Last Friday, Microsoft released its annual earnings report, wrapping up Q4 2017 with Azure and the commercial cloud boosting the tech giant’s revenue. In fact, combined they netted Microsoft $6.5 billion of the total $23.3 billion reported for the quarter. And, for 2017, the commercial cloud itself had a run rate of $18.8 billion in total.
Microsoft Vice President Brad Anderson seemed excited about the news, sharing via Twitter that the company was on track to meet next year’s goal for the commercial cloud: a whopping $20 billion for the next fiscal year.
(2/5) Microsoft Commercial Cloud – HUGE growth • Annualized run rate > $18.9B • Grew 56% yr/yr, • On track to meet goal of $20B in FY18.
— Brad Anderson (@Anderson) July 24, 2017
Furthermore, in subsequent tweets, Anderson shared that Azure had huge growth, with a 97% increase in revenue and compute usage doubling since last year. Per the tweet, Microsoft’s encouragement for start-ups and ISV’s is reportedly picking up steam for Azure and carrying it with 40% representation. Lastly, Anderson also revealed that Office 365 Commercial revenue is up 43%, with 90M monthly active devices using Office on iOS/Android.
Nadella’s strong drive for the Microsoft cloud platforms continues to profit the company, investors, and businesses. It’s clear that the tech giant expects big numbers from the commercial cloud, and Azure, in the year to come.