenda

PerspectiveIssues that matter

Issue 20 | Feb-Apr 2012 The Information Quarterly from Microsoft

MICROSOFT INTERFACE | AUG-OCT 2011 1

Contents

ContentsTech Trends 10Evolving an Openness agendaToday, the Openness movement at Microsoft is developer-focused, involves real participation in Open Source projects, and represents a genuine commitment to working with Open Source communities. Perspectives takes a look at Microsoft’s journey in the domain of Openness, the several milestones it has crossed and why it spells a change in the company’s attitude and approach to customers.

Viewpoint 15Being open in the CloudMandar Naik of Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. examines the advantages that the Cloud brings to the customer table, discussing how these benefi ts would be greatly reduced if the Cloud were to be an isolated and closed platform, instead of the open and interoperable one it is today.

Q&A 18“We see many advantages in making use of technologies that adhere to Open Standards.”—AJAY SAWHNEY, President & CEO, National e-Governance Division, DIT, GoI

Case Studies 21

News 25

Editorial 2

Chairman’s 3Message

In Focus 4Openness: Building bridges across technologiesWhen technologies within organizations cannot connect easily, the complexity and cost of operating and supporting environments with large numbers of different systems, also goes up exponentially. This can only be overcome when hardware and software vendors build their products to support ‘Openness.’ In this section, Perspective also talks to James Utzschneider, Microsoft’s Worldwide General Manager on Openness and what it means to global companies.

2 MICROSOFT PERSPECTIVE | FEB-APR 2012

Editorial

Providing a perspective on Openness and its growing value to customers

look at current day organizations reveals that their key priority is to maximize their existing IT investments, while having the freedom to

choose new solutions that support their business goals. At the same time, they are keenly looking at how they can manage their mixed technology environments with effi cient and cost-effective systems.

Taking into account this need, Perspective decided to focus on one of the most important trends defi ning the customer landscape today—Openness. Customers in the IT space need products that have been designed keeping Openness at the core, which means they have embraced leading industry standards, are interoperable with other products, and are open in the Cloud.

In this issue, we provide you an overview of Openness, what it means for 21st century customer organizations and what technology providers need to do to shape their product portfolios, so that they refl ect and take into account this crucial client need.

We examine how Microsoft has been ‘walking the talk’ on Openness, and how transformation within the organization has meant that it has become an important proponent of open environments. From making investments in standards (and making HTML 5 the core programming model for Windows 7 and 8 and IE 9 and 10); building partnerships with Open Source communities, such as the PHP, Apache, and Linux; and working to enable open source on its platforms (such as supporting PHP, Node.js, and Java on Windows Azure); Microsoft has been leading the way.

In this issue, apart from the Microsoft viewpoint, we bring you the Indian government’s perspective on Openness, especially examined against the backdrop of the roll-out of e-governance services in the country.

We also bring you case studies, both global and Indian, to show how Microsoft is enabling clients to derive the benefi ts arising from open technologies.

Gauri AroraEditor, [email protected]

In this issue, we provide you an overview of Openness, what it means for 21st century customer organizations and what technology providers need to do to shape their product portfolios, so that they refl ect and take into account this crucial client need.

A

Chairman’s Message

Openness is key to deliver more freedom, choice and value to customers

t is a period of great change for the world. Economic volatility, the emergence of new markets, and alterations in business models and

paradigms, are all challenging the old order. This trend is getting refl ected within the technology realm too, where traditional is giving way to cutting-edge, and yet demanding that they both co-exist. Today, most organizations, including government, public and private companies, are struggling with concerns related to IT obsolescence, safeguarding existing computing investments, and integrating them with new tech. They want to continue to leverage the old, while harnessing the power of what is coming up on the technological horizon.

There is a growing realization among both customers and vendors that Openness is the way to make this happen. Openness as we know, is achieved when technologies conform to standards evolved by global standards-setting bodies, when they take into account the IT needs of customers, and when they extend this Openness and interoperability to the Cloud environment.

In recent times, the shift to cloud computing, the consumerization of IT in the enterprise, and open data/open government directives have created an environment that attaches greater meaning and importance to Openness as an attribute. Customers themselves are not only demanding speed and relentless innovation, but above all, Openness.

Many tech infl uencers, press, analysts and customers believe that this is indeed the emerging scenario. How ‘open’ or ‘closed’ a company is perceived to be, versus its competitors, is a key factor in the decision-making process among CIOs, government functionaries, and developers.

At the end of the day, customers managing a mixed IT environment will simply want all of it to work together. This is how the world is being envisaged today, and in the future, and this is the environment that several technology organizations, including Microsoft, have geared up for, and are actively addressing.

Bhaskar PramanikChairman, Microsoft India

MICROSOFT PERSPECTIVE | FEB-APR 2012 3

The shift to cloud computing, the consumerization of IT in the enterprise, and open data/open government directives have created an environment that attaches greater meaning and importance to Openness as an attribute.

I

In Focus


OPENNESSBuilding bridges across technologies

In Focus

In Focus

ake the family of the Aroras. Their son Amit was recently

talking about his experience in England, where he could not use his cell phone, as his Indian plug did not fi t into the English socket. This experience taught Amit that different systems don’t always work together. On the other hand, the digital camera that Amit took on the trip, worked just fi ne. With its USB standard connector, he could hook the camera on to a number of different systems to view and edit his pictures. He could install any software he liked on it, use it to edit data and read exotic image fi le formats. Interestingly, his images always came out exactly the same, no matter what printer he used for printing them. Globally distributing his snaps was a snap on the Internet using diverse photo portals. Amit understands now that when different systems are specially designed to ensure easy exchange of data, processes can be executed without interruption.

Let’s look at another example. Amit’s father’s company does e-commerce online and the online store has been set up to forward incoming orders to the company’s inventory control system. This data is then transferred to the production systems or processed with offi ce productivity software, that works on invoicing and fi nancial reporting. The order data is fi nally forwarded to the warehouse to be prepared for despatch. The systems currently run on different platforms—and use different technologies. However, the effective use of standards ensures continuous data fl ows.

Amit’s mother, Amrita, says, she has seen a similar scenario in her work in the New Delhi government. Although different departments and regions have different systems, data about citizens can fl ow easily, as


T

everyone has committed to being ‘open’ and using systems that ‘talk to each other.’ For instance, when someone moves from Kolkata to Mumbai, the two cities automatically exchange residency data, and keep their listings current, even though each city uses a different type of software, and data format.

Interestingly, the fi rst reference to such ‘unity in diversity’ probably appeared in Homer’s Illiad, the famous Greek epic, said to be written around the 8th Century B.C. Homer referred to Chimera, a strange beast with the head of a lion (in the front), the head of a goat (in the middle), and the head of a snake (for a tail).

The fi re breathing Chimera, an omen of shipwrecks and volcanic eruptions appears to be a perfect example of a biological system, where three different animals coexist in one form and their vital systems work in harmony (reference, Michael Robkin’s FDA-Continua-CIMIT workshops, 2010).

The need for Openness in technologyWhat Chimera was to the ancient Greek world, technology is to the modern, digital age. Over the last eight decades, digital technology has been evolving and proliferating at a very rapid rate. The pace of implementation however, has differed across

organizations, with larger enterprises remaining the early movers, and smaller and medium companies following behind. Private, public and government sectors have all gravitated towards technology, investing in the state-of-the-art to gain effi ciency, productivity and bottomline benefi ts.

Over the years, several different types of technologies have been purchased and updated by organizations from different vendors. This has led to IT environments that are a mixed bag of the old and the new, where legacy systems rub shoulders with cutting-edge hardware, software platforms, products of Open Source communities, and spanking delivery methodologies such as the Cloud.

While historical investment in IT remains a key reason for today’s eclectic technology scenarios in companies, another reason why different technologies exist within organizations is because customers want choice. They want to be able to pick up the best technologies from different vendors to serve their myriad needs. And for all these technologies to be used optimally by organizations, they need to work seamlessly with one another.

