每次微软宣布在新一轮的云计算中Office 365胜出，Talkin’ Cloud又会发出重复的困惑：有哪些渠道拍档参与了Office 365的部署吗？微软的标准答案都是：公司现在已经拥有42,000个云计算拍档，比去年的16,000增长了。

增长幅度令人咋舌。但是仍然存在着一个更大的问题：有多少Office 365的云计算拍档是真正活跃的、参与并赢得了Office 365的多笔交易？就目前来说，这是不可能告知的。

早在2011年3月，Talkin’ Cloud准确地指出了微软的企业生产力在线套件（BPOS，Office 365的前身）的前10名美国云计算拍档。这些排在前10名的云计算拍档，在世界各地有65到390个微软云客户。这些数字，从未由微软出面直接证实过，似乎表明微软云计算拍档社区的一个缓慢的开头。

微软的云计算声明

快进到现在，微软继续对其云计算拍档的努力发表乐观声明。本周早些时候，微软在Talkin’ Cloud上发表了最新的声明。上面写到：

“云计算拍档是Office 365客户交易的组成部分，而且参与了产品生命周期的不同部分。在过去的12个月中，我们的拍档系统规模又扩大了一倍，全球的合作伙伴从16,000到42,000。这个拍档系统大约是Google的10倍。拍档有系统集成商，服务提供商，增值分销商和独立软件开发商。他们提供服务、培训、咨询、支持和应用，以帮助客户从Office 365中得到的尽可能的多。”

给微软信贷。拍档签署了协议转售微软的云服务。但是是否微软的云计算拍档正在驱动成百上千甚至上万的交易仍是未知的。

商业应用势头

微软昨天发行的最新收益，没有微软云收入的相关信息。但是也有一些有前途的金融趋势，指出Office 365会长期成功。在收益声明中，微软表示Exchange和SharePoint的收入增长了10个百分点，而且Lync和动态CR的收入增长了30个百分点。

这是些客观的数字。而在未来的几个月/年，相当一部分客户将考虑把微软的户内业务应用转移到云上。

但最大的问题仍然是：在这些转移中，拍档会起到多大的作用呢？

Each time Microsoft announces a new round of cloud computing wins for Office 365, Talkin’ Cloud asks the same question: Were any channel partners involved in the Office 365 deployments? Microsoft’s standard response: The company now has 42,000 cloud computing partners, up from 16,000 at this time last year.

That growth figure is impressive. But a bigger question remains: How many of those Office 365 cloud partners are truly active, engaged and winning multiple Office 365 deals? So far it’s impossible to say.

Back in March 2011, Talkin’ Cloud pinpointed Microsoft’s top 10 U.S. cloud partners for BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), the precursor to Office 365. Those top 10 cloud partners had anywhere from 65 to 390 Microsoft cloud customers. Those figures, never directly confirmed by Microsoft, seemed to indicate a slow start for the Microsoft cloud partner community.

Microsoft’s Cloud Computing Statement

Fast forward to the present and Microsoft continues to make upbeat statements about its cloud partner efforts. The latest Microsoft statement reached Talkin’ Cloud earlier this week. It read:

“Partners are an integral part of many Office 365 customer deals and are involved in different parts of the product lifecycle. In the last 12 months, our partner ecosystem has more than doubled in size – from 16,000 to more than 42,000 partners worldwide. This partner ecosystem is roughly 10 times more partners than Google. These partners range from systems integrators and service providers to value added resellers and ISVs. They deliver services, training, consulting, support and applications that help customers get the most from Office 365.”

Give Microsoft credit. Partners are signing up to re-sell Microsoft’s cloud services. But we still have no idea if Microsoft’s cloud partners are driving hundreds, thousands or tens-of-thousands of deals.

Business Application Momentum

Microsoft’s latest earnings release, issued yesterday, lacked information about Microsoft’s cloud revenues. But there were some promising financial trends that could point to long-term Office 365 success. In the earnings statement, Microsoft said revenues from Exchange and SharePoint jumped 10 percent, while revenues from Lync and Dynamics CRM grew by more than 30 percent.

Those are impressive figures. And in the months/years ahead, a healthy number of customers will consider shifting Microsoft’s on-premise business applications into Microsoft’s cloud.