Microsoft aims to expand in the ‘big computing’ space with new acquisition

Microsoft has acquired cloud-focused Cycle Computing. The new acquisition will help the company expand its presence in the world of ‘big computing’, which includes high-performance computing (HPC), to cater to the growing demands of enterprises.

Utilising the resources from Cycle Computing, Microsoft is set to upgrade Azure to compete strongly with Amazon Web Services and Google Compute Engine. The Greenwich, Connecticut-based company has its flagship orchestration suite CycleCloud, which will enable Azure to more deeply support Linux workloads and provide easier switching from Linux and Windows on-premise workloads to the cloud.

“As customers continue to look for faster, more efficient ways to run their workloads, Cycle Computing’s depth and expertise around massively scalable applications make it a great fit to join our Microsoft team,” said Microsoft Azure corporate vice president Jason Zander, in a blog post.

As a software provider for orchestration computing, Cycle Computing has so far been supporting Amazon Web Services and Google Compute Engine. However, the company will now largely favour Azure against the other leading cloud offerings. “We see amazing opportunities in joining forces with Microsoft — its global cloud footprint and unique hybrid offering is built with enterprises in mind,” stated Jason Stowe, founder and CEO, Cycle Computing.

Founded in 2015, Cycle Computing started its operations with the open source high-throughput framework HTCondor. But with the emergence of cloud computing, the company started developing solutions for cloud environments.