Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iCloud service will be hosted on Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS), claims The Register in an exclusive report. The report cited sources close to Microsoft who say that Apple has selected Microsoft and Amazon to jointly host Apple's iCloud suite of services. Understandably, Microsoft insiders were reportedly ecstatic given the "huge consumer brand" and "very visible workload" that Apple represents.

Logically, having two cloud providers makes sense as it ensures that Apple will not be held hostage by a single supplier. Given that Azure is built on the Windows platform and that most of AWS users are Linux, however, it is unclear how the workload could be shared between the two cloud providers. 

A simple way would be to duplicate customer data onto both Azure and AWS. Incoming data requests are then forwarded to the appropriate provider depending on prevailing network conditions. This has the effect of achieving a higher level of redundancy, though synchronizing data across clouds could prove tricky from a technical perspective.

Ultimately, iCloud running on Azure and AWS would make for an intriguing study in the science of server load balancing--if true. Then again, what would the purpose of Apple's own huge data center be if it intends to rely on Azure and AWS? Does Apple have another secret project in the works?

For more on this story:
- check out this article at The Register
- check out this article at SFGate

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