Such connectivity is key for small companies as well. Many SMEs

While historical investment in IT remains a key reason for today’s eclectic technology scenarios in companies, another reason why different technologies exist within organizations is because customers want choice. They want to be able to pick up the best technologies from different vendors to serve their myriad needs.

In Focus


are transitioning to the Cloud era to cut costs, save on technology infrastructure investments and specialized manpower resources, to manage their IT applications. They are doing so by migrating to public Clouds that host their applications. One of the biggest concerns of these companies today is the security of their customer data and vendor lock-in. What for instance, will happen if they want to change their third party service provider? Will they be able to move their data securely to another Cloud without the fear of getting stuck with one single service provider?

The need for such easy interplay between technologies is also becoming critical for global governments, that have put in billions of dollars and rupees into setting up IT infrastructure and constantly scaling it. Governments the world over are now in different stages of embracing Web 2.0 and other transformative technologies, for delivering citizen-centric services. They are setting up portals and web sites, social networking sites and deploying mobility and cloud computing, so that ordinary people can conveniently avail of a range of services without having to stand in serpentine queues, or physically visiting government offi ces.

Besides changing their public face, governments are also using

technology to transform their internal operations—become more effi cient, productive and work collaboratively with other departments. In order for governments to make available their traditional applications on the web environment, port and migrate these to the new technology infrastructure, and work cooperatively with other departments, their IT systems must be able to coexist and interact. Their legacy technology investments must be able to integrate and plug into the new IT, to provide a seamless, uninterrupted and enhanced experience to citizens, leading to improved customer delight.

It must be added here that when technologies cannot connect easily, the complexity and cost of operating and supporting environments with large numbers of different systems, also goes up exponentially. Maintaining

cost-effectiveness and effi ciency of operating these infrastructures is a challenge. This can only be overcome when hardware and software vendors build their products to support ‘Openness.’

And what is Openness in this context?

Defi ning OpennessIt is a fact that customers want to benefi t from the latest technologies. They are demanding best fi tted solutions for the specifi c problems being faced by their businesses, regardless of the platforms the solutions run on and the vendors who are providing them.

Openness therefore, is about co-existence, a strategy to combine competition and cooperation, to give customers a better choice. In order to deliver this, software companies need to ‘live’ this Openness by supporting standards, implementing ‘interoperability,’ sharing information, cooperating with other companies, contributing to communities, and listening to customers.

This in fact, is the defi nition of an open company.

Interoperability, on the other hand, is a technical aspect of systems. Creating interoperable systems is considered the basis for being an open company.

The key pillars of OpennessUntil a few years ago, most companies considered Openness to be synonymous with Open Source. It was believed that in order to be ‘open,’ technology vendors needed to share the source code of their products. Today, however, the world has moved on and customer organizations are no longer concerned about whether the source code of what their IT

Openness is about co-existence, a strategy to combine competition and cooperation, to give customers a better choice. In order to deliver this, software companies need to ‘live’ this Openness by supporting standards, implementing ‘interoperability,’ sharing information, cooperating with other companies, contributing to communities, and listening to customers.

In Focus


suppliers are providing, is open or not. Rather, what matters is whether their product works well with those of other companies, whether it conforms to standards, and provides the necessary documentation and specifi cations.

Conforming to Open Standards: An important principle behind Open Systems is that they embrace and adhere to Open Standards. When developing products, companies need to conform to Open Standards, so that they can work seamlessly with other technology solutions.

Open standards are defi ned by standards-setting organizations and the industry. There are countless standards-setting organizations in existence today and include the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), possibly the biggest federation of standards organizations from dozens of nations; the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), for coordinating and publishing computer and IT standards, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC), that develops standards related to computers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a standards body for the electronic fi elds, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), that develops telecom standards, among others.

According to these bodies, Open Standards must include the following fundamental elements:

• The standard must be developed, approved and maintained by a collaborative consensus-based decision-making process

• This process must be transparent and open to all interested parties

• The standard must be subject to Reasonable and non-

discriminatory terms (RAND)/Fair, Reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND) Intellectual Property Right (IPR) policies that allow the IPR holder to license essential Intellectual Property on reasonable terms, either with or without compensation.

• The standard must be published and available to the public under reasonable terms (including for reasonable fee or free)

Today, developers are frequently deciding to implement widely-used Open Standards rather than designing new protocols from

scratch. A primary advantage of Open Standards is that the consensus process used to maintain the standard reduces the likelihood of unexpected or breaking changes, making future support cost for Open Standards more predictable.

Widely-adopted Open Standards are also popular with developers because they do the job they are supposed to—fi t modern design practices, are implemented on platforms they need to use, and have knowable costs. A standards eco-system based on choice, transparency and a commitment

Open Standards must include the following fundamental elements:

• The standard must be developed, approved and maintained by a collaborative consensus-based decision-making process

• This process must be transparent and open to all interested parties

• The standard must be subject to Reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (RAND)/Fair, Reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND) Intellectual Property Right (IPR) policies that allow the IPR holder to license essential Intellectual Property on reasonable terms, either with or without compensation.

• The standard must be published and available to the public under reasonable terms (including for reasonable fee or free).

In Focus

to technical excellence is critical to ensure a healthy ‘gene pool’ for standards.

Hearing the voice of the user: Listening to customers and assessing their changing needs is becoming a key pillar or tenet of ‘Openness.’ In order to support customers, IT vendors, particularly software vendors, must now design products with interoperability and standards in mind and, more importantly, collaborate with one another. From thinking about how products should interoperate, through testing products once they are built. The voice of the customer is critical in this process.

Building interoperability elements into the Cloud platform: In the last year, several global customers have been considering moving their important IT resources to the Cloud. To do this successfully, they demand the same level of performance, reliability, security and privacy that they demand of their on-premise software. Also, in an increasingly-connected world, new scenarios will continually arise that require good interoperability among Cloud services. Well-designed Cloud platforms can help to achieve all of these goals.

It is therefore becoming imperative that software vendors support key Cloud standards that provide the building blocks for open, interoperable Cloud services. These include the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) frameworks, the Open Data Protocol (OData) and support for

popular protocols and standards. As the Cloud matures, companies must continue to work with the industry and standards bodies to ensure open, interoperable services on the Cloud.

As the world moves forward, the debate about Openness, as opposed to remaining closed, will gather even greater momentum. Organizations will continue to talk about what exactly constitutes Openness, and the movements around open

The key pillars of Openness

• Conforming to Open Standards

• Hearing the voice of the user

• Building interoperability elements into the Cloud platform

government, open web, open data and open knowledge will carry on. Companies will continue to deliberate on whether Openness is about standards, or using Open Source, or something that is free of patents, or available freely on the web, or used by everyone with published Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). The fact is, that Openness is a bit of each, a potpourri of several defi nitions and emerging customer needs. As client requirements change over time, Openness may assume even newer avatars. However, for now, it is clear that Openness in technology is what organizations need today, to ensure that they move from complexity to simplicity and to fruitfully and gainfully use the technology they have deployed on their turf. �

The need for such easy interplay between technologies is also becoming critical for global governments, that have put in billions of dollars and rupees into setting up IT infrastructure and constantly scaling it.


In FocusIn Focus

Perspective spoke to James Utzschneider on Openness and the benefi ts it spells for customers, especially global governments.

How would you describe ‘Openness?’ What did it mean to the IT industry a few years ago, and what does it mean now?Openness is about the transparency an IT vendor uses in terms of its support for standards, interoperability, and integration with Open Source projects. For the last 20 years, several IT vendors have been focused on building favourable public opinion about their portfolios. The result was ‘ideological wars’ around Open Source, duelling standards bodies, and ensuing confusion for IT departments trying to map a future strategy for their organizations.

