Microsoft Corp. has said it will continue to develop its Windows Azure Pack product until 2022, while pledging to support it until 2027.

Azure Pack is Microsoft’s first so-called “Azure-in-a-box” product that offers companies a “cloud-like” experience installed on-premises. The pack, which provides a first-generation Azure GUI, with Windows Server and System Center under the hood, can be installed on just about any x86 server and storage system one wishes.

The Azure Pack is not to be confused with the better known Azure Stack, which is still under development. Available in beta, Azure Stack will only work on specific, Microsoft-approved hardware available from Dell Technologies Inc., Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Co. and Lenovo Group Ltd. The stack will provide a much more realistic Azure experience on-premises, and is designed for companies that wish to follow a hybrid cloud and hyperconverged systems strategy.

As for the updated Azure Pack, Microsoft says this can now run the latest Windows Server 2016 edition. The company also promised that Azure Pack will “continue to evolve until 2022 and will be supported until 2027.” Microsoft refused to be drawn on what the future evolution of Azure Pack may look like, but said it would be a good fit for service providers that want to offer infrastructure-as-a-service.

One thing we could see, though, is more integration between Azure Pack and Azure Stack. Microsoft notes in its blog post that while Azure Pack is a good choice for customers that wish to run virtual machines in their on-premises data centers, “later they will be able to choose among many Azure Stack offerings if they need Azure capabilities from the local service provider.”

Microsoft also offers a third cloud-like experience with its Cloud Platform System, though the company has recently hinted that this will soon be integrated with Azure Pack and Azure Stack.

Photo Credit: TechStage Flickr via Compfight cc