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by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 2/13/2012 8:23:00 PM
Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly roundup of the latest community-driven news, content and conversations about cloud computing and Windows Azure. Here are the highlights from last week. CloudCover Episode 70 – Windows Azure Demos with Steve Marx (posted Feb. 10.)] MongoDB, Windows Azure (and Node.js) blog post by Neil Mackenzie (posted Feb. 5.) Exporting XML from LightSwitch Part 2 – Azure blog post by Regan Ashworth (posted Feb. 3.) Azure Service Bus: Connectivity a ...
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by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 2/10/2012 6:46:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure interview series, I talked to Vishwas Lele, CTO at Applied Information Sciences (AIS) and Microsoft Regional Director, about their use of Windows Azure. Here’s what he had to say. Himanshu Kumar Singh: Tell me about AIS. Vishwas Lele: Since 1982, AIS (Applied Information Sciences, Inc.) has provided software and systems engineering services to enterprise companies and the U.S. government. AIS specializes in application development, business intellige ...
by DavidMakogonMS via Windows Azure on 2/9/2012 6:15:00 PM
The purpose of the Windows Azure ISV blog series is to highlight some of the accomplishments from the ISVs we’ve worked with during their Windows Azure application development and deployment. Today’s post, written by Naoki Sato, Windows Azure developer evangelist at Microsoft Japan, is about Windows Azure ISV ReedRex Co. LTD and how they’re using Windows Azure to deliver their CMS service for Facebook pages. ReedRex recently launched a new SaaS offering called sociobridge ...
by Michele_Hart via Windows Azure on 2/8/2012 7:13:00 PM
Although Apache Hadoop on Windows Azure is currently only available via CTP, you can get a jumpstart learning all about it by visiting the Apache Hadoop on Windows wiki. This wiki also covers Apache Hadoop on Windows Server. The wiki contains overview information about Apache Hadoop, as well as information about the Hadoop offerings on Windows and related Microsoft technologies, including Windows Azure. It also provides links to more detailed technical content from various sources and in va ...
by RaviBollapragada via Windows Azure on 2/8/2012 5:34:00 PM
Problem at Hand Anyone who has done serious mapping would have encountered the problem of transforming related data from one set of complex structures to another. This is because of the fact that different applications and systems use different ways to normalize data to best suit their needs. When such systems need to interoperate the data must be mapped from one schema structure to another. Observed Pattern One of the most prevalent patterns used to solve this problem, especially when dealing w ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 2/6/2012 7:48:00 PM
If you’re new to the world of Cloud Computing, the new MSDN webcast series, Cloud Computing Soup to Nuts, will be a great place to start learning what it’s all about. Hosted by Microsoft Cloud Evangelist Mike Benkovich, the first session of this new series premieres February 7, 2012 at 11AM PST. From understanding concepts of compute, storage, and roles, to exploring the various services and technologies that make up Windows Azure and SQL Azure, this “Soup to Nuts” series ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 2/6/2012 6:07:00 PM
Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly roundup of the latest community-driven news, content and conversations about cloud computing and Windows Azure. Here are the highlights from last week. Gartner Says Platform as a Service is on the Cusp of Several Years of Strategic Growth, HPC in the Cloud (posted Feb. 1.) Indiana Students Receive $100k to Research Cloud Computing by Charlie Osborne, ZDNet (posted Feb. 1.) More Business Intelligence Moving to the Cloud: Survey by Joe McKendrick, F ...
by Nathan TottenMS via Windows Azure on 2/3/2012 4:52:00 PM
The Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games makes it easier for developers to quickly build social and casual games using Windows Azure. Last week, we released version 1.2.2 of the toolkit. You can download the source here or the self-extracting package here. This version adds significant performance increases, improved stability, and now uses Autofac for dependency injection. Additionally, as part of this release, we have moved the toolkit Github – this allows you to easily fork, clone, an ...
by Yvonne_Muench via Windows Azure on 2/2/2012 5:20:00 PM
In a previous post, I wrote about traditional ISVs creating spinoffs to market and sell their Software-as-A-Service (SaaS) apps. Recently I was surprised to see Glassboard from Sepia Labs, a spinoff of NewsGator, come across my desk. I’m familiar with NewsGator. Based in Denver, CO, they have 8 years experience in SaaS, and multiple Windows Azure apps under their belt. Why would they go to the trouble of creating a spinoff for their latest Windows Azure app? Almost a thir ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 2/1/2012 6:04:00 PM
IFS has announced the immediate availability of IFS 360 Scheduling on Windows Azure as part of its strategy to leverage cloud computing, citing Windows Azure as a cost-efficient platform for innovative business solutions. IFS 360 Scheduling empowers organizations to deliver on-site customer service excellence. Optimizing resource plans to minimize travel and maximize productive work time for hundreds, or even thousands, of technicians is a complex and compute-intensive task, and IFS 360 Scheduli ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 1/31/2012 5:33:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure interview series, I talked to Michael Ross, vice president for Delivery at Aidmatrix, about using Windows Azure to help power its humanitarian aid delivery solutions. Here’s what he had to say. Himanshu Kumar Singh: Tell me about the Aidmatrix Foundation. Michael Ross: Well, we create web-based supply-chain management (SCM) solutions that help our partners optimize distributing humanitarian relief. We started in 2001 and are headquartered ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 1/30/2012 6:47:00 PM
Today Microsoft announced BizSpark Plus, an extension of the BizSpark program, which provides higher value offers to startup accelerators around the globe. BizSpark Plus will provide up to $60,000 in Windows Azure compute and storage to select startup accelerators and their startups at no cost. TechStars, recently recognized as the number one accelerator in the world, is one of the first to receive this offering. TechStars will be able to empower each of its startups with this Windows Azure offe ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 1/30/2012 4:58:00 PM
Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly roundup of the latest community-driven news, content and conversations about cloud computing and Windows Azure. Here are the highlights from last week. Guthrie Talks Node.js and Windows Azure at Cloud Event by John K. Waters, ADT Magazine (posted Jan. 27.) EU Seeks Joint National Cloud-Computing Purchases for Growth, Marthe Fourcade and Robert Vapuesta editors, BusinessWeek (posted Jan. 26.) States Allow Voting Via Cloud for Citizens Overseas by E ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 1/27/2012 7:39:00 PM
We are thrilled to announce that two of the four grants program for Imagine Cup will be deploying their programs on Windows Azure. The program is focused on providing opportunities for young people by helping competitors create a business or non-profit that will help solve some of the world’s toughest problems, with the aid of technology. The packages include $75,000 for each team, as well as software, cloud computing services, solution provider support, premium BizSpark accoun ...
by GregoryLeake via Windows Azure on 1/26/2012 8:00:00 PM
It has been just over three months since we made the SQL Azure Data Sync Preview release available in the Windows Azure portal. We are thrilled with the adoption of the service and are pleased to make available an updated preview release with some requested features and fixes. SQL Azure Data Sync allows organizations to easily synchronize between multiple on-premises databases and SQL Azure cloud databases—a key hybrid IT scenario. If you have not used the Data Sync service an ...
by Michael WashamMS via Windows Azure on 1/26/2012 5:15:00 PM
As you may have noticed in the Windows Azure developer portal, we recently released a new management API for Windows Azure Traffic Manager. The new API improves Traffic Manager by allowing developers and IT professionals to script interactions with the service and to interface with the service programmatically. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Windows Azure Traffic Manager, it gives you control of how traffic is distributed between hosted services in different datacenters. T ...
by Brian GoldfarbMS via Windows Azure on 1/25/2012 2:00:00 PM
Last week our friends over at SendGrid shipped new native libraries on GitHub (C#, Node.JS) for Windows Azure developers that make it extremely easy to integrate their mail service into any application built and running in Windows Azure. In addition, SendGrid launched a new offer for Windows Azure customers that provides 25,000 free emails a month! We’ve heard from customers consistently that sending email was too hard and we listened! See detailed, step by step tutorials ...
by Glenn Block MS via Windows Azure on 1/24/2012 10:45:00 PM
Last month we launched our new Windows Azure SDK for Node.js. The release came after months of hard work between Microsoft and Joyent. Since that time we’ve seen a lot of excitement in the Node community around the support for Node.js in Windows Azure. We’re thankful for all the support! Today at the Node Summit in San Franciso, Scott Guthrie demonstrated the SDK, which provides a streamlined experience for Windows developers to build and deploy Node.js apps to Windows Azure using Po ...
by GregoryLeake via Windows Azure on 1/24/2012 9:31:00 PM
We are pleased to announce the general availability of SQL Azure Import/Export! Now available as a production service, SQL Azure Import/Export helps organizations deploy on-premises databases to SQL Azure, and archive SQL Azure and SQL Server databases to Windows Azure Storage. Key improvements in the new production release include: Increased performance & resiliency Progress reporting Selective Export Production support New usage sample EXE This service is provided free of charge to ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 1/23/2012 6:14:00 PM
Welcome to the third edition of our weekly roundup of the latest community-driven news, content and conversations about cloud computing and Windows Azure. Here are the highlights from last week. The Rise of the Cloud CIO: A Silver Lining for IT and Business by Eric Berg, CloudZone (posted Jan. 19) Why CES 2012 Should Have Been Called the Cloud Electronics Show by David Linthicum, InfoWorld (posted Jan. 18) Cloud Server Shipments to Skyrocket in 2012 by Barb Darrow, Gigaom (posted Jan. ...
by ValeryMizonov via Windows Azure on 1/17/2012 6:35:00 PM
We have been getting requests from customers for guidance when to use each of the two cloud-based queuing services offered today on Windows Azure: Windows Azure Queues and Windows Azure Service Bus Queues. To address this, we have put together an article that analyzes the differences and similarities between the two services. By using this information, you can compare and contrast the respective queuing services and be able to make a more informed decision about which solution best meets your ne ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 1/16/2012 6:19:00 PM
Welcome to the second edition of our weekly roundup of the latest community-driven news, content and conversations about cloud computing and Windows Azure. Here are the highlights from last week. Cover Story: Steve Ballmer Reboots by Ashlee Vance, BusinessWeek (posted Jan. 12) Bond University Offers Cloud Computing Course to Students by Charlie Osborne, ZDNet (posted Jan. 11) Feds Refine Cloud Security Standards by Elizabeth Montalbano, InformationWeek (posted Jan. 10) Cloud Computi ...
by Pankaj_AroraMS via Windows Azure on 1/11/2012 4:59:00 PM
Hi, I’m Pankaj Arora, a senior manager in the Microsoft IT Global Strategic Initiatives team. When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer publicly declared “We’re all in” on cloud computing in March 2010, he wasn’t just referring to Microsoft’s products. He also was giving his IT organization a mandate to move to cloud computing. Since that declaration, my colleagues and I have learned a lot about what it takes to adopt cloud computing at a global enterprise. We now have ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 1/10/2012 6:14:00 PM
Breast cancer is the most common cancer type for women. While the prognosis of many subtypes of breast cancers in general is good, certain types of breast cancer pose high risk for metastases, which account for 95% of the deaths of breast cancer patients. In the treatment of breast cancer, it’s important to be able to assess the likelihood that a primary tumor develops metastases and this is a non-trivial task, as there’s an ocean of genes and their combinations that may contrib ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 1/9/2012 6:23:00 PM
Sometimes it can be a challenge to stay on top of the latest news, content and conversations about cloud computing and Windows Azure. That’s why we’re launching the Windows Azure Community News Roundup series on this blog. Every week, I will post a snapshot of the freshest community-driven content and resources from the previous week. In this first post, I’ve covered the past two weeks worth of interesting articles, posts and tweets. Windows Azure Gets Node.js Update by ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 1/5/2012 5:31:00 PM
The latest Steven Spielberg film, War Horse tells the story of a horse’s journey to the World War 1 battlefields of Flanders. To help promote the film and bring its history to life, UK-based developers at Shoothill have developed the website, The War Horse Journey. Using Deep Zoom technology, Bing Maps, and Windows Azure, the War Horse Journey provides users with an interactive exploration of the world they will view when watching the film. The website is split in two parts: a ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 1/4/2012 4:51:00 PM
If you plan to attend CodeMash next week in Sandusky, Ohio, don’t miss the full-day pre-compiler session, Building Social Games using HTML5 with Windows 8, Windows Azure, and .NET, which will cover the development of social games and feature Windows Azure. In the morning, Nathan Totten along with members of the Windows Azure engineering and evangelism teams will be delivering short presentations on how to get started with building social games using Windows Azure, Windows 8 and leveraging ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 1/3/2012 7:43:00 PM
Mobile usage in Japan is among the highest in the world, with over 90% of the population using mobile devices. More than 90% of these users have mobile data plans, which are commonly 3G-enabled. And while 75% of these mobile internet users are tapping into “social networking” sites from their phones, the top app being used isn’t Facebook, Twitter or even MySpace. It’s a Japan-based social networking site called mixi. Founded in 2004, mixi has more ...
by DavidMakogonMS via Windows Azure on 12/29/2011 5:53:00 PM
The purpose of the Windows Azure ISV blog series is to highlight some of the accomplishments from the ISVs we’ve worked with during their Windows Azure application development and deployment. Today’s post, written by Windows Azure Architect Evangelist Ricardo Villalobos, is about how Digital Folio is using Windows Azure to deliver their online shopping service. Digital Folio is an Internet browser plug-in that allows end users compare prices and find product suggestions w ...
by Glenn Block MS via Windows Azure on 12/28/2011 5:59:00 PM
Earlier this month, we released our first preview of Windows Azure SDK for Node.js. So far the community reaction has been positive and feedback is starting to trickle in with feature requests, bugs, etc. We’re listening and really appreciate the feedback, so keep it coming. Staying true to our commitment to release early and often and in keeping with the holiday tradition, we bring you a gift - the December update. Highlights of this preview: Windows Azure PowerShell for Node.js ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 12/27/2011 6:18:00 PM
The community technology preview (CTP) of Apache Hadoop-based Services for Windows Azure (or Hadoop on Azure) is now available, according to the blog post, “Availability of Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Hadoop based Service on Windows Azure” on the SQL Server Team blog. And according to the blog post, “Helping make Hadoop Easier By Going Metro” on the Microsoft SQL Server Development Customer Advisory Team blog, “one of the great things about the new H ...
by DavidMakogonMS via Windows Azure on 12/22/2011 4:20:00 PM
The purpose of the Windows Azure ISV blog series is to highlight some of the accomplishments from the ISVs we’ve worked with during their Windows Azure application development and deployment. Today’s post is about Windows Azure ISV BrainCredits and how they’re using Windows Azure to deliver their online service. BrainCredits provides a system to help people track all their informal learning on a virtual transcript, including instructor-led or self-study learning, such as ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 12/21/2011 6:36:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure interview series, I talked to Ernest Kwong, director of technology solutions at Designercity, about using Windows Azure for its interactive karaoke application. Here’s what he had to say. Himanshu Kumar Singh: Tell me about Designercity. Ernest Kwong: Designercity was founded in the United Kingdom in 1995 as a web consulting firm. In 2000, we reestablished our headquarters in Hong Kong, China and began focusing on broader, integra ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 12/20/2011 9:02:00 PM
Below are three important announcements related to the Access Control Service: Extension of the promotional period of Access Control Service to December 1, 2012 Availability of the Access Control Service 1.0 Migration Tool Deprecation of Access Control Service 1.0 on December 20, 2012 Extension of the promotional period of Access Control Service to December 1, 2012 As result of the great feedback we have received from customers regarding the Access Control Service, we are excited to announce t ...