How do customer companies benefi t from Openness?Customers benefi t from Openness because integration of different technologies from different vendors becomes easier. Greater transparency from different IT vendors also makes long-term planning much easier.

Why do service providers need to embrace Openness? The more transparent and open all vendors are in their roadmap in the space, the easier it becomes for IT professionals to do their jobs.

What must organizations do to promote an ‘eco-system’ of Openness?

Organizations should request their IT vendors to demonstrate interoperability and Openness in practice and just not via promises. It is one thing for an IT vendor to say it will support a standard at some unspecifi ed future date, and quite another to show the support for a standard today through real running code.

What is the importance of standardization in this emerging scenario? Standards lower IT costs and IT risk for organizations and are the foundation for an open approach.

Are standardization and Openness conducive to innovation?Totally. Look at the work we are doing around Windows 8. The consumer preview is getting great reviews in press around the world, and the product embraces HTML 5 as a core technology.

Why is the issue of Openness becoming critical for global governments?The industry conversation has moved beyond a discussion of ‘Open Source’ versus ‘proprietary software.’ This has transformed the debate from a battle between good and evil to a discussion on how the combination of standards, interoperability, the web, and local innovation can best deliver what a country really needs. And what a country needs is national competitiveness on the global stage, more jobs, a stronger economy, streamlined government services based on the web, and improved education across all sectors of society. Openness is a key driver for governments in this conversation because they need global IT vendors to participate in a transparent way to do what is best for the country.

What is the path that governments can take going forward, to realize the best benefi ts from existing IT investments and future proof themselves?Governments always need to focus on how IT projects can deliver value to society. They must use standards in doing so, and make sure that global IT vendors are aligned to national interests.

Are public private partnerships essential to the proliferation of Openness?They are an important tool, but from my perspective, Openness is really about an IT vendor’s behavior. �

“Openness is about the transparency an IT vendor uses in terms of its support for standards, interoperability, and integration with Open Source projects.”—James Utzschneider, Worldwide General Manager on Openness


Tech TrendsTech Trends

Microsoft opens the doors to Openness10 MICROSOFT PERSPECTIVE | FEB-APR 2012

Tech Trends


Did you know?

• Microsoft is one of the biggest contributors to the Linux 3.0 project. LWN.net published an article listing the different contributors to the changes in the source code of Linux kernel 3.0. According to the article, Microsoft has contributed 361 changes/patches to the Linux kernel 3.0, which makes it the seventh largest contributor to the kernel and fi fth largest corporate contributor.

• There are over 1 billion customers that rely on Microsoft’s Cloud infrastructure every year

• More than 11,000 projects are documented on Microsoft’s Open Source project hosting Web site.

• There are more than 80,000 Open Source applications that run on Windows.

• Microsoft contributes to, and collaborates with more than 150 national and international standards organizations.

• Microsoft’s commercial Cloud offerings support 9,000 business customers, 40 million paid online seats, more than 500 government entities, and more than half of Fortune 500 companies.

• In India, over 6,000 applications are available on Windows Azure. Indian ISVs and SIs are building applications and solutions across verticals ranging from healthcare to banking to manufacturing for both local and global markets.

One of the key changes witnessed across Microsoft over the last few years, has been the company’s defi nitive move towards Openness. This is because the company

has evolved its approach to understanding customers, what they need, and what the market demands. Taking cognizance of market trends, Microsoft has become more open in the way that it works with, and collaborates with others in the industry. It has become more open in how it listens to customers, and in its approach to Cloud services, tools and support. Overall, Microsoft is more focused on making its products more open and its technologies more transparent.

Evolving an Openness agendaToday, the Openness movement at Microsoft is developer-focused, involves real participation in Open Source projects, and represents a genuine commitment to working with Open Source communities.

Microsoft’s evolution in the domain of Openness began several years ago, when the company started publishing APIs for most of its major products and freeing up protocols around client and server software. The movement has its roots in 2006, a period that marked a shift of the software industry towards services. With the growth of services came the widespread adoption of open APIs and the need for better interoperability across all platforms. This is because, both service providers as well as customers, had a plethora of disparate hardware, software and communications systems at their ends, and needed to ‘connect’ the two sides to facilitate service delivery.

Forming the OSTCIt was during this time that the Open Source Technology Center (OSTC) and the Interoperability Team at Microsoft were formed. Together, these teams conduct research, development, and outreach that serve as resources to both Open Source communities and Microsoft product teams with the intent of enabling interoperability between Microsoft technologies and Open Source technologies.

Their work has contributed to Hyper-V Linux integration components, device driver code for Linux, PHP 5.3 for Windows, and the SQL Server Drivers for PHP, to name a few. It is with the formation of the OSTC and Interoperability teams that the movement began picking up steam. Today, support for interoperability is no longer confi ned to the umbrellas of special teams. Product teams too are fully embracing and taking ownership of interoperability support. Examples of this are the Windows Azure SDKs for .Net, Node.js and Java, all of which are Open Source projects.

Enter the IECIn June 2006, Microsoft established the Interoperability Executive Customer (IEC) Council as well, as a means of listening to its users and regularly interacting with them to obtain valuable feedback regarding their specifi c interoperability requirements. The company meets twice a year

Taking cognizance of market trends, Microsoft has become more open in the way that it works with, and collaborates with others in the industry. It has become more open in how it listens to customers, and in its approach to Cloud services, tools and support.

Tech Trends

with the IEC Council to discuss interoperability issues, and then meets throughout the year with technical and business working groups comprising representatives from the member organizations, to drill down on interoperability details.

Within four years of the launch of the council, IEC Council members had identifi ed over 50 key areas for improved interoperability across Microsoft products and those of the software industry at large. At least 70 percent of these issues had been resolved by 2010. For those issues that are most complex and diffi cult, the IEC Council and Microsoft are continuing to work together and with other vendors and organizations to fi nd solutions.

All the information gathered from the IEC Council process has been categorized into six areas of focus called work streams. The work stream efforts are led by executives from various Microsoft divisions and product teams who interact and partner with council members’ technical architects and CIOs to identify and develop solutions within these specifi c areas. These are Offi ce Productivity and Collaboration Tools, Identity Management, Business Process Modeling and Services Oriented Architecture, Developer Tools and Runtime, and Public Interoperability Policy. In addition, the IEC Council has identifi ed cloud computing as an area of signifi cant investment and recently formed a seventh work stream to address this area.

Founding the IVAIncidentally, 2006 was also the year that Microsoft became a founding member of the Interop Vendor Alliance (IVA), an organization whose purpose is to work together to enhance the way that diverse products interoperate. Since that time, Microsoft has engaged with numerous vendors from the industry, including competitors, to achieve interoperability with its operating systems and applications for the benefi t of their shared customers.

The company has made freely available full technical information for protocols, fi le formats, standards and other technical specifi cations relating to its high volume products.

In recent years, Microsoft has signifi cantly enhanced its efforts to achieve Openness and interoperability between its products and Open Source Software (OSS) technologies through a number of approaches, including: • Designing its products to

support OSS technologies ‘out-of-the-box’

• Collaborating with OSS vendors to ensure interoperability between its products

• Contributing to OSS projects

• Releasing some technologies under approved Open Source licenses

Here’s what the company is doing in each of these areas:

Listening with an ear to change Microsoft’s IEC Council is one of several avenues through which it is listening to its customers, and gaining insights on how to improve interoperability and collaborate with the community at large. Microsoft’s willingness to listen to its customers and make visible changes, as well as share its current interoperability policy and listen to the Council members’ feedback based on their experience with its products, all point to its commitment to pioneer interoperability both inside and outside the company.

While initially, discussions with the IEC Council were focused on products already in the market, today, they serve to improve the delivery of new products and services that are optimized to promote a better customer experience. By all accounts, this effort is having an impact on how others view Microsoft.

