Microsoft and Intuit are planning to integrate the capabilities of their
cloud services platforms, giving developers the chance to develop applications
for small and midsize businesses that use QuickBooks financial software. Customers
would be able to access the applications via the cloud-based Intuit
App Center.
Intuit has named Windows Azure the "preferred platform" for SMB
cloud-based application development on the Intuit Partner Platform, in theory
giving Intuit's developer community access to a variety of Microsoft-built
tools. The beta of the Windows Azure SDK (software development kit) for Intuit
Partner Platform is available for downloading from this site. The SDK will be
offered to developers for free.
"By combining the pooled technology assets of our developer communities,"
Walid Abu-Hadba, Microsoft corporate vice president of the Developer &
Platform Evangelism organization, said in a Jan. 21 statement, "we stand
to produce an outpouring of new applications to help small businesses enhance
their competitive edge."
Later in 2010, Microsoft also plans to sell a variety of online services,
including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting and Office
Communications Online, through the Intuit
App Center.
"The Intuit App
Center is a huge
breakthrough," Bill Lucchini, vice president and general manager of
Intuit's Platform as a Service Group, said in a Jan. 21 statement. "Now,
Microsoft developers can enhance their businesses with access to the small
business channel, the Intuit App
Center will get stronger and small
businesses will reap the rewards of all this innovation."
Microsoft
has been experimenting with cloud-computing platforms aimed at a variety of
different audiences, although the full results of those efforts may not be
known for several years. One of the mainstays of this effort, Windows Azure, consists
of three parts: Windows Azure, an operating system as a service; SQL Azure, a
cloud-based relational database; and .NET Services,
which provide both secure connectivity and federated access control for
applications.
Jan. 1 marked the full switch-on of the Azure cloud platform for
enterprises. By February 2010, users will have to pay for Azure's services via a
pay-as-you go model, a subscription format or volume licensing.
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