by HarishAgarwal via Windows Azure on 12/20/2011 6:15:00 PM
As part of the December 2011 Labs of Service Bus we are adding a brand-new set of EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) capabilities which includes bridges (commonly referred to as pipelines), transforms, and hybrid connectivity. We will go through the full set of capabilities over a series of blog posts but let us start by discussing EAI bridges and the basic concepts behind it. This post will explain the need for bridges and show how to configure & deploy a simple XML bridge and send me ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 12/19/2011 8:29:00 PM
On November 29, 2011, Windows Azure obtained ISO 27001 certification for its core services following a successful audit by the British Standards Institute (BSI). You can view details of the ISO certificate here, which lists the scope as: “The Information Security Management System for Microsoft Windows Azure including development, operations and support for the compute, storage (XStore), virtual network and virtual machine services, in accordance with Windows Azure ISMS statement of ...
by Glenn Block MSFT via Windows Azure on 12/16/2011 3:22:00 AM
Node.js is an exciting platform that has been increasing in popularity for the past two years. It offers a server side JavaScript programming model ideal for building highly scalable and performant network applications whether on premise or in the cloud. One of its flagship qualities is that it leads you down a path of writing code that is using non-blocking IO thus achieving greater scale. Another is the fact that it is super small and lightweight. It has a very rich ecosystem of modu ...
by R Syam Kumar via Windows Azure on 12/15/2011 7:22:00 PM
This is the second of a two part series on the recently upgraded SQL Azure Management Portal. Click here to view Part I. You can also view a short video demonstration of the upgraded portal here. This blog post will cover the new Administration and Design Workspaces in detail including: Database creation and upgrade via DAC Query monitoring, query plans and query performance statistics Database schema and query designers Database dependency views Database Creation Enhancement ...
by R Syam Kumar via Windows Azure on 12/15/2011 7:20:00 PM
This week we finalized the rollout of the SQL Azure Q4 2011 Service Release, and with this rollout we have significantly upgraded the SQL Azure Management Portal. The upgraded portal is an extension to the Windows Azure Management Portal, and is used to manage your SQL Azure logical servers and physical databases via a new Metro-style user interface. In this two part blog, I will walk through some of the new capabilities and show some tips and tricks along the way. With t ...
by CihanBiyikogluMS via Windows Azure on 12/13/2011 5:22:00 PM
One of the exciting new features in the just-released SQL Azure Q4 2011 Service Release is SQL Azure Federation. In a sentence, SQL Azure Federation enables building elastic and scalable database tiers. Video Presentation of SQL Azure Federation To accompany this blog post, you can also view my short video recording with a demonstration here. Imagine the canonical 3-tier application: these applications handle growing user workloads by adding and removing nodes to their front and middle tiers. Fe ...
by GregoryLeake via Windows Azure on 12/12/2011 7:00:00 PM
Today we are excited to announce the availability of the SQL Azure Q4 Service Release. Announced at PASS Summit in October 2011 and now available worldwide, the Q4 2011 Service Release offers greater flexibility for scaling on demand, and simplifies database monitoring and management. Specifically, we are tripling the maximum database size to 150 GB and introducing SQL Azure Federation to simplify the setup, management, and automation of shards for greater elastic scale. In addition ...
by Bob KellyMS via Windows Azure on 12/12/2011 4:00:00 PM
Today we are announcing multiple updates to Windows Azure that improve ease of use, interoperability, and overall value. Key Highlights: New Developer Experience and Enhanced Interoperability—Access to Windows Azure libraries for .NET, Java, and Node.js is now available under Apache 2 open source license and hosted on GitHub, a new Windows Azure SDK for Node.js makes Windows Azure a first-class environment for Node applications, and a limited preview of an Apache Hadoop based service for ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 12/9/2011 5:15:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure interview series, I talked to Yun Xu, Sr. director of business development at Gridsum about the migration of its Web Dissector service to Windows Azure. Here’s what he had to say. Himanshu Kumar Singh: Tell me about Gridsum. Yun Xu: Based in Beijing, China, Gridsum is a member of the Microsoft Partner Network and an independent software vendor that develops online business optimization solutions to help our customers measure and ana ...
by James_Conard via Windows Azure on 12/7/2011 8:37:00 PM
Join us LIVE from the Microsoft Redmond Campus next Tuesday, December 13, 2011 for “Learn Windows Azure”, a FREE event for developers to learn how to get started building applications for the cloud with Windows Azure. At this event you will learn how to get started building applications for the cloud from Scott Guthrie, Dave Campbell, and Mark Russinovich and several others. The entire event will broadcast live from Microsoft’s Redmond Campus so you can watch online from anywhe ...
by DavidMakogonMS via Windows Azure on 12/7/2011 5:45:00 PM
Good day! I’m David Makogon, a senior cloud architect for the Windows Azure ISV team. This team has one primary objective: Help ISVs worldwide architect and develop applications and services to Windows Azure. Our team would like to share some of its experiences with you, and we’ll be highlighting some of the accomplishments from the ISVs we’ve worked with during their Windows Azure application development and deployment. We’ll take a look at specific applications from ISV ...
by ElisaFlaskoMS via Windows Azure on 12/6/2011 5:35:00 PM
Over the past year, the Windows Azure Marketplace team has worked directly with data providers to onboard new data into the Marketplace. Today we have over a hundred datasets, from sports statistics to historical weather, available to build apps and perform analytics. Today we are making available tools so that anyone with valuable data can distribute it in the Marketplace through a simple self-service wizard. The publishing wizard allows you to design how your offer will appear on t ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 12/5/2011 6:14:00 PM
The final release of the Enterprise Library Integration Pack for Windows Azure is now available, according to the blog post, “Announcing the Enterprise Library Integration Pack for Windows Azure with Autoscaling, Transient Fault Handling and more”, which posted last Friday to Microsoft Senior Program Manager Grigori Melnik’s “Thoughts on Agile Software Engineering and Beyond” blog. According to the blog post, this release includes a comprehensive set of technical co ...
by ElisaFlaskoMS via Windows Azure on 11/30/2011 5:50:00 PM
Today we announce the release of two new data offers that have recently been added to the Windows Azure Marketplace: Worldwide Historical Weather Data: Provides weather information including historical daily maximum temperature, minimum temperature, precipitation, dewpoint, sea level pressure, windspeed, and wind gust for thousands of locations around the world. Data is available on-line from 2000 through the current week and historical data is added every week for the previous week for a ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/29/2011 6:15:00 PM
Microsoft UK Windows Azure Evangelists Eric Nelson and David Gristwood are pulling together what promises to be a great way for UK companies to really dig deep into Windows Azure. Starting January 23, 2012 they will offer Six Weeks of Windows Azure, a program that will provide FREE assistance to UK companies who want to build or extend applications with Windows Azure. During the six weeks they will deliver a series of webinars, surgeries and online support which will cover both the commercial an ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/23/2011 5:45:00 PM
Do you remember how to play the childhood game, Rock, Paper, Scissors? Are you a Windows Azure developer in the US? If so, then be sure to take the Rock, Paper, Azure Challenge for your chance at prizes and bragging rights. In this online game, based on Rock Paper Scissors, developers code their own player "Bot", host it on Windows Azure, and battle other competitors for weekly prizes. Here's how it works: Get Your Windows Azure Account: Don't have one? Get your FREE tri ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/22/2011 5:21:00 PM
A new series of webcasts about SQL Azure Data Sync are now available on Channel 9. These webcasts provide in-depth coverage and detailed demos of service capabilities and enterprise-to-cloud and cloud-to-cloud scenarios. Three webcasts are currently available: Overview of SQL Azure Data Sync: In this webcast, Mark Scurrell provides on overview of the service capabilities and target scenarios, including a demo showing how SQL Azure Data Sync can be used to share data between on-premi ...
by BradCalder via Windows Azure on 11/21/2011 8:41:33 PM
We recently published a paper describing the internal details of Windows Azure Storage at the 23rd ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles (SOSP). The paper can be found here. The conference also posted a video of the talk here. The slides are not really legible in the video, but you can view them separately here. The paper describes how we provision and scale out capacity within and across data centers via storage stamps, and how the storage location service is used to manage our stamps a ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/21/2011 5:20:00 PM
Microsoft created the Imagine Cup 10 years ago with the idea that students can and will change the world. This worldwide competition brings together the best and brightest technology students from more than 100 countries to apply their creativity and imagination to solve the world's toughest problems in areas such as education, environment and health care and others. For Imagine Cup 2012, students can choose from three team competitions—Software Design, Game Design: Xbox/Windows, and Game ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/17/2011 6:42:00 PM
The Real World Windows Azure series staff recently talked to Bert Craven, Enterprise Architect at easyJet, Europe’s leading low-fare airline, about using Windows Azure Service Bus to securely open up corporate applications to mobile devices at airports all over Europe. Let’s listen in: MSDN: Tell us about the challenges you were trying to solve with Windows Azure Service Bus. Craven: In most airports, we use Common Use platforms to provide departure control services such as bag drop, ...
by Nathan TottenMS via Windows Azure on 11/16/2011 10:00:00 PM
The Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games makes it easier for developers to quickly build social and casual games using Windows Azure. Today, we have shipped a completely updated version of this toolkit that makes building these games and learning game development even easier. This version of the toolkit is available for download here. Additionally, you can view the full source here. The first version of the Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games was built around the Tankster ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/16/2011 5:35:00 PM
Watch these new video interviews with Travelocity Software Architect Principal Ramon Resma and David Pallman, GM of Custom App Development at Neudesic to learn more about their experiences in the cloud with Windows Azure. Bytes by MSDN: Ramon Resma Join Brian Prince, Principle Developer Evangelist at Microsoft, and Ramon Resma, Software Architect Principal at Travelocity, as they discuss Windows Azure. During this interview Ramon talks about how using Windows Azure for a specific customer- ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/15/2011 5:20:00 PM
We’re excited to announce that a new series of free Windows Azure Developer Camps are coming to several cities around the world. Whether you’re a seasoned Windows Azure developer looking to learn about the latest Windows Azure features, or a new Windows Azure developer looking to get up to speed, Windows Azure Developer Camps have something for you. These camps are informal, no-fluff events for developers and by developers where you can learn from Windows Azure experts and have ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/14/2011 6:45:00 PM
Today we are simplifying the development experience on Windows Azure with three updates—a new version of the Windows Azure SDK, a new Windows Azure HPC Scheduler SDK, and an updated Windows Azure Platform Training Kit. Whether you are already using Windows Azure or looking for the right moment to get started, these updates make it easier than ever to build applications on Windows Azure. Highlights: Windows Azure SDK (November 2011)—Multiple updates to the Windows Azure T ...
by PaoloSalvatoriMS via Windows Azure on 11/11/2011 6:14:00 PM
The Windows Azure Service Bus Community Technology Preview (CTP), which was released in May 2011, first introduced queues and topics. At that time, the Windows Azure Management Portal didn’t provide a user interface to administer, create and delete messaging entities and the only way to accomplish this task was using the .NET or REST API. For this reason, I decided to build a tool called Service Bus Explorer that would allow developers and system administrators to connect to a Service Bus ...
by RuppertKoch via Windows Azure on 11/9/2011 6:33:00 PM
This post describes how to use the Service Bus brokered messaging features in a way to yield best performance. You can find more details in the full article on MSDN. Use the Service Bus Client Protocol The Service Bus supports the Service Bus client protocol and HTTP. The Service Bus client protocol is more efficient, because it maintains the connection to the Service Bus service as long as the message factory exists. It also implements batching and prefetching. The Service Bus client protocol i ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/8/2011 7:00:00 PM
Channel 9 was created in 2004 as a developer-focused community site featuring video channels, discussions and podcasts with Microsoft developers and customers. The goal of the site is to bring forward the people behind the products and connect them with the people who use them. Originally hosted on a third-party ISV, Channel 9 recently completed a move to Windows Azure. In this great new article, Channel 9 Developer Lead Duncan Mackenzie details the move and shares some great g ...
by ValeryMizonov via Windows Azure on 11/7/2011 5:40:00 PM
Integrating an on-premises process with processes running in Windows Azure opens up a wide range of opportunities that enable customers to extend their on-premises solutions into the cloud. Based on real-world customer projects, we have designed and implemented a reference architecture comprising of a production quality hybrid solution that demonstrates how customers can extend their existing on-premises BizTalk Server infrastructure into the Windows Azure environment. The solution is centered o ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/4/2011 4:20:00 PM
Cloud Cover is your eye on the Microsoft Cloud. In each episode, Wade and Steve cover Windows Azure, digging into features, discussing the latest news and announcements, and sharing tips and tricks. Here’s what Wade and Steve covered last month: Episode 63: Securely Sharing Files with Windows Azure In this episode, Wade shows a new sample application called BlobShare. The BlobShare Sample is a simple file sharing application that demonstrates the storage services of the Windows Azur ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/2/2011 5:13:00 PM
The October release of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit (WAPTK) is now available as a free download. The Windows Azure Platform Training Kit includes hands-on labs (HOLs), presentations, and samples to help you understand how to build applications that utilize Windows Azure, SQL Azure, and the Windows Azure AppFabric. Download the full training kit including the hands-on labs, demo scripts, and presentations here. Browse through the individual hands-on labs on MSDN here. The O ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 11/1/2011 5:56:00 PM
Photosynth allows you to take multiple photos of the same scene or object and stitch them all together into one big, interactive 3D viewing experience that can be shared with anyone on the web. This translates to a lot of stored data stored - more than a million synths and panos, and more than 40 terabytes (TB) of data representing more than 100 terapixels. When Photosynth launched over three years ago, Windows Azure didn’t exist so they used a partner to provide storage and content distri ...
by ItaiRazMS via Windows Azure on 10/31/2011 4:00:00 PM
On Friday we added relay load balancing to the Service Bus with support for up to 25 listeners per relay endpoint. Relay load balancing greatly simplifies the task of achieving high availability, redundancy, and scalability by supporting multiple listeners per relay endpoint (up to 25) and distributing work across listeners. If your existing solution relies on failover through receiving an AddressAlreadyInUse exception for the same relay endpoint, you will no longer see this behavior. Addi ...
by StevenMartinMS via Windows Azure on 10/27/2011 4:30:00 PM
Effective immediately, we are lowering the price of Windows Azure Storage (from $0.15 to $0.14 per GB per month.) We are also adding commitment volume discounts, which will give high-volume customers additional savings. All Windows Azure Storage customers will automatically receive the reduced storage price effective October 26, 2011. High-volume customers with regular usage are eligible for additional savings through the Storage Core Offer. A breakdown of pricing discounts is listed ...