Adhering to standardsMicrosoft recognizes that standards are an important part of a dynamic ICT marketplace, fostering interoperability, collaboration, competition and consumer trust. It has therefore widely accepted open and industry standards based on pervasively used technologies. TCP/IP, HTML and XML for instance, are


Microsoft recognizes that standards are an important part of a dynamic ICT marketplace, fostering interoperability, collaboration, competition and consumer trust.

Tech Trends


among the most common open standards that allow users in India to use the Internet for information exchange irrespective of the source and destination platforms. And Microsoft has embraced these standards to create a framework that is non-prescriptive and technology neutral to allow customers, especially government clients, the maximum fl exibility in their choice of technology.

Today, Microsoft believes that Openness in standards development is the best way to ensure that everyone’s needs are met, whether those needs are rapid innovation, broad adoption, cost effi ciency, or specifi c customer requirements.

The company supports thousands of standards from a wide range of standards bodies, including W3C, IETF, Oasis, ECMA, ITU-T, JTC-1 and others. Microsoft Offi ce for instance, supports a wide range of international open format standards including ISO/IEC 29500 (Open XML), ISO 19005 (PDF/A), and ODF. ODF support has been part of Microsoft Offi ce since Offi ce 2007 SP2, and is included in its Offi ce 365 Cloud services. Microsoft is additionally involved in the international technical committees that maintain and defi ne new versions of the OXML,

PDF and ODF standards.

Microsoft has also developed a set of governing principles that guide its engagement and participation in standards creation, based on its extensive work in the global standards ecosystem. These encompass:

InclusionMicrosoft believes it is important for relevant stakeholders—small companies as well as large; emerging markets as well as mature—to have the opportunity to participate in all types of standards development. According to the company, a strong and vibrant standards community is inclusive of voices from all markets.

TransparencyAccording to Microsoft, standards-setting processes should drive for consensus (i.e., broad agreement across the participants) and participant neutrality (i.e., no single point of view is favored over another in the process) and processes and documentation should be made publicly available for comment, input, and testing. Transparency of implementation is also an important and often overlooked component of standardization and enables better interoperability of implementations. For example,

Microsoft documents its standards support and implementation in its high-volume products. It publishes large volumes of documentation and protocols, offers Microsoft IP under its Open Specifi cations Promise and licenses many elements of its IP portfolio. This transparency and information sharing creates more opportunities for people to develop products that interoperate with, complement, and even compete with, Microsoft solutions.

Technology ExcellenceIt is Microsoft’s view that standards succeed because they meet real world customer needs and deliver value to implementers and users. That value comes from the technical contributions that go into the standard. The company believes it is important to create an environment in the standardization ecosystem that brings the most compelling technology contributions to the table.

Currently, Microsoft has formal membership in 150 standards organizations around the world and is actively participating in 350 standards working groups!

Promoting Openness in the CloudMicrosoft has a long history in the Cloud, dating back nearly 15 years and as it transitions to the Cloud, it is doing so in an open way. In the last few years, the company has expanded its Open Source community work to support Cloud platform interoperability. Microsoft is supporting an Open and interoperable Cloud which it believes is critical for businesses, governments and organizations to take full advantage of Cloud-enabled innovations.

Overall, Microsoft is enabling customers to build new applications to run from the Cloud, or enhance existing applications

Microsoft is enabling customers to build new applications to run from the Cloud, or enhance existing applications with Cloud-based capabilities.

Tech Trends

with Cloud-based capabilities.

Microsoft continues to work with many industry organizations to explore the meaning of Openness in the Cloud. At the same time, it has also launched the Open Government Data Initiative (OGDI), a Cloud-based collection of Open government software assets that enables publicly available government data to be easily accessible. OGDI data is hosted in Windows Azure. It is accessible through open, standards-based web services from a variety of development environments, including Microsoft .Net, JavaScript, Adobe Flash, PHP, Ruby, Python, and others.

Microsoft and Open SourceMicrosoft recognizes that many of its customers use Open Source in one form or another, and it supports that by working with Open Source communities, developers and standards groups. As a result, more than 82-percent of all Open Source software found on source forge runs on Microsoft platforms.

Though Microsoft is best known for its traditional software products, it has in place a robust Open Source strategy that is focused on helping customers and partners succeed in today’s heterogeneous technology landscape, both on-premise and in the Cloud.

Over the last two years, therefore, the company has been making more and more announcements about how it is integrating with Open Source. Today, over 350,000 Open Source Applications run on Microsoft platforms.

Benefi ting the ecosystem with its Openness strategyIt is these initiatives by Microsoft and the technologies that it has built, that have enabled and empowered developers and

partners to deliver compelling software solutions to customers. This is refl ected in the size and health of the technology ecosystem in which Microsoft participates:

• According to the fi ndings of a global study of 22,000 technology companies, 750,000 partner businesses around the world earn an average of USD 8 in revenue for every USD1 earned by Microsoft.

• 5,000,000 developers around the world have created a vast array of applications using platform technologies such as Microsoft Windows, Windows Live, Microsoft Offi ce, .Net platform, Microsoft Windows Server, and Microsoft’s Cloud

offerings such as Windows Azure.

Leveraging Microsoft’s programs, technologies and ecosystem provides OSS vendors and projects an avenue to become even more successful.

Microsoft now envisions a world where it coexists with Open Source products, and where Open Source developers are creating solutions that integrate with, and run on top of Microsoft platforms. The company’s Openness is being viewed as a positive and welcome industry development, one that is changing the dialog from confrontation to collaboration and integration, and ultimately spelling benefi ts for customers. �

Embracing Openness• Microsoft has introduced a ‘jailbreaking’ app for Windows

Phone 7 devices. Normally, Windows Phone 7 devices can run only apps available through Microsoft’s offi cial app store, the Windows Phone Marketplace. Microsoft, however, has recently allowed the developer ChevronWP7 Labs to sell a jailbreaking app through the Windows Phone Marketplace.

• In November 2010, Microsoft aligned itself with the do-it-yourself movement when it decided to let anyone hack into the guts of its Kinect controller-free gaming system for any purpose. It even announced plans to work with universities to promote such activity. Alex Kipman, director of incubation for Xbox Live, told National Public Radio’s ‘Talk of the Nation’ that Microsoft designed the Kinect with an open USB port so that PCs would be able to access the device’s sensors. He also said that Microsoft would increase its partnerships with universities for research using the Kinect.

• The organization is building bridges across platforms, applications and data to create a more interoperable IT eco-system. Scores of customers including governments, corporates, universities and individuals have found success, mixing Microsoft technologies with other technologies–including Open Source–to make effi cient, forward-thinking solutions.


ViewpointViewpoint

Being ‘open’ in the CloudBy Mandar Naik,Director-Product Marketing-CSIMicrosoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd.


Viewpoint


To enable customers to own and control their data, no matter where it resides, Microsoft is committed to ensuring open connections, promoting data portability and providing tools to manage data and easily and effi ciently move it in and out of the Cloud and other platforms.

ne of the top draws of cloud computing for IT users is

saving money or reducing expenditure on IT. The metered subscription model of cloud computing ensures that businesses, governments and other organizations can cut a significant chunk of costs that they would have otherwise incurred on provisioning, buying, implementing and managing business software and hardware. Some of the other advantages that Cloud brings to the table—from near-instant application scalability, pervasive application access across geo-locations and devices, and easier access to latest, cutting-edge technology at low or zero upfront costs—only help make the deal even sweeter. And yet, all of these benefits would be greatly reduced if the Cloud were to be an isolated and closed

platform, instead of an open and interoperable one that it is today.

To see how, let us first agree that Cloud is not and can never become an all-or-nothing solution for any organization—nearly all businesses that embrace cloud computing run a combination of on-premise and Cloud-based applications; and they will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. When co-existence of both on-premise and Cloud-based applications in any IT environment is accepted as given, the need for a tight integration between the two sets of applications becomes apparent and imperative.

