Microsoft has planned to close its corporate Azure Blockchain Service on September 10 and will not accept any new deployments effective immediately.
It has been reported according to its website that large corporate customers who use Azure Blockchain include J.P. Morgan, GE Aviation, Singapore Airlines, Starbucks, and Xbox.
However, the announcement was made in a low key post on the Microsoft documentation site on Monday, informing all current customers to migrate to alternate services.
Joseph Lubin, the founder and CEO of ConsenSys, said:
“Expanding our relationship with Microsoft helps organizations take advantage of ConsenSys Quorum and Quorum customer support to offer users an enterprise-grade managed blockchain service that can be effortlessly set-up and deployed.”
The report said that the imminent closure was given more public attention through a Twitter post on May 12 by Azure architect Tom Kerhove.
Looks like Azure Blockchain Service is no longer a thinghttps://t.co/HX0aFYkU3I Kudos to @TechMike2kX for finding out. — Tom Kerkhove ☁️ (@TomKerkhove) May 12, 2021
Likewise, Microsoft’s Azure Blockchain is six years old and developed from a sandbox-style service in 2015 on Ethereum in partnership with ConsenSys, before it was offered as a fully managed Blockchain-as-a-Service, or BaaS, preview in late 2019.
Microsoft’s original goal for Azure was to create a certified blockchain marketplace giving customers the “ability to discover blockchain technologies and value-added services.”
Microsoft’s Azure has come to the end of its journey. The Azure #blockchain will be replaced by a new alternative after 6 years of existence. https://t.co/uV0WaDsbCJ — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 14, 2021
Instead of stating no new deployments will be accepted on the service, Microsoft is yet to remove the Azure page offering new users to sign up for free. Microsoft has been sending mixed messages around its stance towards cryptocurrency and blockchain, with President Brad Smith claiming earlier this year that the multinational was not even the least bit interested in dabbling in Bitcoin.
Thus, in late March, the company released an online poll asking customers how likely they would be to use Bitcoin for purchases in the Xbox Games Store.
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Ledger Insights
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