by PaoloSalvatoriMS via Windows Azure on 10/25/2011 4:49:00 PM
Microsoft BizTalk Server enables organizations to connect and extend heterogeneous systems across the enterprise and with trading partners. The Service Bus is part of Windows Azure and is designed to provide connectivity, queuing, and routing capabilities not only for the cloud applications but also for on-premises applications. Using both together enables a significant number of scenarios in which you can build secure, reliable and scalable hybrid solutions that span the cloud and on premises e ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 10/24/2011 5:23:00 PM
Did you know that you can build your next mobile app on Windows Azure? Better yet, the process of building mobile apps is now easier than ever with the Windows Azure Toolkits for Devices. With support for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, these toolkits let you easily build apps that use Windows Azure cloud services. For additional inspiration, be sure to check out these case studies to learn how others are using Windows Azure for their mobile solutions. T-Mobile Speeds Time-to-Market for Innova ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 10/20/2011 5:20:00 PM
Once you’ve decided to make a move to the cloud, a million questions will arise about specific details and capabilities. Finding the answers to your questions isn’t always easy but Windows Azure partners can help by providing you with the building blocks you need that will answer your questions and address your specific needs. To help you learn more, we’ve created videos and case studies with some of our key partners that explain how they can help you build or improve your Soft ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 10/18/2011 12:00:00 PM
IBM mainframes have been a fixture of Fortune 1000 companies for decades. When these companies deployed their mission critical applications on the mainframe, they really were the best approach to get the scale and reliability they required. Technology has progressed significantly since those early days and today, with Windows Azure, companies can now achieve high-availability through a scale-out architecture. This enables such companies to scale far beyond the capab ...
by Molly Bostic via Windows Azure on 10/17/2011 6:17:00 PM
Last week we added 12 new articles to our growing collection of Real World Guidance available on windowsazure.com. These articles are written by developers, architects, and IT Pros from inside and outside Microsoft who are using Windows Azure. The articles provide an opportunity for these professionals to share detailas about their experiences using Windows Azure. Articles range from tips and trick to in-depth solutions. We have two series of articles available right now: Field ...
by GregoryLeake via Windows Azure on 10/14/2011 6:30:00 PM
Yesterday at the SQL PASS Summit, we announced several enhancements to SQL Azure that will be delivered with our next service release. The Q4 SR marks a further advancement to our scale on demand capabilities for the data tier. Key enhancements include a 3x increase in maximum database size from 50 GB to 150 GB, and SQL Azure Federation to greatly simplify database elastic scale. Existing applications should be unaffected by the upgrade, and further information on tool updates and ho ...
by GregoryLeake via Windows Azure on 10/14/2011 4:00:00 PM
We are very pleased to announce the broad availability of the next Community Technology Preview (CTP) release of SQL Azure Data Sync. This release supports customers' journey to the cloud by enabling hybrid IT environments between on-premises and the cloud, geo-location, and synchronization with remote offices. Key updates include a fresh UI, enhanced filtering, and improved sync group configuration for greater ease and flexibility for syncing data across and within cloud and on-prem ...
by GregoryLeake via Windows Azure on 10/13/2011 6:30:00 PM
We are excited to announce the immediate availability of the next SQL Azure Reporting Community Technology Preview (CTP). SQL Azure Reporting delivers on the promise of BI in the cloud, and developers can now author reports, just as they do today when running SQL Server Reporting services on-premises. SQL Azure Reporting provides consistent APIs to view, execute and manage reports along with rich formatting and data visualization options. The new CTP updates the previous CTP release ...
by CameronRogers via Windows Azure on 10/13/2011 4:45:00 PM
During the Day 2 keynote at the SQL PASS Summit 2011 this morning, Microsoft announced a number of updates, including some much requested advancements to SQL Azure. Key announcements on SQL Azure included the availability of new CTPs for SQL Azure Reporting and SQL Azure Data Sync, as well as a look at the upcoming Q4 2011 Service Release for SQL Azure. Details on each of these announcements can be found below, with additional posts coming from Greg Leake later this week with in-dept ...
by CameronRogers via Windows Azure on 10/12/2011 4:30:00 PM
Microsoft Corporate Vice President Ted Kummert kicked off the SQL PASS conference today in Seattle. For those of you who aren’t familiar with SQL PASS, it is an event for the SQL Server community, driven by the SQL Server community. During his opening keynote this morning, Kummert announced an end-to-end roadmap for Big Data that adopts Apache Hadoop ™ by distributing enterprise-class Hadoop based on solutions on both Windows Server and Windows Azure. This is great news f ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 10/11/2011 10:30:00 AM
Leading international security solutions group G4S is focused on protecting rock stars and sports stars as well as delivering cash and bullion worldwide. The company has developed a system called eViper in order to plan the most efficient routes and track the movement of cash and valuables worldwide. G4S transports more than £300 billion in cash each year so eViper is a mission critical system for G4S; quite simply if it fails then cash stops moving. G4S has just completed its ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 10/7/2011 8:00:00 AM
As we announced at BUILD 2011 last month, Windows Azure Marketplace is now available in 26 countries and supports 17 currencies. With this release we have delivered on the promise to provide a global marketplace for cloud applications and data, with a secure commerce platform. Customers in these new markets can now discover, explore and subscribe to premium data and applications on the Windows Azure Marketplace. Countries available (26): US, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech, Denmark, Finland, Fra ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 10/6/2011 8:00:00 AM
The folks over at the TechNet Evaluation Center have just released a new evaluation experience called Deploying And Managing Windows Azure Applications. In this evaluation, users will follow a step-by-step guide to deploy a sample application to Windows Azure and then use System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) to monitor and manage that application. SCOM enables IT Professionals to use existing skills and tools to monitor and manage applications on Windows Azure without purchasing additional ha ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 10/5/2011 8:00:00 AM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure customer interview series, I talked to Marc Slovak, Vice President Product Technology, and Manish Bhargava, Product Manager, at LexisNexis about their new offerings on Windows Azure Marketplace. Here’s what they had to say: Himanshu Kumar Singh: Tell me about LexisNexis. Marc Slovak: LexisNexis is a leading global provider of content-enabled workflow solutions designed specifically for professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, gov ...
by GregoryLeake via Windows Azure on 10/4/2011 8:30:00 AM
The Professional Association for SQL Server will hold the PASS Summit 2011 from Oct 11-14 in Seattle, Washington. Are you attending? There are many reasons why you should be, including dozens of sessions with Windows Azure Platform content and keynotes by Microsoft leaders highlighting new technologies. PASS Summit is the largest SQL Server and BI conference in the world, planned and presented by the SQL Server community, for the SQL Server community. If you are attending the ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 10/3/2011 4:30:00 PM
Anyone who has worked on a software development project will be familiar with the concept of an “environment”. Simply put, an environment is a set of infrastructure that you can deploy your application to, supporting a specific activity in your software development lifecycle. Any significant project will have multiple environments, generally with names such as “Test”, “UAT”, “Staging” and “Production”. When teams first start working wit ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 9/30/2011 5:30:00 PM
All Windows Azure sessions from the BUILD Conference are now available for on-demand replay. Below is a list of sessions, including the Day 2 keynote with Server & Tools Business president Satya Nadella. For more information about any of the Windows Azure-related announcements made last week, be sure to read the blog post, “JUST ANNOUNCED @ BUILD: New Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows 8, Windows Azure SDK 1.5, Geo-Replication for Windows Azure Storage, and More&rdquo ...
by Himanshu_Singh via Windows Azure on 9/29/2011 10:00:00 PM
The Future of Web Apps (FOWA) is a three-day conference that brings together web visionaries to discuss the technologies, platforms and business models that will launch the next generation of web, mobile and social applications. The following Windows Azure experts will speak at FOWA: You're in the Cloud, Now What? - Getting the Most Out of Your Cloud Platform – with Steve Marx (@smarx), Windows Azure technical product manager Building HTML5 Games (includes demo hosted in Windows Azu ...
by James_Conard via Windows Azure on 9/29/2011 8:01:00 PM
Earlier this month we released an updated version of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit. The September 2011 update of the training kit includes updated hands-on labs for the Windows Azure SDK/Tools version 1.5 (September 2011.) The September update also includes a new hands-on lab for Service Bus Messaging, which demonstrates how to send and receive messages using the new Service Bus Message Queues and Topics that were just released. Download Now - You can download the full tra ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 9/22/2011 6:42:00 PM
Game hero Serious Sam is among the first ambassadors for Danish start-up Roozz.com and its software, which allows users to run games and applications in any PC browser. Designed to enable businesses to avoid paying for expensive software they may only use occasionally, Roozz is implemented as a browser plugin with integrated payment and copyright protection. Roozz runs on Windows Azure, which enables the company to: easily adjust capacity up and down depending on the number of users; operate sm ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 9/21/2011 4:55:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Dan Scarfe, Chief Executive Officer at Dot Net Solutions, about how the company is using Windows Azure to expand business opportunities, explore new revenue models, and help customers reduce costs. Here’s what he had to say: MSDN: What does Dot Net Solutions do? Scarfe: We’re a systems integrator and a software development house. We build tailored solutions for organizations where there are no off-the-shelf solutions availa ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 9/20/2011 8:43:00 PM
Windows Azure Platform PowerShell Cmdlets 2.0 are now available for download on CodePlex. Designed to make deploying and managing your Windows Azure applications simpler, the new Windows Azure Platform PowerShell Cmdlets have been updated to improve consistency and ease deployment. Changes include: Improved Support for Hosted Services Management, Affinity Groups, Storage Accounts, Storage and Instance Management. Enhanced Diagnostics Support: Manage all aspects of Windows Azure Diagnostic ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 9/19/2011 7:11:00 PM
Here’s a great way to get two days of technical content and one-on-one assistance from Windows Azure experts. Sign up for the Seattle Interactive Conference (SIC), to be held November 2-3, 2011 at The Conference Center of the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle. Windows Azure experts will be on hand for technical sessions and to share their products and technical expertise as part of the SIC’s Cloud Experience track. This track is designed for experienc ...
by ClemensVasters via Windows Azure on 9/16/2011 6:15:00 PM
As announced at BUILD this week, the Service Bus September 2011 Release is now available. This is the biggest feature update in the production environment since the service launched in January 2010. The Service Bus provides secure connectivity and messaging capabilities that enable building distributed and loosely coupled applications in the cloud, as well as hybrid applications across both on-premises and the cloud. It enables a variety of communication and messaging protocols and patterns, and ...
by BradCalder via Windows Azure on 9/16/2011 4:35:00 PM
During the BUILD Day two keynote, we announced the release of geo-replication and a new version of the REST API to enable functionality improvements for Windows Azure Blobs, Tables, and Queues. At this time we are now geo-replicating all Windows Azure Blob and Table data between two data centers. Geo-Replication Customers have continually emphasized the importance of Disaster Recovery capabilities in Azure as well as other cloud platforms. Wednesday’s announcement on Geo ...
by SudhirHasbe via Windows Azure on 9/15/2011 6:15:00 PM
Yesterday at BUILD, Microsoft Server and Tools Business President, Satya Nadella made two announcements around the Windows Azure Marketplace and shared details on how Ford Motor Company and eBay are using the Marketplace to add further value to their business. This post will dive deeper into both of these announcements. International Availability Microsoft announced the upcoming availability of the Windows Azure Marketplace in 25 new markets around the world, including: Austria, Belg ...
by VijayRajagopalan via Windows Azure on 9/15/2011 4:22:00 PM
During yesterday’s Day two keynote at the BUILD, Microsoft announced the availability of the Windows Azure SDK 1.5 and Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. You can download the tools here using the Web Platform Installer. All three of these releases are aimed at simplifying development, deployment, and management on the Windows Azure platform. The Windows Azure SDK includes the following new features: Re-architected emulator enabling higher fidelity between local &a ...
by Nick_Harris via Windows Azure on 9/14/2011 7:00:00 PM
The Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows 8 is designed to make it easier for developers to create a Windows Metro style application that can harness the power of Windows Azure Compute and Storage. It includes a Windows 8 Cloud Application project template for Visual Studio that makes it easier for developers to create a Windows Metro style application that utilizes services in Windows Azure. This template generates a Windows Azure project, an ASP.NET MVC 3 project, and a Windows Metro style JavaScr ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 9/14/2011 4:00:00 PM
NOTE: This post was updated Wednesday, September 21, 2011 to include updated information about the Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows 8. NOTE: This post was updated Friday, September 16, 2011 to include links to related blog posts about each of the announcements made at BUILD. Today from the BUILD Conference in Anaheim, California, Server and Tools President, Satya Nadella outlined a changing world of application development, connected devices, and continuous services, and articulated how M ...
by GregoryLeake via Windows Azure on 9/10/2011 12:40:00 AM
This post, which is the second part of a two-part series on SQL Azure, focuses on the features and functionality in the new SQL Azure Management Portal. Click here to read Part I. (Updated on 13 September 2011 with additional information on pre-requisites, system requirements and known issues.) We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the new SQL Azure Management Portal, which provides an enhanced user interface and additional functionality to administer your SQL Azure ...
This post, which is the second part of a two-part series on SQL Azure, focuses on the features and functionality in the new SQL Azure Management Portal. Click here to read Part I. We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the new SQL Azure Management Portal, which provides an enhanced user interface and additional functionality to administer your SQL Azure server and databases. The new SQL Azure Management portal replaces the online Database Manager tool that previousl ...
by GregoryLeake via Windows Azure on 9/10/2011 12:20:00 AM
This post, which is the first part of a two-part series on SQL Azure, focuses on the new features and functionality in the SQL Azure Q2 2011 Service Release. Today we are excited to announce that we have finished the rollout of the Q2 2011 Service Release for the SQL Azure database service. The Q2 2011 Service Release is foundational in many ways, with significant upgrades to the underlying engine designed to increase overall performance and scalability. This upgrade is also significant in ...
by Windows Azure Field Notes Group via Windows Azure on 9/7/2011 8:15:00 PM
This is the first in a series of articles focused on sharing “real-world” technical information from the Windows Azure community. This article was written by Walter Myers III, Principal Consultant, Microsoft Consulting Services. Problem I have seen various Windows Azure-related posts where developers have chosen to use symmetric key schemes for the encryption and decryption of data. An important scenario is when a developer needs to store encrypted data in SQL Azure, which will ...
by Windows Azure Information Experience Team via Windows Azure on 9/7/2011 4:57:00 PM
We've recently introduced new pages to the Windows Azure web site to help you find information about a variety of technical subjects. The cornerstone of the new pages is the Windows Azure Learn page, which acts as an information hub for accessing pages on all of the available technical subjects. Subjects include Plan and Design, Develop Applications, Migrate Services and Data, Store and Access Data, and more. The technical subject pages (such as the one shown below) are designed to Highlight fe ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 9/6/2011 5:42:00 PM
Microsoft IT Showcase delivers the best practices and experiences from Microsoft IT to provide an inside view into how the organization plans for, deploys, and manages its own enterprise solutions. The goal of sharing these best practices and cost saving scenarios is to help customers make decisions about how best to plan for, deploy, and manage Microsoft solutions in their own environment. If you’re interested in how Microsoft IT has implemented Windows Azure across its global enterprise, ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 9/2/2011 4:41:00 PM
Windows Azure Developer Evangelist David Gristwood, spotlights several UK customers who have had great success on Windows Azure in his most recent post, “Who Else is Using Windows Azure…?” The post also includes videos taken during a recent TechDays UK event with four partners talking about why they chose Windows Azure and what their customers are building. Click on each logo to watch the video. ...