Imagine a case where businesses had no clear path to integrate their existing mixed-source IT environments with a Cloud-based application. Imagine a Cloud platform that would restrict application development to a single platform, programming language or tool, causing a roadblock for businesses whose existing applications—written using other programming tools or platforms—would never ‘talk’ to the Cloud-based application. Or imagine a Cloud platform with restricted data portability, which would enforce a platform lock-in because users would not have any means to export their data should they ever decide to change their cloud vendor, or even go back to an on-premise application.

A casual consideration of the implications of such a situation makes it clear that for businesses and organizations to realize the full benefits of cloud computing, an open and interoperable Cloud is imperative.

However, an open Cloud is not a flip-on decision by anyone;

it is rather a journey for all stakeholders, led by the IT industry of course. In its truest form, an open and interoperable Cloud would ensure that one cloud solution, such as Windows Azure, is able to work with other platforms, applications, other clouds. Interoperability is also critical towards delivering the greatest promise of the Cloud—choice for end-users to run their applications locally, on the Cloud or on a combination of both.This vision of an open and interoperable Cloud is hinged upon four key attributes that are outlined by Microsoft as foundational interoperability elements of a cloud platform.

The first attribute is data portability—which at its core enables businesses to move their data in and out of any Cloud application or platform without losing fidelity or encountering any major complications. Data portability is more than a fundamental requirement for an open Cloud—it is the core assurance that any business, or a government will seek before embracing cloud computing.

To enable customers to own and control their data, no matter where it resides, Microsoft is committed to ensuring open connections, promoting data portability and providing tools to manage data and easily and efficiently move it in and out of the Cloud and other platforms. As an example, Microsoft launched the Open Government Data Initiative (OGDI) in 2009 to help cities make government data available to the public and to developers by leveraging cloud computing, industry standards and open source components. Vancouver and Edmonton, Canada, have already launched online sites based on OGDI that give their citizens transparent access to

O

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security, performance, ease-of-management and options for hybrid IT usage.

• Breakthrough insights through the use of familiar tools such as Excel, PowerPivot, SQL Server Analysis Services and Reporting Services.

A Cloud platform that supports the four elements outlined above not only supports mixed-IT environments, but also adds to the value proposition of cloud computing and accelerates the move away from on-premise deployments. Embracing the Cloud is today a matter of when, not if, for most organizations and as the industry leader, Microsoft is helping customers and partners make the transition to the Cloud today through its commitment to Openness. �

information.Secondly, Cloud platforms and applications must support all existing and evolving standards that would make it easier for applications and platforms to interconnect. The Windows Azure Cloud platform is a case in point, with its support for:

• Multiple Internet protocols including HTTP, XML, SOAP and REST

• Key Cloud standards that provide the building blocks for open, interoperable cloud services. These standards include Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) frameworks for datacenters and virtualized systems, web standards like SOAP, REST, AtomPub, and federated security standards that enable highly scalable, loosely coupled cloud systems.

• Additional support for popular protocols and standards like the WS-* standards, DNS, SAML, HTTPS, and the Web Resource Federation Protocol.

• Open Data Protocol (OData):

Supported by Microsoft, OData is an open web protocol that enables easy Cloud data access by a number of different client platforms. This allows customers to own, migrate and control their data, no matter where it resides.

The third key attribute of an open Cloud is ease-of-migration and deployment, which addresses the process of migrating existing IT assets to the Cloud. Cloud platforms should provide a secure migration path that preserves existing investments and should enable the co-existence between on-premise software and Cloud services. This will enable

customers to run ‘private Clouds’ and partners (including hosters) to run ‘partner Clouds’, as well as take advantage of public Cloud platform services.

Finally, a Cloud platform is open when it offers choices to application developers—to use a programming language or tool of their choice. Take Windows Azure for example, which allows developers to use multiple languages (.Net, PHP, Ruby, Python or Java) and development tools (Visual Studio or Eclipse) to build applications. Using their existing skills, developers can further build applications that consume any of the Windows Azure platform offerings from any other Cloud platform, or local platform.We have produced several useful open source tools and SDKs for developers, including the Windows Azure Command-line Tools for PHP, the Windows Azure Tools for Eclipse and the Windows Azure SDK for PHP and for Java. Microsoft joined Zend Technologies Ltd., IBM Corp. and others for an Open Source, Cloud interoperability project called Simple API for Cloud Application Services, which will allow developers to write basic Cloud applications that work in all of the major cloud platforms.

In one of the most recent initiatives, Microsoft announced a distribution of Hadoop for Windows Azure towards helping customers manage ‘Big Data’ on the Azure platform. This will enable:

• Broader access of Hadoop to end users, IT professionals, and developers, through easy installation and configuration and simplified programming with JavaScript.

• Enterprise-ready Hadoop distribution with greater


A key attribute of an open Cloud is ease-of-migration and deployment, which addresses the process of migrating existing IT assets to the cloud. Cloud platforms should provide a secure migration path that preserves existing investments and should enable the co-existence between on-premise software and Cloud services.

Q & AQ & A


“We see many advantages in making use of technologies that adhere to Open Standards.”—Ajay Sawhney, President & CEO, National e-Governance Division, DIT, GoI

An engineer by qualifi cation, an IAS offi cer by profession and a champion of Information Technology by choice, Ajay Sawhney is an experienced, modern technocrat administrator. He is currently working as President and CEO, National e-Governance Division, that assists the Department of IT in Program Management of the National e-governance Plan (NeGP). Commencing his

career in the IAS in the Andhra Pradesh cadre in 1984, Ajay Sawhney has played a key role in formulating the overall IT vision and e-government initiatives of several ministries and departments, both at the central and state levels. Perspective spoke to Sawhney about the changing face of e-Governance in the country and the importance of Openness in this scenario.

Sometimes you can build a very robust base or platform and then at the edges, allow a tremendous amount of innovation. However, the mainstay has to be a robust foundation (platforms), with innovation happening at the edge. Also, the technology should be such that it co-exists with technologies the government has already invested in.

How do factors such as interoperability and adherence to standards enable government to stay on the path of Openness?Open Standards make it possible for governments to remain interoperable. There is need for specifi c designs, frameworks, guidelines, etc. for IT environments to actually become interoperable. We have also been working on an interoperability framework, and a mechanism we have in place for interoperability encompasses the National Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG) and the State Service Delivery Gateways (SSDGs), that are under implementation. These constitute middleware or messaging gateways, and we expect government departments, as they undertake implementation of e-governance projects, to confi gure their services to connect to the middleware and to use the core infrastructure.

Once that happens, it will become possible for other departments, as well as a large number of service access providers, to connect to the services of every department

without having to directly build a connection with the department’s back end. They can simply connect to the middleware or gateway and from there, enable access to the services.

Take the instance of the Aadhar project. The UID has rolled out a number of authentication services in February, 2012. The National Service Delivery Gateway will also have Aadhar services on offer. Therefore, once the connectors or adapters are built from the core Aadhar engine to the National Service Delivery Gateway, the authentication services of Aadhar become available to users across the system, so that they do not have to separately fi gure out how to make use of other platforms. All such services will be made available to the e-governance community by connecting them to the common middleware.

You spoke about how the Cloud is becoming an attractive option for Governments. What are the developments taking place in this area?We are doing some pilots in the area of Cloud technologies and some Proof-of-Concept (PoC) implementations. We are currently trying to understand the available technologies and the nuances of how they have to be managed and how they interoperate with each other. This understanding will enable us to confi dently move ahead with the implementation of Cloud technologies as part

Open Standards make it possible for governments to remain interoperable. There is need for specifi c designs, frameworks, guidelines, etc. for IT environments to actually become interoperable.

How has the need for e-governance, transformed the IT landscape within government?The government has made signifi cant investment in technology. The broad policy we have been following is to support the creation of critical infrastructure at the state level. We have gone ahead with funding from the Government of India, for State Data Centers (SDCs), State Wide Area Networks (SWANS), State Service Delivery Gateways, State Portals, etc.

