Microsoft has stepped up its cloud push by releasing Windows Azure Infrastructure Services this week, and pricing it in direct competition with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Infrastructure Services is designed to help Windows Azure customers migrate their applications into the cloud, and, as the title suggests, it is primarily an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) solution – although it encompasses both platform as a service (PaaS) and hybrid scenarios.

“Our announcement today is a significant step in our cloud computing strategy, which has been influenced directly by our discussions with customers and partners around the world,” Bill Hilf, general manager of Windows Azure, wrote in an Azure blog.

Microsoft’s cloud agenda has been evident for some time, with CloudTech previously reporting on the tech giant’s set at Convergence 2013, whereby hotly anticipated releases such as Exchange Server, Lync and Dynamics CRM continue to emphasise the roadmap for a cloud …