by AppFabric Team via Windows Azure on 9/1/2011 8:15:00 PM
We’re excited to announce that the Workflow Foundation (WF) Activity Pack for Windows Azure has just been released! Please refer to our CodePlex page for the download information. The package is also available via NuGet, you can type “Install-Package WFAzureActivityPack” in your package manager console to install the activity pack. The Activity Pack is built on top of Windows Azure SDK (August Update, 2011). Please install the SDK on your development machine. Introduction The W ...
by CoreySanders via Windows Azure on 9/1/2011 4:55:00 PM
Windows Azure has increased the maximum number of roles allowed in a deployment from 5 to 25. This change allows customers to deploy up to 25 distinct roles, which can be a mixture of Web Roles, Worker Roles, and Virtual Machine Roles, as part of a single deployment. This increase gives application developers a more granular level of control over the lifecycle of different aspects of their deployment, since each of these 25 roles can be scaled and updated independently. Additionally, Windows Azu ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/31/2011 2:59:00 PM
Today Wade Wegner has released the Windows Azure Toolkit for Android, along with significant updates to the toolkits for Windows Phone and iOS. You can get the toolkits here: Windows Phone iOS (iPhone & iPad) Android The purpose of these toolkits are to make it easier for mobile device developers – across device platforms – to build applications that use Windows Azure to host services. Some of the more notable updates are: Initial release of the Windows Azure Toolkit for Andro ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/26/2011 7:47:00 PM
Nathan Totten’s latest blog post, “Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games & Tankster Version 1.0”, announces the release of the latest version of the Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games and the Tankster game. This release adds several new features, improves the performance and stability of the server APIs, and contains many user interface improvements to the sample game. These tools make it easier for developers to build great game experiences across devices in less time ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/25/2011 10:00:00 PM
Bytes by MSDN interviews offer a great way to learn from cloud experts and Microsoft developers as they talk about user-experience, the cloud, phone, and other topics they’re passionate about. This week's featured video is with Rob Gillen and Dave Neilson, who discuss how the scientific community harnesses the cloud for high performance computing. Rob, from Planet Technologies, illustrates how Cloud Computing fits into the areas of computational biology and image processing and shares a ne ...
by GregoryLeake via Windows Azure on 8/25/2011 4:50:00 PM
As the SQL Azure July 2011 Service Release is being rolled out, we want to advise you of an important consideration for your application logic. Some customers may be programmatically checking to determine if their application is connected to SQL Azure or another edition of SQL Server. Please be advised, you should not base your application logic on the server version number, since it changes across upgrades and service releases. It is okay, however, to use the version number for logging purposes ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/23/2011 5:48:00 PM
A recent survey of Australian IT organizations identified cloud computing as one of the most important technology trends right now. That’s why Tech-Ed Australia 2011, which will take place August 30 – September 2, 2011 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, is diving deeply into the cloud. Attendees will hear from experts about where the market is headed and return to their organizations with an extended skill set to help them harness the full power of the cloud. T ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/22/2011 9:37:00 PM
If you’re a developer who wants to stay on top of the latest news, tips and tricks about developing open source applications and cloud services for mobile devices on Windows Azure, you should check out the new Windows Azure Silver Lining Blog. Launched today by Brian Swan and Larry Franks, the aim of this new blog is to “be a treasure trove of information for OSS and mobile device developers who want to understand how to take advantage of the Windows Azure platform to build world-cla ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/22/2011 4:23:00 PM
Check out these new videos to hear how customers Sogeti, Quosal and Paladin Systems have each tapped into the power of Windows Azure to cost-effectively grow their business and serve their customers. Sogeti Creates the Windows Azure Privilege Club Sogeti is a leading provider of professional technology services, specializing in application and infrastructure management and testing. Sogeti created the Windows Azure Privilege Club to bring together some of their enterprise clients and introduce t ...
by Yvonne_Muench via Windows Azure on 8/19/2011 4:26:00 PM
We’ve heard from Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) that the technical aspect of building a Windows Azure application is sometimes the easier part. Coming up with the business strategy and transitioning a traditional company to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is often more challenging. My team, part of the Developer and Platform Evangelist (DPE) organization, works with ISVs who are building on Windows Azure. We’ve been talking to our early adopter ISVs to see what they're ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/17/2011 7:56:00 PM
Nathan Totten just announced the release of an update to the Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles in his post, “Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles Version 1.1”. This accelerator enables you to deploy websites to Windows Azure web roles with multiple instances using web deploy in less than 30 seconds. Today’s update also adds new features such as improved logging, Windows Azure CDN support, and makes it easier to test your sites running on the accelerator. Additionally, ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/17/2011 4:16:00 PM
If you’re looking for a deeper dive into the technical considerations for making a move to the cloud with Windows Azure you should check out these great books from Microsoft patterns & practices. Click on each title for more information. A Guide to Claims-based Identity and Access Control Imagine a world where you don't have to worry about authentication. Imagine instead that all requests to your application already include the information you need to make access control decision ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/15/2011 4:17:00 PM
MSDN: Tell us about General Mills. Alcocer: With more than 33,000 employees, General Mills is one of the world’s leading food companies. Our brands include Betty Crocker, Cheerios, Nature Valley and Pillsbury. MSDN: What led the company to develop Gluten Freely? Alcocer: Gluten, a protein naturally found in certain grains common in a modern diet, can cause health problems for a small but growing number of people who have sensitivities to it, including those with celiac di ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/11/2011 8:29:00 PM
Do you want to be on the leading edge of innovation and get in on the ground floor of helping software vendors accelerate and revolutionize their business with cloud computing? If you are, this is your lucky day! We’re looking for individuals around the world to support Cloud Service Vendors in developing commercially available applications on the Windows Azure Platform. The Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) organization is looking for architect evangelists, developer eva ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/10/2011 4:50:00 PM
Opportunities for developers in the cloud continue to multiply. Today Intuit provided yet another great example of this trend with the announcement that the company is increasing its investment to more tightly integrate the Intuit Partner Platform with Windows Azure. This will provide developers and channel partners the tools to deliver solutions that reach the millions of people that use QuickBooks and other Intuit financial software. This move has a few really exciting opportunities for ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/8/2011 6:18:00 PM
The Microsoft TechNet Wiki is always chock-full of the latest and greatest user-generated content about Microsoft technologies. Two new articles that dig deeper into SQL Azure just posted to the wiki are worth checking out: Connecting to SQL Azure from Ruby Applications How to Manage SQL Azure Servers using Windows PowerShell You should also check out the updated SQL Azure FAQ, which is available in multiple languages. Please visit the wiki index page for a full list of the l ...
by Windows Azure Storage Team via Windows Azure on 8/3/2011 10:57:00 PM
We are excited to announce the release of Windows Azure Storage Analytics. This feature offers developers and operations the ability to track, analyze, and debug usage of Windows Azure Storage (Blobs, Tables and Queues). You can use this data to analyze storage usage to improve the design of your applications and their access patterns to Windows Azure Storage. Analytics data consists of: Logs Provide trace of executed requests for Blobs, Tables and Queues Metrics Provide s ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/3/2011 4:16:00 PM
Today we released the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit – August 2011. The Windows Azure Platform Training Kit (WAPTK) includes a comprehensive set of technical content including hands-on labs, presentations, and demos that are designed to help you learn how to use the Windows Azure platform. In addition to the offline training kit above, we have pushed updates to the Windows Azure Platform Training Course on MSDN. For more information, please see Microsoft Technical Evangelist Wade Weg ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/3/2011 3:45:00 PM
We are very pleased to announce the August 2011 release of the Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. You can download the tools here using the Web Platform Installer. New in this release: Profile applications running in Windows Azure. Create ASP.Net MVC3 Web Roles. Manage multiple service configurations in one cloud project. Improved validation of Windows Azure packages. With profiling support in the Windows Azure Tools you can easily detect performance bottlenecks in your appl ...
by BharatAhluwalia via Windows Azure on 8/2/2011 4:00:00 PM
August 2, 2011 Update: In addition to fixing a variety of bugs, we have also adopted the latest version of the service management API. For most operations there will be little or no resulting impact from this change. However, in order to properly account for the latency involved in propagating DNS records, the ‘create’ and ‘delete’ operations for storage accounts will now take longer to complete. We’re pleased to announce immediate availability of an up ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/1/2011 9:15:00 PM
For the past few months, we have offered the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching service free of charge for the promotional period that ends July 31, 2011. For all billing periods beginning on August 1, 2011 onward, we will begin charging at the following standard monthly rates: $45.00 for a 128MB cache $55.00 for a 256MB cache $75.00 for a 512MB cache $110.00 for a 1GB cache $180.00 for a 2GB cache $325.00 for a 4GB cache If you are signed up for one of the Windows Azure Platform offers, it may i ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 8/1/2011 5:51:00 PM
Don’t miss the latest episode of Cloud Cover on Channel 9, which includes a discussion about Windows Azure with Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, Server & Tools Business. In this episode Scott talks with Steve and Wade about what he's been focused on with Windows Azure and, during this conversation, he talks about the good, the bad, and the ugly and also shares some code along the way. Join Wade and Steve each week as they cover Windows Azure; click here to subscribe to C ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/29/2011 6:46:00 PM
Fujitsu announced the global availability of a new line of middleware products to support the Windows Azure Platform, which comes on the heels of their announcement of the Fujitsu Global Cloud Platform service, powered by Windows Azure. The middleware products launching today will run on both FGCP/A5 and the Windows Azure public cloud service, as well as provide customers around the world with the ability to build and deploy with Java and COBOL language runtime environments, migrate existing lis ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/29/2011 5:00:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to David Holecek, Digital Strategy Manager at Volvo Car Corporation about using Windows Azure to host the company’s interactive, online game that has a tie-in to the Twilight movie franchise. Here’s what he had to say: MSDN: Can you tell us more about Volvo and how you market to consumers? Holecek: Volvo is one the car industry’s most-recognized brands and has a long history of innovative designs that take a human-center ...
by AppFabric Team via Windows Azure on 7/28/2011 5:30:00 PM
Good news for all PHP and Java developers: today we are publishing some Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus samples just for you. Since the AppFabric Service Bus REST API can be used from almost all programming languages and operating systems, it makes it very easy for applications written on any platform to interoperate with each another through Windows Azure. To illustrate the point, we took the chat application that is already available as part of the Silverlight samples and made sample clien ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/27/2011 4:03:00 PM
Wade Wegner just announced in his blog post, “Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS Now Supports the Access Control Service” the release of an update to the Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS. This new version of the toolkit includes three key components Wade describes as incredibly important when trying to develop iOS applications that use Windows Azure: Cloud Ready Packages for Devices Configuration Tool Support for ACS Read Wade’s blog post to learn more about these updates and downlo ...
by MikeTillman via Windows Azure on 7/26/2011 7:00:00 PM
We’re pleased to announce four new Getting Started Tutorials that will help developers and IT pros who are interested in trying out Windows Azure to get up-and-running quickly. In addition to these tutorials, we just launched a new tutorials section on the Windows Azure product website that catalogs tutorial content covering all aspects of the Windows Azure platform. The new getting started tutorials cover several common scenarios: Installing the SDK and Getting a Subscription walks throu ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/25/2011 8:11:00 PM
We are very excited today to announce our latest content release, which makes some great new data available on the Windows Azure Marketplace, as well as the release of our new Offer Submission page! Are you looking to publish your application or data on the Marketplace? Check out https://marketplace.windowsazure.com/publishing for all the information you need including samples, documentation and to access the new Offer Submission page! Also available today is BranchInfo™ 2011 from our ...
by AppFabric Team via Windows Azure on 7/25/2011 4:09:00 PM
Today we are excited to announce several updates and enhancements made to the Windows Azure AppFabric Management Portal and the Access Control service. Management Portal Localization As announced in the blog post on the Windows Azure team blog, Windows Azure Platform Management Portal Updates Now Available, the Windows Azure Platform Management Portal now supports localization in 11 languages. The newly supported languages are Japanese, German, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, French, It ...
by MikeTillman via Windows Azure on 7/22/2011 6:01:00 PM
We're very happy to announce the new Windows Azure Code Samples Gallery that makes it easier for you to find the code samples that you need and provides the ability to add and maintain code samples in our growing catalog. This page is built on Microsoft's Code Gallery site, and has been customized to allow you to browse code samples within the familiar context on the Windows Azure website. One of the nice features of the gallery is that you can filter the samples based on programming ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/21/2011 4:25:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Henning Volkmer, CEO of ThinPrint, Inc., about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver its innovative print solution. Here’s what he had to say: MSDN: Provide a quick overview of your company and the services you offer. Volkmer: Cortado and ThinPrint specialize in offering innovative print solutions and leading mobile business applications for any cloud strategy. Our solutions range from print management solution ...
by AppFabric Team via Windows Azure on 7/20/2011 11:37:00 PM
This post was just published on the AppFabric Team Blog. In this tutorial, Alan Smith (MVP) uses the Windows Azure AppFabric June CTP to create a basic custom external service to call the BingMaps Geocode service. This is a great starting point on how to write a basic custom external service fully integrated with the Windows Azure AppFabric designer June CTP. Look for the webcast version coming soon on AppFabric.tv and follow up posts to add more capabilities to this custom external service, suc ...
by AppFabric Team via Windows Azure on 7/20/2011 4:59:00 PM
This post by Justin Beckwith was just published on the AppFabric Team Blog. As the hosting of applications moves from our local staging environments to the cloud, one of the areas that needs to improve is the ability to include deployment in our automated build processes. Using the June CTP AppFabric bits, Visual Studio does an excellent job of enabling developers to design, build, and deploy AppFabric applications. However, the current tools do not provide a way to integrate t ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/20/2011 3:58:00 PM
You’ve just built the best Zombie-Ninja-gardening game for Facebook. The game was steadily gaining popularity and then you were “boingboinged.” Two minutes later your servers melted and your users moved on to the next game. For most, this kind of disaster spells the end to a promising start. To deal with this volatility, developers can rely on Windows Azure to provide a platform that lets them focus on development and the business model, and scale in the face of unp ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/19/2011 4:05:00 PM
Winners of the ninth annual Microsoft Imagine Cup were announced last Wednesday night at the Imagine Cup World Festival and Awards Ceremony at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York. Ireland’s team Hermes took home top honors in the Software Design competition. The team designed a device that plugs into a car and monitors dangerous driving behavior and road conditions, providing instant feedback to both the driver and the car owner. The team’s solution uses embedded ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/18/2011 11:20:00 PM
This post by adamab originally appeared last Friday, July 15, 2011 on the AppFabric Team Blog. In the previous blog post on developing AppFabric Applications, we showed you how to create a simple AppFabric application. This app was an ASP.NET web site that used a SQL Database. In this blog post, we’ll use the AppFabric Application Manager to configure, deploy, and monitor that application. Here is a breakdown of what we will cover: The AppFabric Player application has been imported (where ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/18/2011 7:19:00 PM
This post by Vikram Desai originally appeared last Friday, July 15, 2011 on the AppFabric Team Blog. In this post, we will go through developing an AppFabric application that contains a web frontend and a database. Before we can develop an application, we’ll sign into the AppFabric LABS Portal at https://portal.appfabriclabs.com using our Live Id. Since this is a limited CTP, only approved users will have access to the service, but all users can try the SDK and VS Tools on their local mach ...