Our aim is to enable state governments to have state information infrastructure that supports their services. States have the responsibility of providing a very large number of services to citizens. For us, the key unit—where all the action is, is the state government.

Of course, there is always an effort to get the best out of technology, keep costs low and for that, some of the newer technologies like the Cloud can play a major role and remain fairly attractive options. But fi nally, from the government’s perspective, what is important is how to cost-effectively and effi ciently roll out such services.

Today, government organizations support mixed IT environments. Is getting these technologies to work together a challenge?We are avoiding this by aggressively advocating Open Standards.

When making technology choices, what are some of the other factors you look at besides Open Standards?We look at the reliability aspect, whether it is a proven technology, because when we roll out a government service, we do not want it to be on a foundation that is shaky by itself.


Q & A

Q & A

of our State Data Centers. We have gone ahead with Cloud PoC implementations in four states, and are seeing good results, especially in states such as Gujarat. We have also seen some good efforts in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. These states are experimenting with the best of the available stacks and platforms and are therefore aware of, familiar with, and confi dent about handling all the commonly used technologies. Another couple of states will be added shortly and we will do PoCs in six states in all.

How important is it for governments to remain technology neutral?It is extremely important. In fact, there is no other choice. Right from our fi nancial rules and all the processes we follow, all emphasize technology neutrality. As I mentioned earlier, Open Standards are extremely important for us. Rolling out services in a reliable, scalable and robust manner is also very important. We also see advantages in making use of Open Source technologies. There are several states where these have proved to be a very popular option, and a good ecosystem has also developed around them.

With Cloud-based technologies, we believe that all platforms that follow and adhere to Open Standards, have the possibility of being interoperable. What we have done in India is just the beginning. There is a huge market

also currently on, and policy level efforts are already being made to make available large data sets in an Open manner, with APIs, etc. The idea is for a larger community of developers and service access providers to actually create services around that. The entire effort—of getting the core infrastructure in place, getting all the departments and subscribers to come on to the core infrastructure, plus the effort of linking the infrastructure across the country—is helping us achieve our e-governance goals.

What is your message to technology vendors today?I would like to say that increasing availability of e-services, the growing population of mobile users, and the availability and maturing of Cloud-based technologies represent a massive opportunity for technology players. Many companies have been successfully providing a large number of services and solutions to the rest of the world. It is the right time for all of us together, to provide these, to citizens at home, as well. �

out there. There is a large of number of departments that have still to roll out, or scale up their e-governance services. Therefore, there is plenty of room for everyone to grow.

Keeping Openness in view, what are the key challenges that the government is facing?For us Openness is not so much an issue of technology. Openness is about how we can improve the citizen experience. When citizens require something from the government or come in contact with the government for some information need, they might be requesting for a service, or following up on their service request to see whether it has reached satisfactory resolution. They might even have a grievance, complaint or suggestion for the system. It is important that the citizen experience with the government improves with the use of technology, and especially e-services. This can only be made possible if the technologies used by different departments of government are interoperable, and if more and more services get delivered online or Across-The-Counter.

The Open Data Initiative is


It is extremely important for governments to remain technology neutral. In fact, there is no other choice. Right from our fi nancial rules and all the processes we follow, all emphasize technology neutrality.

Nitobi Inc. is a developer of mobile and rich Internet Applications for the enterprise. The Vancouver-based company is well-known in the developer sphere for building sophisticated mobile and Web applications.

Nitobi Inc. has developed these applications for top-tier clients such as Bell Canada, H&R Block Canada Inc. and AT&T for over a decade. Today, the company, which is dedicated to creating valuable end-user experiences, is changing the way rich Internet applications are built. Nitobi has used software and Cloud services operating systems such as Microsoft® Silverlight and Windows Azure™,

mobile social mapping application to allow the data from the City of Vancouver’s Open Data catalog to be more accessible.

The company was looking to develop an app that would ensure that the public could add information about their personal experiences at specifi c locations, allowing open government data to be used in a unique, personal way.

The Microsoft solutionNitobi worked with Microsoft Canada to build VanGuide, an application based on the city’s open data that local citizens and tourists can use while visiting Vancouver. VanGuide overlays the data from

Case Study 1: Nitobi


as well as the Microsoft Open Government Data Initiative (OGDI) to help enable rapid application development for publicly available government data.

Creating rich and more visually appealing applications is important to Nitobi. To uphold its reputation as a leader in cutting-edge, highly usable applications, Nitobi wanted to build an application that encouraged citizens to personalize their open data catalog experience.

In early 2010, Nitobi began its relationship with Microsoft Canada and Vancouver open government experts, helping them to create a

Nitobi Inc. harnesses the power of open government data with VanGuide A look at how Nitobi used Microsoft’s Open Government Data Initiative together with Vancouver’s open data and the Microsoft Azure platform to enable citizens to access government data easily and quickly via the VanGuide mobile and web-based app.

22 MICROSOFT PERSPECTIVE | FEB-APR 2012 2012

the city’s open data catalog with Bing™ maps of Vancouver and enables citizens to visually access information about various landmarks and services, including local parks, schools, libraries and community centres. Furthermore, users can rate, tag and comment on these landmarks, or even include their own, thus adding unique value to the city’s open data catalog and enabling knowledge and information sharing at a social level.

The City of Vancouver is one of the fi rst municipalities in Canada to make its data available to developers. Nitobi realized the opportunity to further extend this data, by leveraging a Cloud-based Open Source framework for open data catalog released by Microsoft: Open Government Data Initiative (OGDI).

Microsoft’s OGDI’s main purpose was to enable government

data to be easily accessible and publicly available for citizens as well as developers. The OGDI implementation using Vancouver data enabled rapid development of a number of web and mobile applications, including VanGuide. This helps cities in Canada and across the world to build vibrant application ecosystems around their open data catalog.

ODGI leverages open standards and open applications programming interfaces to allow developers and governments to create new innovative online applications using data that is open to the public, and VanGuide fulfi ls this goal by bringing citizens government data in a unique and compelling way.

VanGuide is unique in that both visitors and local citizens can use the application to locate the particular restaurant they are looking for or mark their favorite park in the city, and with Microsoft OGDI, users can now

Case Study 1: Nitobi

get information quicker because it’s hosted in the Cloud,” says MacFadyen.

The business benefi tsNitobi is leveraging the City of Vancouver’s open data and Microsoft OGDI to help make data more personable and compelling for citizens.

Streamlined development processes Operating on one platform gives developers more uniformity, as they are in a better position to leverage data to build richer open data applications. The Windows Azure platform, Silverlight, .Net, Bing Maps, Visual Studio 2010 and Microsoft Open Source-based technologies helped Nitobi quickly develop VanGuide to meet their goals, which has ultimately improved collaboration and increased productivity.

Improved collaboration With the help of Visual Studio and Windows Azure, the creation of the application was seamless because all of the Microsoft products used are so tightly integrated.

When working on the same project, users are able to see each other’s changes. In addition, they can now test the application in ten minutes where it would have needed to be completed once or twice a week.

Power of open dataOperating within the Windows Azure and OGDI platforms helps Nitobi get its applications to market faster, which will ultimately help it grow its revenue base. The Openness of OGDI helps Nitobi boost productivity between its Open Source and Microsoft-based platforms – helping developers to speed development time. �

For more information about Nitobi Inc. products and services, visit the website at: http://www.nitobi.com/

ORGANIZATION PROFILENitobi Inc. is a developer of mobile and rich Internet applications for the enterprise.

BUSINESS SITUATIONNitobi wanted to create an application using open government data in a way that makes data more compelling and personable for citizens.

SOLUTIONNitobi used Microsoft Open Government Data Initiative together with Vancouver’s open data and Microsoft Azure platform to create VanGuide. Citizens are now able to access government data easily and quickly.

