Microsoft Enlists Zend To Boost Azure Appeal

There’s no doubt that the battle for supremacy in the cloud comes down to which service provider ultimately creates the largest application ecosystem on their platform. By that measure Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a significant lead over its next closest rivals. In fact, a new survey of 1,500 global IT executives published by 451 Research today shows that 57 percent of them are already using AWS.

But that same survey finds that 42 percent of the respondents are using Microsoft Azure, which would suggest that Microsoft is gaining ground on AWS.

To further close that gap Microsoft revealed today that is has partnered with Zend, a provider of the PHP platform most widely used for Web applications, to gain access to Z-Ray analytics software that enables developers to see how efficiently their application is consuming IT infrastructure resources.

Zend CEO Andi Gutmans said in age where the cost of infrastructure is directly tied to how much it is actually used, Microsoft is looking to attract developers by providing them with a better overall experience that happens to save money. It’s also no coincidence that Microsoft is going after PHP developers. For all the enthusiasm that other programming language might generate, PHP is still the workhorse of Web applications. Everything from WordPress, Drupal and Magento is written in PHP.

When it comes to bulk of the applications that will move into the cloud in the years ahead most of them are not going to be particularly advanced. By and large they will not only be block and tackle applications more often than not being moved to the cloud as part of an overall upgrade; they more they likely will be deployed across some form of a hybrid cloud computing environment. In that part of the market, Microsoft and its channel partners still hold more sway than cloud service provider such as AWS or Google (GOOG).

In fact, Microsoft in the cloud might have a lot more upside ahead it in the month or years to come than either AWS or Google because as everyone in the channel already knows when it comes to SMB customers it’s all about first and foremost having the relationship.