by BharatAhluwalia via Windows Azure on 7/18/2011 6:07:00 PM
We’re pleased to announce immediate availability of an updated Windows Azure Platform Management Portal. This updated portal is designed to make the Windows Azure management experience more intuitive and efficient. Enhancements in this new release include: Localization: The Portal is now available in 11 languages; newly supported languages are Japanese, German, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese. Us ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/14/2011 11:44:00 PM
MSDN: Tell us about your company and the solution you have created for Windows Azure. O’Connor: InishTech is a little bit unusual. Our Software Licensing and Protection Services (SLPS) platform is a classic multi-tenant Windows Azure application, utilizing the Windows Azure SDK, Windows Azure Dev Fabric and Visual Studio 2008. It has over 100 tenants and serves hundreds of thousands of end users. But it’s what SLPS actually does that makes us different – our customers are ...
by BharatAhluwalia via Windows Azure on 7/14/2011 9:30:00 PM
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 7/14/2011 5:01:00 PM
Jared Wray is the CTO and architect of the Tier 3’s Enterprise Cloud Platform. Wray founded Tier 3 in 2006 to address the emerging need for enterprise on-demand services. Wray oversees the company’s development, support and operations teams and is responsible for the company’s intellectual property strategy and new product development. A serial entrepreneur, Wray previously founded Dual, an interactive development firm with clients such as Microsoft and Ninten ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/13/2011 9:00:00 PM
MSDN: Tell us about Cenzic and the solutions you offer. Khera: Business and governments increasingly rely on Web-based applications to interact with their customers and partners. These Web applications may contain many security vulnerabilities, which makes them ideal targets for attacks. As the only stand-alone provider of dynamic, black box testing of Web applications, Cenzic addresses these security risks head on by detecting vulnerabilities for remediation in order to stay ahead ...
by Steve-Yi via Windows Azure on 7/13/2011 6:00:00 PM
We’re about to make some updates to the SQL Azure service, which will pave the way for some significant enhancements and announcements we plan to make later this year. This July 2011 Service Release is foundational in many ways, with significant upgrades to the underlying engine designed to increase overall performance and scalability. This upgrade is also significant in that it represents a big first step towards providing a common base and feature set between the cloud SQL Az ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/13/2011 4:05:00 PM
Yesterday at WPC11 in Los Angeles, we announced CTP 3 of SQL Server Codename “Denali”, which includes a key new feature called Data Quality Services. Data Quality Services enables customers to cleanse their existing data stored in SQL databases, such as customer data stored in CRM systems that may contain inaccuracies created due to human error. Data Quality Services leverages Windows Azure Marketplace to access real-time data cleansing services from leading providers, such as Meliss ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/12/2011 10:39:00 PM
News from WPC11 this week has demonstrated that the partner opportunity with Microsoft has never been stronger. Validating that opportunity, a recently commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting, “The ISV Business Case For The Windows Azure Platform” found that software partners deploying solutions on Windows Azure are generating 20% - 250% revenue growth after nine to 14 months of operations. Available for download here, the report examines the economic impact and bu ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/12/2011 8:25:00 PM
We are excited to announce the release of the Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles. This accelerator makes it quick and easy for you to deploy one or more websites across multiple Web Role instances using Web Deploy in less than 30 seconds. Feature highlights: Deploy websites to Windows Azure in less than 30 seconds. Enable deployments to multiple Web Role instances using Web Deploy from both Visual Studio and WebMatrix. Saves Web Deploy packages & IIS configuration in Windows Azure stor ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/12/2011 4:15:00 PM
Launched last November, the Windows Azure Marketplace is an online marketplace for developers to share, find, buy and sell building block components, training, service templates, premium data sets plus finished services and applications needed to build Windows Azure applications. Today at WPC 2011 in Los Angeles, we are pleased to announce that we have expanded the capability of the marketplace to sell finished applications built on Windows Azure in US markets. As of today, we now have 578 offer ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/11/2011 9:22:00 PM
The Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) helps improve the solution experience by putting content closer to the end-user, enhances availability, geo-distribution, scalability, lower latency delivery, and performance. If that’s the goal, you’ll want to be sure that when you instantiate the source of this content at the origin it’s as CDN friendly as you need. If you’re looking for help doing this, be sure to check out the latest blog post from Microsoft ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/8/2011 10:04:00 PM
If you’re still putting the final touches on your schedule for WPC11 next week in Los Angeles, here are four sessions you won’t want to miss. Each of these sessions will focus on the latest Windows Azure news and opportunities for partners. All times PDT. Note: session locations are subject to change; please check onsite for any room changes. What’s New on Windows Azure (SC06)Tuesday, July 12 1:30 PM - 2:30 PMRoom 502A, Los Angeles Convention Cente ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/7/2011 4:15:00 PM
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is outpacing traditional packaged software in terms of market growth according to some recent market research. As new ISVs develop SaaS solutions or traditional ISVs transform their business to the SaaS model, they face some challenges in terms of building core SaaS framework that includes scaling, managing and metering their service. In building SaaS solutions, multi-tenancy helps ISVs optimize resource utilization and lower the cost of goods sold (COGS ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/6/2011 5:00:00 PM
Neil Mackenzie a Windows Azure MVP has written a great blog post regarding Windows Azure AppFabric Applications which were introduced as part the Windows Azure AppFabric June CTP. Neil summed up the concept very nicely in his post: “I am a great advocate of the PaaS model of cloud computing. I believe that AppFabric Applications represents the future of PaaS for use cases involving the composition of services that can benefit from the cost savings of running in a multi-tenanted environment ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/6/2011 4:15:00 PM
With any deployment in Windows Azure, a single public IP address, known as a virtual IP address (VIP), is assigned to the service for the customer to use for all input endpoints associated with roles in the service. Even if the service has no input endpoints specified in the model, the VIP is still allocated and used as the source address assigned to outbound traffic coming from each role. Throughout the lifetime of a deployment, the VIP assigned will not change, regardless of the operation ...
by CoreySanders via Windows Azure on 7/6/2011 4:15:00 PM
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 7/1/2011 4:15:00 PM
Are you a baseball fan? Would you like to know the best Major League Baseball (MLB) players right now or compare real-time stats for two MLB teams head-to-head? What if you could see it all in a real-time dashboard for free? Sound Good? Then we have great news for you: welcome to the MLB Head-to-Head Stats Dashboard! The MLB Head-to-Head Stats Dashboard is built on Windows Azure and the STATS.com datasets available on the Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket, ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/30/2011 9:15:00 PM
A new end-to-end sample application called StockTrader 5.0 is now available for free download. This sample application illustrates the use of secure services to integrate private on-premises resources (business services and SQL Server) with the public-cloud Web application running in a Windows Azure Web Role. The application also demonstrates the use of SQL Azure and/or SQL Server to store and manage application configuration data, with one-click changes to configuration settings that automatica ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/29/2011 6:30:00 PM
The essence of High Performance Computing (HPC) is processing power, and Windows Azure’s ability to provide on-demand access to a vast pool of computing resources will put HPC at the fingertips of a broader set of users. With this in mind we're excited to announce the release of a second ‘service pack’ (SP2) for Windows HPC Server 2008 R2. This release is focused on providing customers with a great experience when expanding their on-premises clusters to Windows Azur ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/29/2011 4:59:00 PM
In this post, I will describe how to enable Client-side traces for AppFabric Caching Service. I will also touch upon some basic problems you might face while trying out the same. To configure the cache client to generate System.Diagnostic.Traces pertaining to the AppFabric cache, please follow the below steps: Configuration File Option In your app.config/web.config you need to add <tracing sinkType="DiagnosticSink" traceLevel="Verbose" />, to the appropriate location as per the cases below ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/28/2011 10:54:00 PM
Don’t miss these two new Academy Live Sessions to learn more about how to monetize your solutions on Windows Azure and options for migrating to Windows Azure. Both FREE Academy Live sessions start at 8:00 a.m. PT and run 60 minutes. Click on the session title below to learn more and to register. Windows Azure Based Unified Ad Serving Platform, Out of the Box Monetization MagicThursday, June 30, 2011, 8:00 – 9:00 am PTWatch this session to learn more about TicTacTi’s ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/28/2011 5:12:00 PM
MSDN: Where did the idea for nioovo come from? Skowron-Moszkowicz: In July 2010, polish Internet company GPC Sp. z o.o. did a study that found that the average paper-based address book contains 137 entries, while electronic versions average 161 entries and only 4.7 percent of those entries contain complete contact information. The study concluded that the primary reason for incomplete contact data is the time-consuming, manual nature of entering and updating information. To address t ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/27/2011 6:44:00 PM
We announced several updates to Windows Azure at MIX11. One was a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Windows Azure Traffic Manager, which allows you to load-balance traffic to multiple hosted services. Today we are pleased to announce that an updated version of the Windows Azure Traffic Manager CTP, which offers enhanced visibility of your policy’s monitoring status, is now available. The new version offers a Poll State column in the Windows Azure Platform Management Portal that d ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/27/2011 4:19:00 PM
The Adoption Program Insights series describes experiences of Microsoft Services consultants involved in the Windows Azure Technology Adoption Program assisting customers deploy solutions on the Windows Azure platform. This post is by Tom Hollander. Many developers choose to use service oriented techniques to break large systems into smaller, loosely coupled services. Frequently, each service will be hosted on a different machine and use WS-* protocols for standards-based communication. However ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/24/2011 8:11:00 PM
The June 2011 CTP (Community Technology Preview) of the Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java is now available for download. This plugin is intended to help Eclipse users create and configure deployment packages of their Java applications for the Windows Azure cloud. Key features include: Windows Azure project creation wizard Helpful project structure Sample utility scripts for downloading or unzipping files, or logging errors in the startup script when running in the cloud Shortcuts to te ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/24/2011 6:08:00 PM
[This article was contributed by the AppFabric team.]The Windows Azure June CTP has only been released a few days ago, and we already have great samples built by our customers that show how to use the CTP capabilities. Alan Smith has created two webcasts on CloudCasts that show how easy it is to develop AppFabric applications using the June CTP capabilities: Introduction to AppFabric Applications – shows how to use various capabilities released in the June CTP. Using AppFabric Service Bus ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/24/2011 4:00:00 PM
[This article was contributed by the AppFabric team.]We are combining all Windows Azure platform related content into one place: the Windows Azure Platform Team Blog at www.WindowsAzureBlog.com. This will be the new destination for all product releases, resources, tools and news around the Windows Azure platform. You can bookmark this new blog location and sign up for the Windows Azure AppFabric RSS feed there. We will continue to post about Windows Azure AppFabric on this blog, as well as post ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/24/2011 3:59:00 PM
We are continually looking for ways to make it easier for you to stay on top of the latest product releases, resources, tools and news around Windows Azure & SQL Azure. Today, we’re happy to announce another step in that direction with the consolidation of the SQL Azure, Windows Azure AppFabric and Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket blogs into this Windows Azure blog, which will now be called the ‘Windows Azure Platform Team Blog’. Starting today, this is where you& ...