BENEFITS• Improved Collaboration• Streamlined Development Process• Power of Open Data

FAC

T FI

LE

Case Study 2: Rajasthan University


The College of Veterinary and Animal Science is a constituent college of the Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner. Since its inception in 1954, the college has prospered and spread horizontally. The mandate of the college is to impart quality professional education, to develop technologies suitable for promoting animal production in the state of Rajasthan, to transfer the technologies to fi eld functionaries and develop a center of higher learning, research and extension in the fi eld of veterinary and animal science.

The University runs multiple academic programs in Veterinary and Animal Science, ranging from Diploma to Doctorate courses. The programs are available through its constituent units and affi liated institutions (more than 50 different colleges).

The University developed its website and management portal in PHP5 and mySQL, initially hosting it on a Linux-based server. PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. The web application was supposed to handle admission counseling and related functionality of over a few thousand new students each semester.

FreshLogics, a website and e-commerce design and development fi rm developed the site and delivered the application.

However, growing demand for enterprise solutions such as Microsoft’s Share Point Server, Exchange Server etc. in the education sector compelled the developer to host the PHP application on IIS 7 (the Windows 2008 environment). FreshLogics needed to use Microsoft’s best-in-

class software without causing any negative impact on the application performance and cost.

In order to achieve this, the company approached HostRightNow Technologies, a web hosting and data center solution provider delivering scalable and high performance hosting solutions and services such as reseller hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, and Cloud for individuals and SMEs, etc. Founded in 1997, the fi rm manages multiple data centers, DR sites and hosting servers.

FreshLogics asked HostRightNow Technologies to provide a scalable, high performance hosting solution to the University of Rajasthan. There was need for a physical server hosting location that could be easily accessible throughout India. At the same time, FreshLogics was also looking for a truly robust Windows-based

Rajasthan University ports PHP apps from Linux to Windows environment, gaining performance and cost benefi tsA look at how HostRightNow Technologies, a web hosting solutions provider ported the PHP applications being run by the Rajasthan University, from a Linux server environment to Windows 2008, using Microsoft’s best available server and communications software, and without any adverse impact on its effi ciency and performance levels.

hosting solution, that could run PHP in the same manner as it did on Linux servers.

The Microsoft solutionHostRightNow took up the task of running the PHP5 application on the Windows platform. It was aided in this task by the enhancements made by Microsoft to its Internet Information Services (IIS) technology, a component of the Windows Server operating system used for web server jobs.

Microsoft’s enhancements and innovations included the Windows Cache Extension (WinCache) for PHP, an accelerator that increased the speed of PHP-based applications such as PHP 5 and mySQL. Another innovation was WebMatrix, a set of Windows technologies for developing and deploying websites. It included full support for installing, publishing, and running PHP applications on Windows-based servers. Microsoft created the URL Rewriter, a free extension for IIS, which simplifi ed the creation of web addresses that were easy for people to remember and boosted the results of search engine queries.

Microsoft also enhanced FastCGI—a protocol that linked external applications to web servers—to make it easier to put more PHP 5 and mySQL sites on a shared server while retaining high levels of performance.

HostRightNow also took advantage of the feature-rich, tightly integrated Microsoft products that helped it manage high resource-oriented hosted sites. These include the IIS 7.0 Administration Pack, which provided a set of management features for tasks such as FastCGI confi guration, Advanced Logging, which monitored and measures media content to deliver insights into how users were engaging with web content; the IIS 7 Manager for Remote Administration, which

gave administrators the ability to securely manage remote IIS 7 servers from their desktop PCs; and the Windows PowerShell Snap-In, which automated both simple and complex administrative tasks.

Essentially, HostRightNow provided a secure, scalable Windows-based hosting server located in the center of India, in its India-based data center and DRsite, JaipurDataCenter.com.

The business benefi tsBy hosting PHP 5-based websites on Windows, HostRightNow provided greater choice and fl exibility to the Rajasthan University. The Windows platform provided greater control and effi ciency to the University in running its PHP 5 and mySQL sites. Windows also offered a stable, high-performance environment in which the PHP5 application was highly responsive to users.

More effi ciency in managing sitesThe ability to host PHP 5 and mySQL on Windows also gave the web company, FreshLogics more control over the website deployment. With IIS Manager for Remote Administration, FreshLogics could delegate a much larger set of administrative rights, allowing its customer, the Rajasthan University, to handle more management

tasks itself through the intuitive Windows interface. It also helped reduce delays and errors due to miscommunication, and empowered the University to be more involved in the daily administration of its sites.

Reliable, stable, and responsiveAlong with speed and reliability, Microsoft’s support for PHP applications running on Windows also meant that companies like HostRightNow could fi nd quick solutions to common web hosting/performance issues.

Ease-of-useOne area in which IIS has always shone is user-friendly administrative tools. IIS 7 provided a new management tool that was extremely powerful, yet simple and very ease-to-use. Feature-focused, the tool allowed HostRightNow to simply click on a web server, website or application to individually manage each element. It supported remote administration via HTTP, making it possible to maintain the server locally or over the Internet. It also had confi guration settings that made it easy to delegate administrators to specifi c websites and applications. The new IIS administrative tool was completely modular and built on a highly extensible framework that allowed it to be enhanced with ease. �

Case Study 2: Rajasthan University

Quickfacts

CUSTOMERRajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner, with over 10,000 students

WEB SITEhttp://www.bikanervetcolahdp.org

INDUSTRYEducation

SOFTWARE AND SERVICES• Windows Server 2008 R2• IIS7• PHP 5.x• MySQL 5.x

24 MICROSOFT PERSPECTIVE | FEB-APR 2012 2012

News

WINDOWS SERVER 8 BETA

Every app, any Cloud

Microsoft has opened up the SQL Server data platform even further with expanded interoperability support through new tools that allow customers to modernize their infrastructure while maximizing existing investments and extending virtually any data anywhere.

The SQL Server team has introduced several tools that enable interoperability with SQL Server 2012.

These tools help developers to build secure, highly available and high performance applications for SQL Server in .NET, C/C++, Java and PHP, on-premises and in the Cloud.

These new tools include a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client, a SQL Server

that enables mission-critical applications and enhanced support for open standards, open source applications, and various development languages.

Check out the Windows Server 8 Beta site—http://www.microsoft.com/india/windows/ie/IE8.aspx—to learn more and to understand how it can support mixed IT environment.

(Adapted from TechNet Blogs: Openness at Microsoft)

Microsoft announces new interoperability solutions for SQL Server 2012

ODBC Driver for Linux, backward compatibility with ADO.Net and

the Microsoft JDBC Driver 4.0 and PHP Driver 3.0.


Microsoft’s Bill Laing, Corporate VP of Server and Cloud, recently announced the availability of Windows Server 8 Beta. This is exciting news for IT managers looking for a scalable web platform and the ability to build, deploy, and support hybrid applications that can run on-premise or in the Cloud.

This release showcases Windows Server 8 Beta as an open web and app development environment

Movideo: Java a fi rst-class citizen on Windows AzureMovideo, the only end-to-end SaaS online video platform based in the Asia Pacifi c region, has announced a four-year strategic alliance with Microsoft, migrating its integrated online video platform to Windows Azure.

Movideo has a history with Open Source and was impressed with the way Microsoft has made Java a fi rst-class citizen on Azure. According to Cameron Moore, CTO of Movideo, “Microsoft has been very open and from our perspective embracing the Open Source community. We come from a Java/Linux background and use a typical Java stack inside our IT environment. It was a big step for us to migrate to a Microsoft technology. Through working closely with Microsoft’s China Cloud Innovation Center,

Microsoft Hong Kong offi ce and the Microsoft Redmond product engineering teams, we are making it a smooth transition.”

