Microsoft and eBay made a joint announcement this morning, declaring that eBay will be one of Microsoft’s first customers for its Windows Azure cloud computing platform appliance. eBay will incorporate Azure into two of its data centers.

"Microsoft’s focus on and investment in the Windows Azure platform appliance shows they are committed to world-class cloud computing solutions. eBay has the right blueprint for next-generation software-as-a-service-based applications with our platform’s architecture, scale and reliability," said James Barrese, eBay VP of technology. "Joint engineering on the Windows Azure platform appliance with eBay’s massive, high-volume systems allows Microsoft to demonstrate its leadership in this space and helps eBay improve our user experience through a flexible, scalable and cost-effective solution."

"eBay has one of the world’s largest ecommerce platforms, meeting the wide-ranging needs of customers around the world. We are thrilled to work with such a technology and business leader as we help foster the new era of cloud computing with the Windows Azure platform appliance," said Bob Muglia, president of Server and Tools Business, Microsoft.

The companies will deploy the Windows Azure platform appliance sometime this year.