OREANDA-NEWS. June 08, 2011. Fujitsu Limited and Microsoft Corporation today announced that the first release of its Global Cloud Platform service powered by Windows Azure(1), running in Fujitsu's datacenter in Japan, will be launched August 2011. The launch of the service, named FGCP/A5, is the result of the global strategic partnership between Fujitsu and Microsoft announced in July 2010. The partnership allows Fujitsu to work alongside Microsoft providing services to enable, deliver and manage solutions built on Windows Azure. As of April 21, 2011, Fujitsu has been offering the service in Japan on a trial basis to twenty companies. This launch marks the first official production release of the Windows Azure platform appliance by Fujitsu. By using FGCP/A5, customers will be able to quickly build elastically-scalable applications using familiar Windows Azure platform technologies, streamline their information and communication technology (ICT) operations management to accelerate business expansion, and enhance their competitive edge in the global market.
Background

The Fujitsu Global Cloud Platform service, FGCP/A5, is the result of the strategic partnership between Fujitsu and Microsoft on the development of a Fujitsu-branded cloud service running specifically on Fujitsu's servers with scalable compute and storage powered by Windows Azure. The appliance will be operated from Fujitsu's datacenter in Japan, and will run FGCP/A5, the first cloud service hosted in Japan to provide Windows Azure developers with a familiar and consistent application and data platform.

FGCP/A5 offers a set of application development frameworks, such as Microsoft .NET, Java and PHP, and data storage capabilities consistent with the Windows Azure platform provided by Microsoft. The basic service consists of compute, storage, Microsoft SQL Azure, and Windows Azure AppFabric technologies such as Service Bus and Access Control Service, with options for interoperating services covering implementation and migration of applications, system building, systems operation, and support.

Delivering on the promise of cloud computing, the Fujitsu Global Cloud Platform service will offer many benefits over traditional computing for customers worldwide, including: reducing the operational expense required to provision, deploy and manage an application server; enabling developers to more quickly develop applications and data services; and offering elastic scalability to respond more quickly to competitive challenges and business needs. FGCP/A5 will be supported by well-established operational and monitoring technologies enhanced by Fujitsu-developed middleware which can be deployed with FGCP/A5. In addition, Fujitsu will begin efforts to train Windows Azure platform technical experts, allowing the company to further expand its network of systems engineers and broaden its systems integration capabilities through FGCP/A5.

The Fujitsu Global Cloud Platform service powered by Windows Azure will be globally accessible, building on additional investments in cloud-oriented services including consulting, migration, and implementation support. To meet the needs of customers who want to quickly take advantage of this new platform, Fujitsu will offer various services to help with the development of new applications and migration of existing applications.

FGCP/A5 is geared towards a wide variety of customers—ranging from leading enterprises to value-oriented small and medium-sized companies—by offering an even more secure, reliable, and highly-available computing infrastructure with greater flexibility at an affordable price.

"Based on the success of the trial service, we are now ready to launch FGCP/A5 officially," said Kazuo Ishida, Corporate Senior Executive Vice President and Director of Fujitsu Limited. "We are very confident that this cloud service will deliver to our customers the flexibility and convenience they are looking for to streamline their ICT operations management costs."

"We're excited to see the fruits of our collaboration with Fujitsu," said Bill Laing, Corporate Vice-President for the Server and Cloud Division at Microsoft. "The launch of the Fujitsu Global Cloud Platform service powered by Windows Azure will greatly benefit customers both in Japan and around the world."
Features of FGCP/A5
Greater reliability, and increased control and compliance

The FGCP/A5 service will be hosted in a Fujitsu datacenter located in Japan. This will allow customers who prefer to store their business data domestically to have timely access to the datacenter when necessary and reduce delays due to network latency. With some of the most advanced technologies in the industry, Fujitsu datacenters in Japan combine cutting-edge disaster-readiness, security, and environmental friendliness. With 14 years of uninterrupted operations, the datacenters' highly-reliable operations provide a solid foundation to support FGCP/A5.
Streamlined operations through sophisticated monitoring and integration services

System operations are simplified through advanced application monitoring, detailed logs, and process automation. In addition, the deployment of Java or COBOL applications and distributed monitoring of hybrid-cloud environments are enabled by Fujitsu middleware products, such as Systemwalker, Interstage, and NetCOBOL. Fujitsu will also offer optional support and consulting services for integration or migration of existing applications and infrastructure.