We are continually looking for ways to make it easier for you to stay on top of the latest product releases, resources, tools and news around Windows Azure & SQL Azure. Today, we’re happy to announce another step in that direction with the consolidation of the SQL Azure, Windows Azure AppFabric and Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket blogs into this Windows Azure blog, which will now be called the ‘Windows Azure Team Blog’. Starting today, this is where you’ll ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/24/2011 8:00:00 AM
[This article was contributed by the SQL Azure team.]In an effort to make it easier for you to stay on top of the latest product releases, resources, tools and news around the Windows Azure platform, today, we’re excited to announce that the SQL Azure blog is moving into what will now be called the ‘Windows Azure Platform Team Blog’. From now on, you can find all SQL Azure blog posts at www.WindowsAzureBlog.com. This one-stop-shop blog is where you’ll be able t ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/23/2011 10:00:00 PM
[This article was contributed by the AppFabric team.]In the Windows Azure AppFabric May 2011 CTP, we released enhancements to Service Bus including the new message-oriented middleware features around Queues and Topics. More details regarding these features can be found here: Introducing the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus May 2011 CTP. These enhancements will go live with an update to the commercially available service in a few months. Currently we have two versions of the Access Control ser ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/23/2011 8:39:00 PM
Earlier this week the Windows Azure platform was named Best Cloud Service at the Cloud Computing World Forum in London. Now in its third year, the Cloud Computing World Series Awards celebrate outstanding achievements in the IT market. This year’s winners were selected by an independent panel of industry experts. “It’s fantastic for us to see this type of recognition for the Windows Azure platform. We’re seeing companies creating business solutions in record times, ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/23/2011 4:15:00 PM
Looking for code samples? Have you visited the Windows Azure Code Samples page? We have been working hard to add and update the code samples based on customer feedback. Please visit the Code Samples page and let us know not just what you think but also if there are other samples that you would like to see on this page. We want to help you create great applications by providing a comprehensive list of code samples. To do this, we need your help to decide which samples should be at the top of our ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/22/2011 8:06:00 PM
Would you like to code your own player "bot" and test your skills online against other Windows Azure developers in the United States, Canada, China, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom for bragging rights AND a chance at $5,000? Then be sure to sign up for the Rock Paper Azure Grand Tournament*, which will take place LIVE on July 13, 2011. The challenge is the same as it was the last time we blogged about it but the prizes and the field of play are bigger than ever. The Gra ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/22/2011 5:24:00 PM
Today we’re pleased to announce a change in pricing for the Windows Azure platform that will provide significant cost savings for customers whose cloud applications experience substantial inbound traffic, and customers interested in migrating large quantities of existing data to the cloud. For billing periods that begin on or after July 1, 2011, all inbound data transfers for both peak and off-peak times will be free. Customers and partners with whom we’ve shared this announcement ar ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/21/2011 8:30:00 PM
As announced today in the post, ““Tribune Releases Mosaic App for Windows 7”, on the Windows Team Blog, Tribune Company today unveiled the final release of Mosaic by Tribune. Mosaic is a free, customizable application that offers a rich news reading experience optimized for Windows 7 touch-capable devices including Slate PCs. Mosaic enables readers to enjoy aggregated premium content from Tribune’s own world-class news operations, including the Los Angeles Tim ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/21/2011 5:07:00 PM
If you’d like to hear Satya Nadella, president of Microsoft Server and Tools Business, talk about cloud computing trends and how Microsoft and the Windows Azure platform are helping customers realize these trends, then don't miss the Live Stream of Nadella’s on-stage Q&A with Forbes’ Eric Savitz at the GigaOm Structure conference in San Francisco, on Wednesday, June 22, at 11:10 AM, PT. You can follow Nadella’s presentation live by clicking here. Nadella is one of ver ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/21/2011 5:30:00 AM
As just announced on the AppFabric Team Blog, the Windows Azure AppFabric June CTP is now available. This CTP includes capabilities that make it easy for developers to build, deploy, manage and monitor multi-tier applications across web, business logic and database tiers as a single logical entity on the Windows Azure Platform. This CTP release includes: AppFabric Developer Tools AppFabric Application Manager The Composition Model - a set of .NET Framework extensions for composing applica ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/21/2011 3:31:00 AM
[This article was contributed by the AppFabric team.]Today we are excited to announce the release of the Windows Azure AppFabric June CTP which includes capabilities that make it easy for developers to build, deploy, manage and monitor multi-tier applications across web, business logic and database tiers as a single logical entity on the Windows Azure Platform. This CTP release consists: AppFabric Developer Tools - Enhancements to Visual Studio that enable to visually design and build end-to-en ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/21/2011 3:30:00 AM
[This article was contributed by the AppFabric team.]Posted by Karandeep Anand Last October, at the PDC 2010 keynote, we shared our vision of building, running, and managing applications reliably and at scale in Windows Azure. Since then, the team has been heads-down to make the vision a reality, and last month at TechEd 2011, we announced that we’ll soon be releasing a rich set of new capabilities to build AppFabric Applications using AppFabric Developer Tools, run them in the AppF ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/20/2011 5:45:00 PM
[This article was contributed by the SQL Azure team.]Cihan Biyikoglu has written an interesting article on database schema when working with Federations. “With federations, you take parts of your schema and scale it out. With each federation in the root database, a subset of objects are scaled-out. You may create multiple federations because distribution characteristics and scalability requirements may vary across sets of tables. For example, with an ecommerce app, you may both have a larg ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/20/2011 5:26:00 PM
MSDN: Tell us about your company and the solution that you have created. Swartz: I started MetraTech in 1998 and Metanga is our new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering. Metanga is a multi-tenant SaaS billing solution designed to help ISVs monetize today’s customer and partner relationships as they move to a SaaS model. We’ve always said that billing should fit a customer’s business model, not the other way around. Our unique flexibility enables us to be easily integrate ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/17/2011 7:45:00 PM
An update to the Windows Azure AppFabric SDK is now available for download. This SDK includes API libraries for building connected applications using Windows Azure AppFabric. This updated SDK introduces fixes to a few bugs related to the Caching service. Download the updated SDK here. You can find more information about the bugs this SDK addresses here. If you are not experiencing any of these issues, you do not need to install this updated Windows Azure AppFabric SDK. Note: This is the producti ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/17/2011 4:46:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Dario Solera, Cofounder of Threeplicate, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver two applications. Here’s what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Threeplicate and the applications you offer. Solera: We started Threeplicate in January 2010. We’re a team of three based in Milan, Italy, and we set out to deliver two products. The first, Amanuens, is a software-as-a-service offering built on the Windows Azure platform ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/17/2011 11:57:00 AM
[This article was contributed by the AppFabric team.]An update to the Windows Azure AppFabric SDK is available for download. The updated SDK introduces fixes to a few bugs related to the Caching service. You can find more details on the bugs it addresses here. If you are not experiencing any of the issues the updated SDK solves there is no need to install the updated SDK. You can download the updated SDK here. Note: This is the production environment SDK, not the SDK used to develop for the LABS ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/16/2011 4:44:00 PM
We love hearing about how Windows Azure helps drive innovation for organizations. Here’s another great example: Microsoft has partnered with the University of Washington’s Baker Laboratory to help scientists supercharge the computing power of their protein folding research by using Windows Azure. Helping scientists get faster results could mean speeding up cures for Alzheimer’s, cancers, salmonella, and malaria. Earlier this year Microsoft IT’s Marlin Eiben wa ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/16/2011 2:05:26 PM
[This article was contributed by the AppFabric team.]Cross Post from Ron Jacobs blog This morning I saw a message post on the .NET 4 Windows Workflow Foundation Forum titled Load XAMLX from database. I’ve been asked this question many times. How can I store my Workflow Service definitions (xamlx files) in a database with IIS and AppFabric? Today I decided to create a sample to answer this question. Lately I’ve been picking up ASP.NET MVC 3 so my sample code is written with it ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 6/15/2011 7:56:00 PM
Jason Bloomberg is managing partner and senior analyst at the enterprise architecture advisory firm ZapThink LLC. He is a thought leader in the areas of enterprise architecture and service-oriented architecture, and he helps organizations around the world better leverage their IT resources to meet changing business needs. He is a frequent speaker, prolific writer, and pundit. His book, Service Orient or Be Doomed! How Service Orientation Will Change Your Business (John Wiley & Sons, 2006, c ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/15/2011 4:53:00 PM
If you’d like to learn more about Windows Azure AppFabric Access Control service (ACS) and the latest Windows Azure Platform PowerShell and ACS cmdlets, you should check out the latest PowerScripting Podcast, “Episode 149 – Vittorio Bertocci on Windows Azure Control Services”. In this interview, Vittorio and hosts Hal & Jonathan talk about Windows Azure and Platform-As-A-Service, the idea of claims based identity, WIF & ACS, as well as the Windows Azure Platf ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/13/2011 6:36:00 PM
If you’re looking for help making the right decisions with regard to cloud technology and the Windows Azure platform, then you won’t want to miss an episode of the new Windows Azure Jump Start video series. Designed for architects and developers interested in designing, developing and delivering cloud-based applications leveraging the Windows Azure Platform, this 12-part course provides a comprehensive overview of the Windows Azure environment and application lifecycle, storage ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/13/2011 4:00:00 PM
This walkthrough shows how to use SQL Azure Data Sync to provide bi-directional synchronization and data-management capabilities with on-premises and cloud databases. The video covers both the benefits and features of SQL Azure and explains how businesses can use SQL Azure Data Sync to share information efficiently. The demonstration portion of the video covers how to establish synchronization between an on-premises SQL Server database and SQL Azure, as well as between two SQL Azure databases. ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/10/2011 9:30:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Husam Laswi, IT Director of Factory Operations at Flextronics, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the Authorized Service Center (ASC) application to retail stores. Here’s what he had to say: MSDN: What does Flextronics do? Laswi: Flextronics is in the business of contract manufacturing. We tailor design, manufacturing, and services for electronics OEMs in market segments, including computing, medical, consumer mobi ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/10/2011 4:46:00 PM
The updated Windows Azure Service Management API content is now available. Refer to this content to learn how to programmatically create, update, or delete storage services using the following new methods: Create Storage Account, Update Storage Account, and Delete Storage Account. In addition, new versions of two existing Windows Azure Service Management API methods enable customers to obtain additional information about their deployments and subscriptions. The new version of the Get Depl ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/9/2011 4:09:00 PM
New Zealand-based InterGrid’s GreenButton plugin technology cleverly offloads compute and data intensive tasks from applications and distributes them to the cloud via the Windows Azure platform. This helps companies enter the cloud faster than they would if they progressed on their own, and enables smaller companies to tap computing resources that would traditionally be beyond their reach. InterGrid just announced it has signed an exclusive global alliance with Microsoft that will enable M ...
New Zealand-based InterGrid’s GreenButton plugin technology cleverly offloads compute and data intensive tasks from applications and distributes them to the cloud via the Windows Azure platform. This helps companies enter the cloud faster than they would if they progressed on their own, and enables smaller companies to tap computing resources that would traditionally be beyond their reach. InterGrid just announced it has signed a global alliance with Microsoft that will enable Microsoft to ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 6/8/2011 4:32:00 PM
Rob Gillen is researching cloud computing technology for the government at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He also works for Planet Technologies, which recently launched a new cloud practice to assist government and public sector organizations with cloud computing. He has a great blog on cloud computing that goes back seven years, and he also has a lot of presentations and talks up on the web. Rob is also a Windows Azure MVP (Most Valued Professional). In this interview we cover: The pros and co ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/8/2011 4:00:00 PM
We’ve been receiving questions about top on-going trends with regards to SQL Azure surrounding SQL Server limitations, and the access capabilities of co-administrators. Fortunately, the answers to both of these questions have been addressed in a MSDN article about SQL Server limitations, and a MSDN blog post focusing on co-administrators scenarios. Take a few moments to give the above articles a quick read – they answer some of the more common questions surrounding SQL Azure. -Steve ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/7/2011 3:15:00 PM
Today Fujitsu and Microsoft announced the first release of Fujitsu’s Global Cloud Platform service (“FGCP/A5”), powered by Windows Azure and running in Fujitsu’s datacenter in Japan. This service, which Fujitsu has been offering in Japan on a trial basis to twenty companies since April 21, will launch officially in August. This launch is significant because it marks the first official production release of the Windows Azure platform appliance by Fujitsu. FGCP/A5 will enab ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/6/2011 5:48:00 PM
UPDATE: The new Windows Azure Service Management API content is now available. Please refer to this post for more information. The Windows Azure Service Management API enables Windows Azure customers to programmatically manage their deployments, hosted services, and storage accounts. We are pleased to announce the release of new Windows Azure Service Management API features that enable customers to manage the lifecycle of storage services – specifically to programmatically crea ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/3/2011 8:15:00 PM
The latest blog post by Craig Kitterman on the Interoperability @ Microsoft blog, “New SDK and Sample Kit demonstrates how to leverage the scalability of Windows Azure with PHP”, shares a couple of interesting announcements made recently at the php/tek Conference in Chicago. The first is the immediate availability of the Windows Azure SDK for PHP version 3.0. As Craig notes in the post, “this open source SDK gives PHP developers a “speed dial” library to take ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 6/2/2011 4:40:00 PM
Olivier Mangelschots is Managing Director at Orbit One Internet Solutions, a systems integrator based in Belgium that is deeply involved in Microsoft technology. In this interview we cover: Identity management in hybrid environments The role of partners in providing customized cloud solutions SLAs and cloud outages Migrating to the cloud vs. building for the cloud Things in clouds work better together Robert Duffner: Could you take a moment to introduce yourself and O ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 6/1/2011 8:15:00 PM
If you’re considering a move to the cloud for your portfolio of applications, planning your journey just got a bit easier. The next version of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit—version 6.0— is now available for free download as part of the MAP 6.0 Beta Program. This new release includes the Windows Azure Migration Portfolio Analysis, which offers the ability to quantify and label applications and services in your organization’s IT environment to co ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/27/2011 3:52:00 PM
Calling all US developers: Don’t miss a chance to earn $250 USD with this exclusive offer from Microsoft Platform Ready. To participate, take a screenshot of the Test Tab in Microsoft Platform Ready indicating that your Windows Azure application is verified compatible between April 15 and June 17, 2011 and send it to us via email at azureplatformready no later than June 21, 2011 12:00 PST. Only the first Windows Azure-compatible application registered by an organization is eli ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/26/2011 4:09:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Dano DeBroux, Director of Disruptive Business Technologies with the Office of Naval Research (ONR) about using Windows Azure for its open and innovative framework proof-of-concept solution. Here’s what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about the Office of Naval Research and the Disruptive Business Technologies division. DeBroux: The ONR is an executive branch agency within the United States Department of Defense that supports innova ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/25/2011 9:00:00 PM
CA Technologies recently announced that its industry-leading CA ARCserve Backup and Recovery technology will be available to customers as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering based on the Windows Azure platform. The new Windows Azure-based solution is scheduled for availability in the second half of 2011. Customers will find this solution attractive in situations where conventional, internally deployed backup-and-restore systems and software implementation are not feasible or practical ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/25/2011 4:13:00 PM
Windows Azure Traffic Manager is a new feature that allows customers to load balance traffic to multiple hosted services. Developers can choose from three load balancing methods: Performance, Failover, or Round Robin. To learn more about this new feature and how to use it, check out, “ Cloud Cover Episode 46 – Windows Azure Traffic Manager” on Channel 9. In addition to explaining how this new feature will offer increased application reliability, performance and availabili ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/24/2011 8:15:00 PM
Don’t miss these FREE upcoming Academy Live sessions to learn more about partner solutions that can help you build and monetize your applications and keep your website secure on the Windows Azure platform. Click on each title to learn more and to register. Monetizing the Cloud, Software licensing on Windows Azure with InishTech Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 8:00 AM PDT Join InishTech for this overview session to learn how ISVs can monetize their Windows Azure applications using ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/24/2011 4:00:00 PM
The Windows Azure platform gives you the flexibility to pick services and offers based on your business needs. To help you select the right Windows Azure platform offer and estimate your monthly costs, we’ve just launched a new pricing calculator. The pricing calculator lets you pick compute, database, storage, bandwidth, CDN and Service Bus capacity based on your needs. Along with predicting your expected monthly costs, the pricing calculator then recommends the most cost effective offer ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/23/2011 8:15:00 PM
The Windows Azure team would like to hear your ideas and suggestions for documentation content. Please let us know what you think by clicking here and voting on the topics for which you would like us to create content. If you don't see a topic, please feel free to add it to the voting site so others can also vote on it. We’ll use this information to help prioritize our writing schedule so we can work on the information you want to see. Thanks in advance for sharing your id ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/23/2011 4:00:00 PM
As a fraud prevention measure, we have recently implemented a verification process for newly purchased Windows Azure platform accounts. When a new customer first logs on to the Windows Azure platform developer portal, the customer must provide us with a cell phone number where we then send a 4-digit code via a text message. The customer must then enter this 4-digit code on the Developer Portal for verification purposes. This is a one-time only process. Existing Windows Azure platform ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/19/2011 4:25:00 PM
ISV’s considering building SaaS apps on Windows Azure should check out the Windows Azure ISV Business Economics Package. Included in this package are case studies, reports, and white papers to help you understand estimated costs, analyst projections on market opportunity, and best practices from ISVs who have already successfully built SaaS offerings. Details on the contents follow: A Windows Azure platform overview including cost examples of ISVs using Windows Azure for thei ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/18/2011 4:44:00 PM
The cloud has inherent advantages when it comes to storage - quick provisioning, unrivaled elastic expansion, built in high-availability- available anywhere in the world. To learn more about storage in the cloud and hear how one company is driving best practices in cloud storage with StorSimple and Windows Azure, don’t miss the upcoming Academy Live session, “Hybrid Cloud Storage for the Enterprise – Best Practice – StorSimple, Windows Azure and Rockford Construction Case ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/17/2011 4:02:00 PM
The Apache Hadoop project develops open-source software for reliable, scalable, distributed computing. If you’re looking for guidance on deploying a Hadoop cluster on Windows Azure, then be sure to check out the latest blog post, “Hadoop in Azure”, by Microsoft Principal Architect Mario Kosmiskas. In this post, he demonstrates how to create a typical cluster with a Name Node, a Job Tracker and a customizable number of Slaves. He also outlines how to dynamically chan ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/16/2011 7:39:00 PM
During today’s keynote at TechEd North America, Microsoft’s Drew Robbins demonstrated how to build an application using the new Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone 7 v.1.2. Now available for download here, this version includes some important new features, including: Support and tooling for the Access Control Service 2.0 (i.e. use identity federation like Live ID, Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and ADFS) Support for Apple Push Notification Services (with the Windows Azure Toolkit for ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/16/2011 4:12:00 PM
Microsoft Corporate Vice President Robert Wahbe delivered the opening keynote this morning at Microsoft Tech-Ed North America 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. During his talk, Wahbe outlined how the cloud is changing IT and demonstrated how Microsoft and Windows Azure are helping customers move their businesses to the cloud. One of the examples he used was Travelocity; their story is worth delving into because it illustrates the benefits a move to the cloud can create for an organization. Founded ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/13/2011 4:57:00 PM
