Yesterday, as Microsoft detailed its strategy and road map for developers to move, enhance and transform applications for the cloud, an enterprising Irish software company already proved itself capable of stealing a march on the rest of the world.
Microsoft yesterday announced the availability of the Windows Azure platform at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC). In his opening keynote address, Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft, described Windows Azure and SQL Azure as core elements of the company’s cloud-services strategy.
The company also announced a set of new Windows Azure features, Windows Server capabilities, and marketplace offerings that will make it easier for developers to build profitable businesses from their Microsoft-based solutions.
Customer wants
“Customers want choice and flexibility in how they develop and deploy applications,” Ozzie said. “We’re moving into an era of solutions that are experienced by users across PCs, phones and the web, and that are delivered from data centres we refer to as private clouds and public clouds. Built specifically for this era of cloud computing, Windows Azure and SQL Azure will give developers what they need to build great applications and profitable businesses.”
While Ozzie outlined the vision, it seems two Irish companies are already ahead of the pack. TradeFacilitate, the innovative new web-based solution for international paper-free trade documentation has selected InishTech to provide Software Licensing Management for its online service.
TradeFacilitate is dedicated to reducing the costs associated with dated and inefficient paper-based international trade transactions and increasing the trade competitiveness of buyers and sellers globally.
It provides a European Union (EU)-validated solution with global capability and scalability that enables traders and their transport intermediaries to create and manage all their relevant trade, transport and customs data, using only an invoice, and assists in linking their physical and financial supply-chain activities.
What TradeFacilitate is about
TradeFacilitate is committed to being the market leader in low-cost, high-value global standards based paper-free eTrade services. Web Service solutions such as the TradeFacilitate, which is based on the Microsoft Windows Azure platform, demand flexible new licensing models to reflect the changing deployment environment and customer pricing models. InishTech’s Software Protection and Licensing Online Service (SLP Service) is designed to meet these needs.
“We provide our customers with a seamless, paper-free service that simplifies their trading operations,” said TradeFacilitate CEO, Conor O’Riordan.
“We need total flexibility in packaging and delivering our service to the customer so that we can meet their individual requirements. SLPs allow us to do that with ease. The service is very powerful yet extremely easy to use and manage.”
Development
The TradeFacilitate solution is developed using the Microsoft .NET Framework and is a great example of how technology can simplify business operations in the new Smart Economy.
According to Aidan Gallagher, CEO of InishTech, TradeFacilitate is exactly the type of customer that can benefit from using InishTech SLP Service.
“TradeFacilitate has a deep understanding of their customers and marketplace and have developed a solution that will deliver real business benefits to their clients. The Microsoft .NET Framework and Azure have enabled them to deliver a powerful solution in a robust Web Service environment. We are delighted to be part of that solution and look forward to helping TradeFacilitate grow their business models in a proactive way with flexible licensing.”
TradeFacilitate’s commercial solutions are available to buyers and sellers in the European Union and Australia, and will be rolled out to USA and China, among other countries from November 2009.
By John Kennedy
Photo: Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform and SQL Azure have been desribed as core elements of the company’s cloud-services strategy by Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft.
