Fujitsu
and Microsoft announced on July 12, 2010 that the two companies are forming an alliance
on cloud computing, according to a press release by Microsoft. Under the
partnership, Fujitsu is enabled to host Microsoft's Windows Azure platform-based
cloud computing services in its datacenters, starting from the Fujitsu
Tatebayashi System Center in Gunma Prefecture, Japan by the end of 2010, and other
datacenters around the world are expected to follow suit. Fujitsu has
identified three modes of cloud computing consumption: infrastructure as a
service, application as a service, and activity as a service, which will all be
supported by the Windows Azure platform.
Fujitsu
plans to train more than 5,000 personnel to assist customers and independent
software vendors in developing and integrating applications on the Windows
Azure platform. Currently, Fujitsu runs about 90 datacenters in 16 countries.