We’re introducing a new section in the Windows Azure technical library called Real World Windows Azure Guidance, which features articles written by MVPs and other members of the community. The articles provide useful information based on real-world experience with Windows Azure. More guidance will be published soon, so bookmark this page and return later to see what’s new. The first article in this section Real World: Startup Lifecycle of a Windows Azure Role was written by Cory Fowl ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/12/2011 5:46:00 PM
The New South Wales Department of Education (DET) is the largest department of education in the southern hemisphere. They wanted to improve the way they conducted Year 8 science tests to replicate what students did in the laboratory and believed interactive online science testing could test a wider range of skills than just pure scientific knowledge. However, DET estimated for them to host an online test for 65,000 students simultaneously would require a A$200,000 investment in server infrastruc ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/10/2011 4:32:00 PM
MSDN: Can you tell us about Gizmox and the Instant CloudMove solution? Spitzen: Gizmox was founded in 2007 with a vision to bridge the gap between the security, performance and ease of development traditionally provided by client/server desktop applications and the scale, economics and stability provided by the Cloud. Based on our award-winning Visual WebGui technology we created migration solutions from client/server desktop to Web and the cloud. The Instant CloudMove solution enables the auto ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/9/2011 4:00:00 PM
Last March we released the Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone 7, which provided a set of generic services for Windows Azure. This toolkit was the first step in enabling developers to build native experiences on multiple platforms using Windows Azure. As the next step in this process, today we're pleased to announce the release of the Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS. This toolkit contains resources and services designed to make it easier for iOS developers to use Windows Azur ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/6/2011 5:02:00 PM
One of the promises of Windows Azure and cloud computing in general is the ability to quickly and easily expand and contract computing resources based on demand. Microsoft Cloud Architect Bart Robertson shares a great real-world example of how this feature works in a new blog post, “Cloud Elasticity – A Real-World Example” that’s worth a read if you’re interested in learning more about Windows Azure and elasticity. Microsoft’s Social eXperience Platform ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/5/2011 8:44:00 PM
If you’re looking for some deep-dive training on Windows Azure, you may still be able attend a Windows Azure Boot Camp near you. Boot Camps have been going on since late last year but there are still a handful of upcoming classes. Upcoming classes* are: May 9-10, 2011: Bloomington, IN June 14-15, 2011: San Francisco June 15-16, 2011: Las Vegas, NV September 23-24, 2011: Salt Lake City, UT Each Boot Camp is a FREE two-day deep dive class to get you up to speed on develo ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/5/2011 5:45:00 PM
Windows Azure Connect provides a simple and easy-to-manage mechanism to setup IP-based network connectivity between on-premises and Windows Azure resources. This capability makes it easier for an organization to migrate their existing applications to the cloud by enabling direct IP-based network connectivity with their existing on-premises infrastructure. Windows Azure Connect also makes it simple for developers to setup direct connectivity to their cloud-hosted virtual machines, enabling remote ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/4/2011 4:20:00 PM
How would you depict the idea ‘compassion’ on a piece of canvas? To see how local art students would respond to that question, the Trout Museum of Art, in partnership with the Appleton, WI Area School District and the Appleton Education Foundation, last year announced The Appleton Compassion Project. The project organizers asked 10,436 Appleton Area School District K-12 art students to draw or paint their idea of compassion on a 6-inch-by-6-inch art panel, along with a wr ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/3/2011 5:01:00 PM
Windows Azure is the development, service hosting, and service management environment for the Windows Azure platform. It provides developers with on-demand compute, storage, and bandwidth, and a content distribution network to host, scale, and manage web applications through Microsoft data centers. More and more organizations use Windows Azure to deploy services that deliver high value without requiring the significant capital expenditures of an on-premises infrastructure. Many groups at Microso ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 5/2/2011 7:00:00 PM
In case you missed the news, the Windows Azure AppFabric blog announced on Friday that the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching service is now available as a production service. This service is a distributed, in-memory, application cache service that accelerates the performance of Windows Azure and SQL Azure applications by providing the ability to keep data in-memory, which eliminates the need to retrieve that data from storage or a database. Six different cache size options are available rang ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/28/2011 8:52:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Sebastian Iglesias, Business Development Manager at Tata Consultancy Services, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver services. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Tata Consultancy Services. Iglesias: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is a global IT services, business solutions, and outsourcing organization. We offer an integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled services delivered through our Global Network Delivery ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/28/2011 5:34:00 PM
The April 2011 update of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit is now available for download. This version has been updated to the Windows Azure SDK 1.4 and Visual Studio 2010 SP1. It also includes new and updated hands-on labs (HOLs) and a demo for the new Windows Azure AppFabric portal. The Windows Azure Platform Training Kit includes a comprehensive set of technical content including hands-on labs, presentations, and demos that are designed to help you learn how to use the Windo ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/27/2011 7:20:00 PM
We identified an issue with the Windows Azure SDK 1.4 refresh that causes Windows Azure Connect endpoints to fail to deploy on Windows Azure Roles built using the Windows Azure SDK 1.4 refresh. If you downloaded and installed the Windows Azure SDK 1.4 refresh from the Windows Azure web site anytime prior to 4:00 PM PST Monday, April 25, 2011, you will have to uninstall and reinstall it. Here are the steps to install the updated version of the Windows Azure SDK 1.4 refresh: Go to Co ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/27/2011 4:30:00 PM
The Code Quick Start: Capturing diagnostics in your Windows Azure application topic now available on MSDN shows you how to add Windows Azure diagnostics capabilities to your Windows Azure application. You'll also find: information about how to include the Windows Azure diagnostics module in your service configuration file; C# code that shows you how to add performance counters to your diagnostics monitoring; and, information on storing the diagnostics data in the storage emulator and in Windows ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/26/2011 8:57:00 PM
To help loved ones connect and share vital location and contact information following the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Digital Office Japan has created a new emergency contact application called J!ResQ (J Rescue). Built on Windows Azure, this application enables people who have been dislocated by a disaster to record and automatically send a voice message from their mobile phone to family and friends about their well-being and GPS-based location. Features of J!ResQ include: Message ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/26/2011 4:35:00 PM
NewsGator was founded in 2004 to realize the potential of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to transform the way people consume information. NewsGator's Social Sites for Microsoft SharePoint 2010 provides paid users across the globe with an integrated, behind-the-firewall, social computing platform that supports collaboration and improves worker knowledge. Through its Datawire service, NewsGator aggregates approximately 1.6 million content sources on an hourly basis. This service used to be house ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/25/2011 3:30:00 PM
After assessing cloud computing offerings from Amazon Web Services and Google Apps Engine, online performance marketing firm LinkShare announced today that it is using the Windows Azure platform for development of LinkShare Lightning. LinkShare Lightening is the next generation of its online performance marketing application. The firm selected the Windows Azure platform to enable its developers to create a solution that would easily scale to handle peak holiday-season Internet traffic with ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/22/2011 4:14:00 PM
As companies weigh the benefits of moving their data, processes, and systems to the cloud-from reduced infrastructure costs to rapid, success-based scaling-security is a perennial concern. Executives want to know: How will we protect our company's most sensitive data against an ever-expanding array of threats? To mitigate risk, some companies are turning to the cloud mainly as a way to access cost-efficient data storage. Several independent software vendors (ISVs) have recognized the demand for ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 4/21/2011 4:07:00 PM
Scott Morehouse was involved in the early development of GIS (geographic information system) in the Harvard Graphics Lab and is now director of software development for Esri. He was responsible for the initial design and architecture of Esri's ARC product. In this interview, we discuss: How the cloud is enabling more collaboration around GIS data The cost and complexity in setting up on-site GIS solutions, vs. using cloud based or on-demand solutions The opportunity for "mashups" where users ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/20/2011 11:00:00 PM
Last week the Windows Azure SDK 1.4.1 refresh was released. This refresh adds support for Web Deploy to the Visual Studio tools for Windows Azure. If you'd like to know more about how the Web Deployment feature works, then check out the new Channel 9 video, "Speed Up Windows Azure Deployments with the New Web Deployment Feature", with Anders Hauge, program manager on the Windows Azure tools team. In this video, he demonstrates how the new Web Deployment feature, along with Remote Desktop, enabl ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/20/2011 8:15:00 PM
As announced this week on the Interoperability @ Microsoft blog, the April 2011 Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java is now available. The plugin builds on top of the Windows Azure Starter Kit for Java, which is primarily a command-line toolset based on a simple Windows Azure project template. The starter kit also includes the elements required to package and deploy your Java application to Windows Azure. Included in this release are: Wizar ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/20/2011 4:44:00 PM
MSDN: Tell us about your company and the solution that you have created. Johnson: SOASTA was founded in 2006 on the basis that web technology and scale has expanded far beyond the reach of testing technologies built in the days of smaller and simpler architectures. Particularly in the web performance testing area, where a mere mention by Oprah or Groupon causes sites to crash with millions of users, and 20 percent of the Internet is consumed by users watching Netflix. Hardware is always a const ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/19/2011 7:52:00 PM
Do you have a great idea for a Windows Azure project but need help making it a reality? Do you live in Australia? Then today is your lucky day. Lifehacker, Gizmodo, and the Windows Azure team in Australia have joined together to create the "My Concept Rules" developer contest to find great new cloud project ideas that leverages the power of Windows Azure. All you have to do is submit your great idea (no code required) for an amazing application that leverages Windows Azure. Developers with the b ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/18/2011 5:10:00 PM
Tell us about Accordent and Polycom. Polycom recently acquired Accordent Technologies, a developer of award-winning enterprise video platforms used by large organizations to produce and deliver video-based assets for communications, training and educational purposes. This week, Polycom will launch Accordent Media Services - Powered by Windows Azure, the first enterprise media management system hosted on the Windows Azure platform. What is Polycom's Accordent Media Services? Accordent Media Servi ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/15/2011 9:00:00 PM
We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the Windows Azure SDK 1.4 refresh. Available for download here, this refresh enables web developers to increase their development productivity by simplifying the iterative development process of web-based hosted services. Until today, the iterative development process for hosted services has required you to re-package the application and upload it to Windows Azure using either the Management portal or the Service Management API. The ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/14/2011 7:11:00 PM
Want to learn how to make the most of the data storage and compute services available with the Windows Azure platform? Then be sure to sign up for "MSDN Simulcast Event: Windows Azure Deep Dive with Jeffrey Richter: Explore the Benefits of Windows Azure Data Storage and Compute Services"' on May 13, 2011. During this full day of in-depth learning, Jeffrey will teach architects and developers how to make the most of the data storage and compute services available as part of the Window ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/13/2011 9:15:00 PM
*UPDATE: We are happy to announce that the Windows Azure SDK refresh is now available. Please read this post for more information about the Windows Azure SDK refresh. We found an issue during final testing of the Windows Azure SDK refresh. We hope to have this resolved and the SDK refresh available by early next week. We apologize for this delay and appreciate your patience. We will update this post when the refresh is ready. To get the latest Windows Azure news and updat ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/13/2011 4:09:00 PM
Microsoft's Social eXperience Platform (SXP) is a multi-tenant web service that enables social media capabilities across microsoft.com, including the Showcase site. Launched one year ago this month, SXP runs as a Windows Azure-platform based web service that serves up video and enables viewers to comment and rate what they see. Windows Azure had just been released when SXP launched, so the team was working in uncharted territory. But the results and performance ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/12/2011 8:02:00 PM
Today at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft announced it will support the development of a partner ecosystem to help media and entertainment companies take advantage of the cloud. The ecosystem will enable partners to develop industry specific solutions based on the Windows Azure platform that provide media and entertainment companies with a simplified digital supply chain along with the benefits of cloud computing. Several Microsoft partners announced t ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/12/2011 4:00:00 PM
We announced several updates to the Windows Azure platform today at MIX11 in Las Vegas. These new capabilities will help developers deploy applications faster, accelerate their application performance and enable access to applications through popular identity providers including Microsoft, Facebook and Google. Details follow. New Services and Functionality A myriad of new Windows Azure services and functionality were unveiled today. These include: An update to the Window ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/11/2011 4:01:00 PM
What is the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN)? The Windows Azure CDN is a global solution for delivering high-bandwidth content hosted on Windows Azure. The CDN caches publicly available objects at strategically placed locations to provide maximum bandwidth for delivering content to users. What is Windows Azure billing in general? The Windows Azure CDN is a pay-per-use service. As a subscriber, you pay for the "amount" of content delivered. This article will discuss how customers ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/8/2011 4:28:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Paul Hernacki, Chief Technology Officer at Definition 6 about using the Windows Azure platform, in combination with its content management system from Umbraco, to host its customers' websites. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Definition 6 and the services you offer. Hernacki: Definition 6 is a unified marketing agency that redefines brand experiences by unifying marketing and technology. We focus on developing interacti ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/7/2011 4:15:00 PM
Microsoft created the Imagine Cup nine years ago with the idea that students can and will change the world. This worldwide competition brings together the best and brightest technology students from more than 100 countries to apply their creativity and imagination to solve the world's toughest problems in areas such as education, environment and health care and others. The theme of this year's contest is: "imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems" and, for the second y ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/6/2011 7:40:00 PM
We're excited to share with you that the Windows Azure platform is at the center of an announcement today by Microsoft and Toyota Motor Corp. (TMC). The two companies have formed a strategic partnership to build a global platform for TMC's next-generation telematics services based on Windows Azure. As part of the partnership, the two companies will participate in a 1 billion yen (approximately $12 million) investment in Toyota Media Service Co., a TMC subsidiary that offers dig ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/6/2011 5:45:00 PM
If you plan to attend MIX11, next week in Las Vegas, NV don't miss these sessions to learn how the Windows Azure platform and ASP.NET CMS providers can enable you to build highly scalable, rich and compelling web experiences quickly and seamlessly. (Click on each title for a full description). Tuesday, April 12, 2011 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM: Deconstructing Orchard: Build, Customize, Extend, Ship Wednesday, April 13, 2011 2:00 - 2:25 PM: DotNetNuke ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/5/2011 4:15:00 PM
Windows Azure Code Quick Start Topics are now available on MSDN to take you through samples of C# code that demonstrate basic ways of interfacing with Windows Azure. You'll find code and detailed step-by-step instructions for storing a file in Windows Azure storage, creating and deploying a WCF service, and creating a client application that uses a WCF service. The important aspects of each piece of code are explained and called out so that, with a few changes, you can copy and use the code as i ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/4/2011 4:45:00 PM
In 2009, the value of goods sold on eBay was nearly $60 billion, which translates into approximately $2,000 in sales every second. Maintaining the massive technical infrastructure needed to support these sales volumes means eBay is always looking for ways to drive IT efficiencies and service improvements. In 2010, eBay and Microsoft began working with Avanade and Accenture to explore how the Windows Azure platform might enable eBay to deploy and scale applications more quickly and cost effective ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 4/1/2011 4:40:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Declan Rudden, Director of Distribution at Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO), about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the organization's Online Member Services portal. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about the Irish Music Rights Organisation and the services you offer. Rudden: Founded in 1995, IMRO is a nonprofit national organization that administers performing rights and distributes royalties for copyrighted m ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/31/2011 4:36:00 PM
Do you remember how to play the childhood game, Rock, Paper, Scissors? Are you a Windows Azure developer? If so, then be sure to take the Rock, Paper, Azure Challenge for your chance at prizes and bragging rights. In this online game, based on Rock Paper Scissors, developers code their own player "Bot", host it in Windows Azure, and battle other competitors for weekly prizes. Here's how it works: Get Your Windows Azure Account - You'll need a Windows Azure account to host yo ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 3/30/2011 3:55:00 PM
Jonathan Boutelle is cofounder and CTO of Slideshare, a site for the online social sharing of slideshows. A software engineer by training, his interests lie at the intersection of technology, business, and customer experience. He studied computer science at Brown University, and previously worked as a software engineer for Advanced Visual Systems (a data visualization company), CommerceOne (a B2B enterprise software company), and Uzanto (a user experience company). He writes an occasional articl ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/28/2011 4:29:00 PM
To help aid the disaster recovery efforts in Japan, two new portals built on the Windows Azure platform have just been released. These portals are both designed to provide relief workers and the worldwide community with real-time access to the latest news, relief needs and product donations following the country's recent devastating disasters. As the nation's first food bank, Second Harvest Japan (2HJ) collects food that would otherwise go to waste from food manufacturers, farmers, and individua ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/25/2011 5:45:00 PM
San Diego, California, based energy management software pioneer, Advanced Telemetry, wanted to embrace cloud computing so as to pass more efficient infrastructure cost savings on to its customers and improve its own bottom line. The company runs the cloud portion (web and middleware) of its EcoView software on the Windows Azure platform, enabling its business customers to better manage electricity consumption by dialing up usage during peak periods and scaling back during off-peak hours su ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/24/2011 7:04:00 PM
This week at the 2011 Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) in Las Vegas, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Brad Anderson introduced the new System Center 2012, which will enable IT managers to deliver private cloud services that empower business teams, provide greater insights into application performance, and allow IT to carry forward current investments as they adopt public cloud computing platforms, such as Windows Azure. In his keynote, Anderson showed code name "Concero," the new System Cente ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/23/2011 7:53:00 PM
We are pleased to announce the release of the Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone 7. Downloadable here, the new toolkit is helps ease the building Windows Phone 7 applications that use services running on Windows Azure. The toolkit provides you with: Binaries for your Windows Phone 7 applications Project templates to optimize new phone application creation Sample applications in both C# and VB.NET A dependency checker that checks the prerequisites required by the toolkit S ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/22/2011 5:56:00 PM
During his session yesterday at EclipseCon 2011, Vijay Rajagopalan unveiled the March 2011 Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java. Available for download here, this new new plugin is an open source project released under the Apache 2.0 license that will provide Java developers with a simple way to build and deploy web applications for Windows Azure. You can read all about this new plugin in the blog post, "New plugin for Eclipse to get Java dev ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/22/2011 4:00:00 PM
At the Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington, D.C., last week, Akhtar Badshah, Microsoft's senior director of Global Community Affairs, shared how Microsoft and popular Seattle radio station KEXP have teamed up to give the station a "technological makeover." Leveraging Microsoft software and services such as Windows Azure, KEXP is transforming operations ranging from the station's internal communications to how listeners worldwide interact with music. The makeover will take three years t ...
