Consultancy firm Directions on Microsoft has outlined expectations for Microsoft's product roadmap in 2012 and beyond.
Cloud Expectations Helm described Microsoft's cloud platforms as centering on software and services for running apps in large-scale datacenters, both public and private. Motivations for organizations to move to the cloud include cost, as well as gaining access new hardware and automating processes. On the private cloud side, Microsoft's vision is Windows Server 2008 plus System Center 2012. Helm said that many organizations with private clouds use VMware's hypervisor for virtualization rather than Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisor, but those using VMware products may also rely on Microsoft System Center for management.
System Center 2012 Every product in the System Center 2012 suite will get a major update, but the most important changes will be found in Virtual Machine Manager. The entire System Center 2012 product line will be sold as a single suite when released in 2012.
Currently the products are available at the release candidate stage. Helm said that we might see System Center 2012 released as a final product, "probably by April." It's expected to happen near the time of the Microsoft Management Summit. System Center will gain greater reach into Windows Azure, Helm predicted. He noted that Virtual Machine Manager 2012 already can manage some Windows Azure resources. In addition, some Windows Server capabilities will grow closer to Windows Azure.
Mobile Devices and Windows 8 With the consumerization of IT trend, tablets increasingly are seen as targets for running corporate applications, Helm said. However, to get there, tablets will have to become "good corporate citizens." Windows 7 is Microsoft's current client OS for tablets, but the tablets on the market running it tend to lag in providing good battery lifetimes, Helm said. Microsoft's tablet strategy used to be based on the Window CE OS, which was designed for low- power, touch-enabled cell phone use.
Business Intelligence and SQL Server 2012 Business intelligence (BI) is a catch-all term to describe how a business is doing in terms of sales, internal processes and targeting using its hard data sources. The aim is to make better business decisions, Helm explained. Microsoft delivers its BI capabilities via SQL Server and its PowerPivot family of technologies. SQL Server 2012 is getting a major overhaul in terms of licensing.
Organizations wanting to use PowerPivot previously had to have the Enterprise edition licensing of SQL Server. However, that option is getting replaced. There will be a new BI edition, licensed on a Server Client Access License (CAL) basis, that will replace the Enterprise edition, Helm explained.
Social computing for the enterpise F or instance, he predicted that the next Exchange product release would be designed to handle larger multitenant installations. Exchange has its own product release schedule that is not tied to the Microsoft Office releases.
Helm predicted that the next version of Exchange might be released sometime in 2013. Microsoft is planning to host Hadoop on Windows Azure, enabling big data capabilities. Helm said that Microsoft plans to look at Hadoop-style capabilities more generally for its SQL Server product line. Microsoft is going to rethink its platform in SQL Server given the success of Hadoop, he explained.
With regard to Lync, Microsoft's unified communications product, Helm said there will be a hands-off integration with the Skype voice-over-IP solution, possibly happening sometime in 2013. He said that the integration might start out with just presence and instant messaging at first. Microsoft Forefront, which is a suite of enterprise security solutions, will get new releases sometime in 2013, Helm predicted. Helm replied to a question about the cloud computing market by stating that Amazon's and Microsoft's capabilities are fundamentally converging.
Amazon offers platform-as-a-service storage that is almost identical to Microsoft's hosted storage, he said, adding that "I think you'll gradually see Amazon Web Services and Azure converge in terms of their capabilities." In response to a question on social networking, Helm said that SharePoint's next-generation social computing behavior will be similar to Facebook.
Content management will be integrated more fundamentally into social computing. Social computing integration is already being seen with Windows Phone. He predicted something like the Windows Phone people hub appearing in the Windows 8 client.
MORE : Microsoft Planning NFC Support, Skype Integration In Windows Phone 8
FULL STORY : http://redmondmag.com/articles/2012/01/27/microsoft-product-roadmap-for-2012.aspx
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