Azure Means Virtualization in Korean Data Centers

You've got to hand it to Microsoft; when the PC market started its downturn in the face of growing numbers of mobile devices, Microsoft could have taken its lumps and departed the market. Instead, Microsoft turned to diversification like no tomorrow, and led pushes in gaming, in mobile, and in virtualization among others. This has led to the growth of Microsoft Azure, which recently made a push into South Korea's data centers in a means to drive its growing global expansion.

The new Microsoft installations are now operating in two of South Korea's major cities: Seoul and Busan.  This is a plan that's been in the works for the better part of a year now, and one that brings Azure to a hefty 13 regions in Asia—including elements in Japan, China and beyond—and a grand total of 34 regions worldwide.

Already in tight competition with several other firms—including powerhouses like Google and Amazon—Microsoft is taking advantage of a

growing market that's discovering value in keeping storage and computing systems closer to developers' operations. That makes these systems more reliable overall and delivers more value to the developer. Throw in some recently-established laws—known as “data sovereignty” laws—requiring data to remain in its country of origin, and systems like Microsoft's become particularly valuable.

Microsoft vice president for Azure Networking Yousef Khalidi noted, “The geographic expansion of Azure enables our customers to achieve higher performance and supports their requirements and preferences regarding data location to meet the growing demand for an intelligent, global, enterprise-ready cloud.”

With two major firms already heavily in the market and Microsoft just getting started, it's clear that virtualization is a wide field. Throw in worldwide competitors like Oracle and Chinese titan Alibaba getting in on the action and the sky could well be the limit. A lot of investment is going into these operations so it's safe to say that no one will back down a minute before there's no other option, and given how much software development is going on worldwide, it's a safe bet that these virtualization tools will continue to be valuable as more companies put these to use to improve network capability and keep data in its home country.

A growing market, featuring some of the biggest names in computing, is likely to be a major market to watch in days to come. With legal forces and market forces actually working together, there's juice enough in this market to go around, and we'll likely see a lot of new developments to come as these powers in the field battle for market supremacy.

Edited by Alicia Young