Microsoft’s recent decision to end its support for Intel’s Itanium architecture may indicate a paradigm business shift towards cloud computing and virtualization.
According to eWEEK’s Nicholas Kolakowski, the Redmond-based corporate giant has also engaged in a parallel streamlining of its products by “brutally eliminating” several legacy products.
“[This] paradigm shift is…mirrored on the consumer side, where at least one analyst has seen the recent wave of products as evidence that Microsoft is trying to retake ground lost over the past couple of years to Google and other companies,” wrote Kolakowski.
“[For example], Microsoft’s fine-tuning of its business offerings, the better to adjust to a changing landscape, was also evident in its March 5 announcement that it will discontinue future development of its Windows Essential Business Server (EBS)…which found itself apparently outpaced by advances in cloud computing and virtualization.”
According to Kolakowski, Microsoft employees currently working on EBS are slated to be “shifted” over to other projects within the MS Server and Cloud division.
“In a March 5 e-mail to eWEEK, a Microsoft spokesperson termed the elimination of EBS as a ‘streamlining’ of the company’s product portfolio,” Kolakowski explained.
“This decision represents a natural market shift in midsize businesses’ preferences toward creating their own IT solutions.”
