Microsoft really wants to be the hyperscaler for telco. We got the amazing opportunity to talk to Yousef Khalidi, is one of the original founders of Microsoft Azure and corporate vice president for Azure for Operators. In this episode he explains exactly what Azure is up to, what they are trying to do with Affirmed and Metaswitch, and why it’s a terrible, horrible, no-good very bad idea to try to build your own public cloud. See, I’m not the only one saying it!
Listen to learn more about:
- The birth of Azure and why Microsoft decided to make it available to the world [2:18];
- Why building your own public cloud is super hard [4:18];
- How telcom compares to other industries when it comes to public cloud adoption [7:52];
- How Azure for Operators plans to empower telcos [8:25];
- What’s up with the Affirmed and Metaswitch acquisitions and how they fit with Azure for Operators [10:22];
- What separates Azure from the other hyperscalers [13:52]; and
- Yousef’s take on the key to unlocking the power of the cloud [24:20].
Listen to the end to hear my Telco in 20 takeaway [27:12] about why I’m not worried about the BFCs coming into telco. Check it out.
When you’re done, tune in to our Azure episode featuring Rick Lievano, Worldwide Director of Technology Strategy at Microsoft.
THIS WEEK’S GUEST
Yousef Khalidi is Corporate Vice President at Microsoft Azure. He is responsible for product and program management for Azure Networking and drives engineering investments and strategic business planning including world-wide partnerships and deep integration with Microsoft services. He was a member of the team that conceived and built the initial version of Microsoft Azure and has served in several engineering, product management, operational, and architectural roles in Azure.
Listen to our conversation by clicking play above or subscribe through your favorite podcast feed.
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
- Listen on your favorite podcast platform – see the links above under the audio player.
- You can find the transcript for this episode here.
Links and Resources
- Learn more about why Microsoft plans to partner, not compete, with telcos in this keynote from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
- Read Microsoft Azure Executive VP Jason Zander’s take on plans to partner with the telecom industry
- Find out the details behind Microsoft’s acquisition of Affirmed and Metaswitch
- Learn more about TelecomTV’s Great Telco Debate.
- Read up on Google Fi
- Check out my blog on why you should think twice before trying to build your own public cloud
- Read tech-pundit Benedict Evans blog post, “Are you a Seal?”
- Follow Yousef Khalidi on Twitter @YousefkAzure
- Just for fun:
- After you listen to my monologue, check out Saturday Night Live fan-favorite, “What’s Up with That?”
- As an Azure cofounder, Yousef Khalidi definitely had a front seat to history. Watch Leslie Odom Jr. and Lin-Manuel Miranda perform “The Room Where It Happened” from the musical Hamilton.
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Podcast Credits
- Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Royston, TelcoDR
- Executive Producer: Kristin Donelson, OneLouder Marketing
- Senior Producer: Lindsay Grubb, TillCo Media
- Editor/Producer: Alisa Jenkins Wilson, Springboard Marketing
- Audio Capture: Aaron Joslow, Rally Point Webinars
- Audio Editing: Andrew Condell
- Music: Dyami Wilson
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