Last week's speech by Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer at the University of Washington about cloud computing may be good news for Israeli start-ups in the sector that collaborate with the company.
PHP developer Zend Technologies Ltd. has been the target of speculation for possible acquisition by Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT). Although Microsoft has open code PHP capability, cloud computing may cause it think differently. Six months ago, Zend unveiled a solution for the automatic conversion of enterprise applications to various cloud computing environments.
When Microsoft unveiled its Azure cloud computing platform last year, it was clear that Gizmox Ltd. would be the first Israeli company to benefit. The company's platform provides an open environment for running applications for Azure. Although Azure's pick up has been slower than expected, some Gizmox-based applications are already running on it.
Gizmox is not waiting for Microsoft, and is examining other technological options. The company is currently raising several million dollars, and an investment by a strategic investor may cause the company to change its priorities in terms of its preferred partners. The company could also become an acquisition target.
In December, Cloudshare Ltd raised $10 million to expand its staff and target markets. The company's virtualization solutions enable enterprises to test their applications on new computer environments without adapting them. The company collaborates with Microsoft, adapting programs such as SQL Server and Windows Server 2008 to run remote applications without the need to adapt them to the work environment.
OpTier Inc., Nolio Ltd., and CorrelSense Ltd. are just some of the companies developing computer infrastructure management solutions. Some of these companies are Microsoft partners, while others are not.
IDC innovative technologies research manager Dan Yachin says, "The cloud computing trend will likely lead to an increase in acquisitions in 2010." Microsoft will have to provide cloud computing capabilities either in-house, through partnerships, or by acquisitions.
48 hours after Balmer's speech, the first reports about Microsoft's Courier Standard were published. The Courier is a direct challenge to Apple Inc's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad. It would be no exaggeration to state that Microsoft's investment in N-Trig Inc. last year was intended to obtain the company's touch screen technology for the Courier. Matters are not clear yet, and N-Trig is not talking.
In the coming months, Microsoft is due to close deals with hardware vendors through design tenders. Needless to say, the winners will get access to the hundreds of millions of units that will be sold in the coming years.
Despite the importance of touch screen and other hardware technologies, what will sell the Courier to the masses in the long term will not be some cool design, but cloud computing capability; i.e. rapid access to various content and computer services located somewhere on the Internet. Without this capability, notepads will not achieve their potential.
N-Trig is one of Israel's more successful start-ups, but there is a direct link between Microsoft's drive in cloud computing and the speed at which N-Trig's technology will reach the masses.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 11, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010