每次微軟宣布在新一輪的云計(jì)算中Office 365勝出，Talkin’ Cloud又會(huì)發(fā)出重復(fù)的困惑：有哪些渠道拍檔參與了Office 365的部署嗎？微軟的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)答案都是：公司現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)擁有42,000個(gè)云計(jì)算拍檔，比去年的16,000增長(zhǎng)了。

增長(zhǎng)幅度令人咋舌。但是仍然存在著一個(gè)更大的問(wèn)題：有多少Office 365的云計(jì)算拍檔是真正活躍的、參與并贏得了Office 365的多筆交易？就目前來(lái)說(shuō)，這是不可能告知的。

早在2011年3月，Talkin’ Cloud準(zhǔn)確地指出了微軟的企業(yè)生產(chǎn)力在線套件（BPOS，Office 365的前身）的前10名美國(guó)云計(jì)算拍檔。這些排在前10名的云計(jì)算拍檔，在世界各地有65到390個(gè)微軟云客戶。這些數(shù)字，從未由微軟出面直接證實(shí)過(guò)，似乎表明微軟云計(jì)算拍檔社區(qū)的一個(gè)緩慢的開(kāi)頭。

微軟的云計(jì)算聲明

快進(jìn)到現(xiàn)在，微軟繼續(xù)對(duì)其云計(jì)算拍檔的努力發(fā)表樂(lè)觀聲明。本周早些時(shí)候，微軟在Talkin’ Cloud上發(fā)表了最新的聲明。上面寫(xiě)到：

“云計(jì)算拍檔是Office 365客戶交易的組成部分，而且參與了產(chǎn)品生命周期的不同部分。在過(guò)去的12個(gè)月中，我們的拍檔系統(tǒng)規(guī)模又?jǐn)U大了一倍，全球的合作伙伴從16,000到42,000。這個(gè)拍檔系統(tǒng)大約是Google的10倍。拍檔有系統(tǒng)集成商，服務(wù)提供商，增值分銷(xiāo)商和獨(dú)立軟件開(kāi)發(fā)商。他們提供服務(wù)、培訓(xùn)、咨詢、支持和應(yīng)用，以幫助客戶從Office 365中得到的盡可能的多。”

給微軟信貸。拍檔簽署了協(xié)議轉(zhuǎn)售微軟的云服務(wù)。但是是否微軟的云計(jì)算拍檔正在驅(qū)動(dòng)成百上千甚至上萬(wàn)的交易仍是未知的。

商業(yè)應(yīng)用勢(shì)頭

微軟昨天發(fā)行的最新收益，沒(méi)有微軟云收入的相關(guān)信息。但是也有一些有前途的金融趨勢(shì)，指出Office 365會(huì)長(zhǎng)期成功。在收益聲明中，微軟表示Exchange和SharePoint的收入增長(zhǎng)了10個(gè)百分點(diǎn)，而且Lync和動(dòng)態(tài)CR的收入增長(zhǎng)了30個(gè)百分點(diǎn)。

這是些客觀的數(shù)字。而在未來(lái)的幾個(gè)月/年，相當(dāng)一部分客戶將考慮把微軟的戶內(nèi)業(yè)務(wù)應(yīng)用轉(zhuǎn)移到云上。

但最大的問(wèn)題仍然是：在這些轉(zhuǎn)移中，拍檔會(huì)起到多大的作用呢？

Each time Microsoft announces a new round of cloud computing wins for Office 365, Talkin’ Cloud asks the same question: Were any channel partners involved in the Office 365 deployments? Microsoft’s standard response: The company now has 42,000 cloud computing partners, up from 16,000 at this time last year.

That growth figure is impressive. But a bigger question remains: How many of those Office 365 cloud partners are truly active, engaged and winning multiple Office 365 deals? So far it’s impossible to say.

Back in March 2011, Talkin’ Cloud pinpointed Microsoft’s top 10 U.S. cloud partners for BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), the precursor to Office 365. Those top 10 cloud partners had anywhere from 65 to 390 Microsoft cloud customers. Those figures, never directly confirmed by Microsoft, seemed to indicate a slow start for the Microsoft cloud partner community.

Microsoft’s Cloud Computing Statement

Fast forward to the present and Microsoft continues to make upbeat statements about its cloud partner efforts. The latest Microsoft statement reached Talkin’ Cloud earlier this week. It read:

“Partners are an integral part of many Office 365 customer deals and are involved in different parts of the product lifecycle. In the last 12 months, our partner ecosystem has more than doubled in size – from 16,000 to more than 42,000 partners worldwide. This partner ecosystem is roughly 10 times more partners than Google. These partners range from systems integrators and service providers to value added resellers and ISVs. They deliver services, training, consulting, support and applications that help customers get the most from Office 365.”

Give Microsoft credit. Partners are signing up to re-sell Microsoft’s cloud services. But we still have no idea if Microsoft’s cloud partners are driving hundreds, thousands or tens-of-thousands of deals.

Business Application Momentum

Microsoft’s latest earnings release, issued yesterday, lacked information about Microsoft’s cloud revenues. But there were some promising financial trends that could point to long-term Office 365 success. In the earnings statement, Microsoft said revenues from Exchange and SharePoint jumped 10 percent, while revenues from Lync and Dynamics CRM grew by more than 30 percent.

Those are impressive figures. And in the months/years ahead, a healthy number of customers will consider shifting Microsoft’s on-premise business applications into Microsoft’s cloud.