{"id":17641,"date":"2020-09-22T20:11:58","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T12:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/azure-orbital-launches-microsoft-into-cloud-based-space-race-with-amazon\/"},"modified":"2020-09-22T20:11:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T12:11:58","slug":"azure-orbital-launches-microsoft-into-cloud-based-space-race-with-amazon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/azure-orbital-launches-microsoft-into-cloud-based-space-race-with-amazon\/","title":{"rendered":"Azure Orbital launches Microsoft into cloud-based space race with Amazon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"KSAT
The world\u2019s largest and most northerly commercial satellite ground station, KSAT\u2019s Svalbard Station in Norway\u2019s Arctic archipelago, will be part of Microsoft\u2019s Azure Orbital network. (KSAT Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Call it the Clash of the Cloud Titans: Today Microsoft is taking the wraps off Azure Orbital, a cloud-based satellite data processing platform that competes with Amazon Web Services\u2019 Ground Station offering.<\/p>\n

The launch of Azure Orbital, timed for this week\u2019s Microsoft Ignite conference for developers, can be taken as another sign that the final frontier is the next frontier for cloud computing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, we\u2019re building a \u2018ground station as a service,\u2019 \u201d Mark Russinovich, chief technology officer at Microsoft Azure, told GeekWire in advance of today\u2019s unveiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cSatellites are becoming more and more important for a variety of reasons,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen it comes to cloud and data processing, obviously the cloud is a key part of any solution that goes into leveraging satellites, whether it\u2019s imaging for weather, or natural disasters or ground communications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like AWS Ground Station, Azure Orbital makes it possible for satellite operators to control their spacecraft via the cloud, or integrate satellite data with cloud-based storage and processing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got lots of customers in the public domain and government, in the private sector even, that are leveraging satellite imagery for various uses \u2014 and that want to leverage cloud services on top of that, as well as the IoT aspect,\u201d Russinovich said.<\/p>\n

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Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich at the GeekWire Cloud Tech Summit. (GeekWire Photo \/ Kevin Lisota)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To cite one example, oil-rig operators could monitor their equipment remotely via satellites and the cloud. \u201cWe\u2019ve got customers like that,\u201d Russinovich said.<\/p>\n

For the Ignite demonstrations, which involve downloading imagery from Spain\u2019s Deimos-2 satellite, Russinovich will be taking advantage of a Microsoft ground station that\u2019s situated near the company\u2019s 800,000-square-foot data center in Quincy, Wash. But to extend Azure Orbital\u2019s reach even farther, Microsoft will be relying on a host of partnerships with other companies.<\/p>\n

Norway-based KSAT will provide additional satellite connectivity via its network of more than 200 antennas at two dozen sites around the world. In a news release, KSAT CEO Rolf Skatteboe said cloud-based data delivery \u201cwill not only change the way we deliver our services, but also how our customers will be able to utilize this information in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luxembourg-based SES, one of the world\u2019s biggest satellite operators, will provide communication services.<\/p>\n

SES Networks CEO John-Paul Hemingway said his company plans to co-locate the gateways for its next-generation O3b mPOWER satellite constellation with Azure Orbital. \u201cThis one-hop connectivity to the cloud from remote sites will enable our MEO [medium Earth orbit] customers to enhance their cloud application performance,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n