The Movideo agreement demonstrates the value of Microsoft and Open Source solutions working together. By enabling Java and other languages on Windows Azure, it’s easier for companies like Movideo to take advantage of the scalability and reliability that Azure delivers. Movideo can now focus less on the back-end infrastructure that underpins their offering and more on delivering the best customer experience, which in this case is optimizing the management and delivery of great online content. (Adapted from TechNet Blogs: Openness at Microsoft)

Microsoft has initiated a wide range of Open Source developments on Windows Azure. As it continues to provide incremental improvements to Windows Azure, Microsoft remains committed to working with developer communities. The company has spent a lot of time listening to customers and has heard them loud and clear.

Microsoft understands that there are many different technologies that developers may want to use to build applications in the Cloud. Developers want to use the tools that best fi t their experience, skills, and application requirements, and Microsoft’s goal is to enable that choice.

In keeping with that goal, Microsoft has delivered new and

improved experiences for Node.js, MongoDB, Hadoop, Solr and Memcached on Windows Azure.

This delivers the company’s

Windows Azure gets more Open

ongoing commitment to provide an experience where developers can build applications on Windows Azure using the languages and frameworks they already know, enable greater customer fl exibility for managing and scaling databases, and make it easier for customers to get started and use cloud computing on their terms with Windows Azure.

The Windows Azure experience has also been signifi cantly improved and streamlined. This includes simplifi ed subscription management and billing, a guaranteed free 90-day trial with quick sign-up process, reduced prices, improved database scale and management, and more.

Windows Azure is continuing on its roadmap of embracing OSS tools developers know and love, by working collaboratively with the Open Source community to build together a better Cloud that supports all developers and their need for interoperable solutions based on developer choice.

(Adapted from the blog by Gianugo Rabellino, Microsoft’s Senior Director of Open Source Communities).


News

News


Microsoft has announced that it is forming a wholly-owned subsidiary to handle its Open Source interoperability efforts. The subsidiary will work with Open Source projects, open-standards groups and interoperability initiatives.

The subsidiary, called Microsoft Open Technologies Inc., will be formed from the company’s interoperability strategy team, and led by Microsoft general manager for interoperability strategy, Jean Paoli. Paoli, is a co-creator of the XML 1.0 standard in conjunction with the Worldwide Web Consortium standards body. About 50 to 75 people will be part of the subsidiary to begin with.

Having this subsidiary in place will “make it easier and faster to iterate and release Open Source software, participate in existing Open source efforts, and accept contributions from the community,” Paoli explained in a blog post. Paoli said that his “existing Interoperability Strategy team” would serve as the core of the new entity.

According to Paoli, the change further demonstrates “Microsoft’s long-term commitment to interoperability, greater Openness,

Microsoft Open Technologies formed to address interoperability

and to working with Open Source communities.” In recent years, Microsoft has been participating more broadly in Open Source projects, as refl ected by its newfound status as one of the top 20 contributors to the Linux kernel.

According to Paoli, Microsoft will continue with its Open Source coordination with groups such as the Apache Software Foundation and the Outercurve Foundation.Microsoft currently supports Windows interoperability with various Open Source technologies such as Drupal, Joomla, Hadoop, MongoDB and Linux, among others. Microsoft is also working with the Distributed Management Task Force and OASIS on interoperable Cloud technologies. Microsoft supports multiple languages, such as Java, PHP and Node.js, as well as .Net, on its Window Azure cloud computing platform.

Microsoft has been gradually ramping up its Open Source interoperability efforts, including a global outreach effort conducted by its interoperability strategy team, which was launched last year. Going forward, Microsoft’s existing product groups and divisions will continue to be involved with Open Source and standards initiatives, as they are

today.At the same time, the new subsidiary will be nimble and fl exible, with the ability to work with outside projects at a faster pace, while providing a stronger connection between them and the broader company. The subsidiary will provide a new way of engaging with Open Source communities in a more clearly defi ned manner. The effort is about bridging Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies.

Microsoft Open Technologies will be wholly owned by Microsoft, with a board of directors that includes executives from the company’s business groups.

(Adapted from an article by Mary Jo Foley in Zdnet.com blog)

Microsoft is moving the Bing Search application programming interface (API) to the Windows Azure Marketplace. The Windows Azure Marketplace is the site where Microsoft and third party vendors can sell (or offer for free) their data, apps and services.

Microsoft offi cials said the Bing API Marketplace transition will “begin in several weeks and take a few months to complete.” Via a post to

Microsoft launches Bing on Azure Marketplacethe Bing Developer blog on April 12, offi cials did say that Microsoft plans to make the API available on a monthly subscription basis.“Developers can expect subscription pricing to start at approximately USD 40 (USD) per month for up to 20,000 queries each month,” according to the post. However, “during the transition period, developers will be encouraged to try the Bing Search API for free on the Windows Azure

Marketplace, before we begin charging for the service.”

In the interim, Microsoft is advising developers that they can continue to use the Bing Search API 2.0 for free. After the transition, it will no longer be free for public use and will be available from the Azure Marketplace only.

(Adapted from an article by Mary Jo Foley in Zdnet.com blog)

Jean Paoli, General Manager, Interoperability Strategy, Microsoft

Multinational conglomerate reduces level of IT maintenance and cuts costs by nearly 65 percent while improving scalability with Microsoft’s cloud technology In an effort to offer its customers Web-based applications with high performance and scalability while maintaining low infrastructure and management costs, multinational conglomerate Essar Group has implemented Windows Azure, Microsoft’s Cloud services platform, to deliver some of its applications.

A leader in various business sectors, including steel, energy, power, communications, shipping ports, logistics and construction, and with operations in more than 25 countries across fi ve continents and revenues at USD17 billion, Essar remains competitive in an aggressive marketplace through a focused effort on superior customer service. With its enterprise customers in mind, the company sought to enhance its offerings with a Cloud version of some of its applications.

Microsoft Services approached Essar with a cost-effective solution in Windows Azure that allowed the company to obtain the benefi ts of both public and private Cloud computing while also reducing the level of IT maintenance required to manage the applications on-premises. Because it is hosted in Microsoft data centers, Windows Azure is able to provide developers with on-demand computing and storage, as well as the ability to scale and manage Web applications.

Essar expects that the delivery of its applications through Windows Azure will enable the company to increase profi tability and reduce

Essar Group unleashes power of the Cloud with Windows Azure

costs by as much as 65 percent. Because IT staff members are also no longer allocating time to infrastructure management, they can devote more time to mission-critical operations.

“With Windows Azure, we don’t have to spend money on hardware and software, and we don’t have to spend time on administrative tasks related to infrastructure,” said Jayantha Prabhu, Chief Technology Offi cer, Essar Group. :A scalable, well-defi ned platform gives us much fewer problems to solve and more time to focus on the overall experience of the application.”

In coordination with MindTree, a Microsoft Gold Certifi ed Partner that delivers a broad range of IT services and software product engineering, Essar seamlessly transitioned four of its applications—HSECAR (Corrective Action Report (CAR) system), AVID (A Voyage into Insatiable Discovery), Saksham and Visitor Management System & Gate Pass

System—to the Windows Azure platform in August, 2011.

Since implementation, Essar has already experienced the multiple benefi ts of Microsoft’s cloud technology. “We quickly knew that we had made the best choice in selecting Windows Azure,: Prabhu said.

In addition to cutting costs, Windows Azure has given Essar the fl exibility to scale compute and storage resources up and down as needed. “In fact, we can maintain the high level of scalability needed at a lower total cost of ownership compared with an on-premises solution,” Prabhu added.

More information on the Essar Group’s move to Windows Azure is available in the Microsoft case study at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2012/Apr12/04-30EssarPR.aspx. More information on the services offered by Mind-Tree is available at the company’s website.


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Q&AAjay Sawhney, President & CEO,

National e-Governance Division, DIT, GoI

VIEWPOINTBeing open in the Cloud

TECH TRENDSEvolving an Openness agenda

PerspectiveIssues that matter

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