by Jason Sherron via Windows Azure on 3/18/2011 4:31:00 PM
Excerpted from: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg680299.aspx How can I use web.config to manage the caching behavior in hosted-object CDN delivery? The Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) honors the cache control headers provided by the hosted service. If the content is provided by a web role, this is controlled by IIS. Cache control headers for static content can be customized by changing the <clientCache> element of the <staticContent> element in the web configura ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/17/2011 5:23:00 PM
Volvo Cars is a premium global car manufacturer recognized for its innovative safety systems and unique designs. Volvo was written into the original books that became the Twilight franchise, so there was a natural marketing partnership for movie releases. As part of the latest movie, Eclipse, Volvo wanted to create a virtual world resembling the Twilight story where users from around the globe could participate in a chance to win a new Volvo XC 60. However, the existing technology infrastructure ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/16/2011 4:23:00 PM
How's this for an innovative use of technology to aid scientific discovery? Researchers at the University of Southampton recently launched a Windows Phone 7 with a digital camera 60,000 feet into the stratosphere to help study air pollution. According to the University's blog post, the objective of the Atmospheric Research through Robotic Aircraft project is to illustrate how a low-cost helium high altitude balloon could be used to propel atmospheric monitoring equipment into the upper atmospher ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/11/2011 6:11:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Glen Knowles, Cofounder of Kelly Street Digital, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the Campaign Taxi platform in the cloud. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Kelly Street Digital and the services you offer. Knowles: Kelly Street Digital is a self-funded startup company with eight employees-six of whom are developers. We created Campaign Taxi, an application available by subscription that helps customers tra ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/9/2011 10:30:00 PM
We're pleased to announce that new versions of the Windows Azure Software Development Kit (SDK) and Windows Azure Management Portal are now available to developers. The 1.4 version of the Windows Azure SDK includes new features for both Windows Azure Connect and the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN). It also includes enhancements to improve the stability and robustness of Remote Desktop to Windows Azure Roles, as well as other bug fixes. The new features we are enablin ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/8/2011 6:47:00 PM
David Pallmann, one of our Windows Azure MVPs, has just published a great new book, "The Windows Azure Handbook, Volume 1: Strategy & Planning". According to David's post, this book has a two-fold mission: to make a case that cloud computing is worth exploring, and also that they should make Windows Azure their cloud-computing platform of choice. Designed to help business and technical decision makers evaluate and plan, the book is split in two parts: Understanding Wi ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/7/2011 7:20:00 PM
The February 2011 update of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit is now available for download. The Windows Azure Platform Training Kit provides hands-on labs (HOLs), presentations, and samples to help you understand how to build applications on the Windows Azure platform. This new version includes several updated HOLs to include support for the Windows Azure AppFabric February CTP and the new AppFabric Caching, Access Control, and Service Bus portal experience. ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 3/3/2011 5:00:00 PM
Erica Brescia is the CEO of BitRock, a provider of multiplatform software deployment automation. Through the BitNami.org portal, it has simplified native, virtual, and cloud installations of popular open source software. Since joining the company in early 2005, Erica has been instrumental in earning the business of leading commercial open source vendors. Prior to joining BitRock, Erica managed several sales teams for T-Mobile and served as a liaison to the mobile enthusiast community. In the ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/2/2011 9:20:00 PM
A new white paper, "The Global Conference is Real: The Success of the PDC10 Player and Application", is now available for download. This white paper outlines how Microsoft transformed its Professional Developer Conference (PDC) into an unprecedented virtual conference built on the Windows Azure platform to engage a record number of virtual attendees and deliver a compelling and engaging web experience. PDC is a developer-focused Microsoft event that is attended by 5,000 to 7,0 ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 3/2/2011 5:30:00 PM
Yesterday during the "Cloud Computing in Retail Breakfast" at the Euroshop Retail Design Conference in Dusseldorf, Germany, Microsoft partner BEDIN Shop Systems announced that their Windows Azure-based aKite Vers.2.0 software services suite has gained significant customer acceptance since its introduction last year. European retailers have increasingly realized the benefits of cloud computing; new customers include mobile phone distribution chains in Italy, Italian retailers Briocenter, Bruel an ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/28/2011 10:00:00 PM
If you've used the Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio, you'll know how easy it is to publish your applications to Windows Azure straight from Visual Studio with just a couple of clicks. But while this process is great for individual projects, most teams use automated build and deployment processes to get more predictability and control of what gets built and where it gets deployed. In most real-world scenarios, you'll probably want to deploy to multiple Windows Azure managed services or subsc ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/28/2011 5:01:00 PM
Windows Azure developers have always had options when it comes to which languages (such as .NET, PHP, Ruby or Java) and development tools (such as Visual Studio or Eclipse) to use to build applications on the Windows Azure platform. Today, there's yet another choice with the availability of the Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Windows Azure Starter Kit for Java, which was announced last Wednesday on the Interoperability @ Microsoft blog. The goal of this CTP is to get feedba ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/25/2011 10:00:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Nick Beaugeard, Managing Director at HubOne, about using the Windows Azure platform to transform the company into one of the major cloud services providers in Australia. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us how HubOne got started as a cloud services provider. Beaugeard: We were developing enterprise software but we had no customers. I got a call from a friend who manufactures pet products. He needed help troubleshooting an issue w ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/25/2011 5:44:00 PM
If you're looking for a developer perspective about building on Windows Azure, then you should check out this new Channel 9 video interview with InterGrid's Senior Developer, Peter Soukalopoulos. In it, he describes how - and why - InterGrid uses the Windows Azure platform. InterGrid uses Windows Azure to provide its customers with on-demand bursts of computing power for complex and intensive computing processes. A computing process that would typically take days to complete before the cl ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/24/2011 10:02:00 PM
The Windows Azure Storage Client Library Reference now contains sample code and remarks for common tasks such as authenticating access to the storage services, creating and enumerating containers and blobs, copying and snapshotting blobs, reading from and writing to blobs, creating and enumerating queues, and processing messages in queues. As an example, you can look at CloudBlob.CopyFromBlob Method for sample code that checks an access condition on a source blob and copies it if the condition i ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/24/2011 5:31:00 PM
2/24/11 UPDATE: We're excited to announce a new node in Doha, QT to improve performance for clients on the QTel and affiliated networks. The most common question we get asked about the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) is, "Where are the nodes physically located?" We're happy to say that customers choosing to serve data through the network today are offered 24 physical nodes* to improve delivery of performance-sensitive content around the globe. Below is the list of ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 2/23/2011 5:19:00 PM
Carl Ryden is the chief technology officer of MarginPro, where he manages all product development activities. He is the author and developer of MarginPro's pricing and profitability management software. Carl worked with Mitchell Epstein at US Banking Alliance as senior VP of product development and operations, where he produced a first-generation net-interest-margin maximizing software. Carl left US Banking Alliance shortly after it was sold in 2006. In this interview, we discuss: The "no brai ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/22/2011 7:00:00 PM
It's no secret that the cloud is opening up new opportunities for developers to create never-before-seen application experiences, improve existing applications and generate new revenue streams. The Windows Azure platform was made with developers in mind. It allows developers to use their existing .NET, Java and PHP skills to develop, test and deploy compelling and innovative applications without worrying about the backend infrastructure and other operational constraints. Recognizing all the doo ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/18/2011 6:51:00 PM
The Windows Azure Platform MSDN forums provide free online community support for Windows Azure and SQL Azure developers from Microsoft insiders, MVP's, and like-minded developers. The forums are a great means to get quick answers and support on all things Windows Azure without having to log a support ticket. The Windows Azure Platform forums average more than 360 new posts a month and 99% of the posted questions receive a response within one day. To make it easier to stay on top of ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/17/2011 9:13:00 PM
Given the right circumstances, website management in the cloud drastically reduces costs and time, and allows your company to devote resources to its core competencies. But is website management in the cloud a good fit for your organization? Join a free webinar on Tuesday February 22 at 8:00 am PST with web content management experts from SiteCore to learn: Which types of websites and online business strategies benefit most from the cloud How web management on the cloud can drastical ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/17/2011 6:15:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Shivaji Dutta, Senior Manager in the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group, about using the Windows Azure platform to create the Microsoft Partner Transition Tool. MSDN: Can you please tell us about the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group and the services you offer? Dutta: The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group (WPG) supports the more than 400,000 partners globally that make up the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN). WPG is responsible fo ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/15/2011 9:09:00 PM
In January 2011, the Australian state of Queensland experienced a devastating flooding event, with three quarters of the state declared a disaster zone and thousands of homes inundated with floodwaters. As the floodwaters peaked and the scale of the disaster became apparent, businesses across the country started pledging their time, goods and services to help with clean up and recovery efforts. But without a system in place to capture these pledges of support and match them to the pressing commu ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/14/2011 10:06:00 PM
SharePoint is one of Microsoft's fastest-growing collaboration technologies for the enterprise and Windows Azure is Microsoft's Cloud Services Platform. But how do these two technologies work together? And what solutions can you build and sell by using these technologies together? To hear the answers to these questions and more, join Microsoft experts in an Academy Live Session this Friday, February 18, 2011 from 2-3:00 PM PST. In this session you will learn how these two technologies com ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/11/2011 7:01:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Andy Harjanto, Founder and CEO at Gestone about using the Windows Azure platform for its social-media project management solution. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Gestone. Harjanto: Gestone is a small startup company that has a simple philosophy of combining social media and productivity tools to help people "get stuff done." Our project management solution, also called Gestone, combines basic project management tools ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/10/2011 6:36:00 PM
New technical content is now available that explains how to use Windows Azure diagnostics configuration file in applications. This file must be used when your application contains startup tasks that perform diagnostics operations that are not included in the default operations, or when you use the VM role type, which does not support startup tasks or the OnStart method. You can define all of the same diagnostics settings as can be set by using the Windows Azure Diagnostics API's. S ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/10/2011 5:22:00 PM
The Windows Azure AppFabric CTP February release is now available here. This release delivers a number of enhancements, including: New Silverlight-based LABS portal The option of 128MB or 256MB cache size The ability to dynamically upgrade or downgrade cache size Improved diagnostics with client side tracing and client request tracking capabilities Overall performance improvements To learn more about this release, including a walk-through of the new Windows Azure AppFabric LABS portal, ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/9/2011 9:44:00 PM
The Atlantic hosted a digital town hall today on how to create the jobs and the economy of the future. Assisted by the Microsoft Town Hall cloud-computing tool and with sponsorship from Microsoft, the conversation featured interviews and panel discussions with national government and business leaders, entrepreneurs, and college students. Archived footage of the town hall will be available here. Scheduled participants included: Timothy Geithner, Secretary, United States Department of Trea ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 2/9/2011 5:28:00 PM
Bill Appleton is a leading expert on the client-side use of cloud services and the development of rich-media authoring tools. He has designed and written approximately three dozen professional software publications, including the first rich-media authoring tool World Builder, the ground breaking multimedia programming language SuperCard, the number one best-selling CD-ROM "Titanic: Adventure out of Time," the DreamFactory Player for consuming cloud services, the first AppExchange application Dre ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/7/2011 5:11:00 PM
Temenos, the global provider of banking software, today announced the availability of TEMENOS T24 (T24) on the Windows Azure platform. This announcement makes T24 the first core banking system to go into production with customers on Windows Azure. The combination of T24 and the Windows Azure platform, including SQL Azure, allows banks to move operations to a consumption based pricing model and enables them to scale resources effectively and increase volume according to customer demand. As ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/4/2011 6:11:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Arthur Haddad, Development Lead and Architect at Esri, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's cloud-based geospatial data service. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Esri and the services you offer. Haddad: Esri is a leading developer of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, earning as high as a one-third share of the worldwide GIS software market. Governments and businesses in dozens of i ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/3/2011 6:03:00 PM
The security of our customers and their applications is of the highest importance to Microsoft. As you may know, we have a process called the Security Development Lifecycle. You can click here to learn more about it. As part of that internal process, we recently discovered an issue with the Windows Azure Software Development Kit (SDK). As soon as it was discovered, our teams worked quickly to fix it and release a refresh of the SDK. This blog post provides guidance on this issue. Overview ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 2/3/2011 5:50:00 PM
Reuven Cohen is the founder and CTO of Toronto-based Enomaly Inc. Founded in 2004, Enomaly develops cloud computing products and solutions, with a focus on service providers. The company's products include Enomaly ECP, a complete revenue-generating cloud platform that enables telcos and hosting providers to deliver infrastructure-on-demand (IaaS) cloud computing services to their customers. Reuven is also the founder of CloudCamp, which takes place at cities worldwide, and Cloud Interoperability ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/3/2011 4:23:00 PM
At PDC10 last October, we announced a private beta program for the 'Extra Small' Windows Azure Instance. This smaller instance provides developers with a cost-effective training and development environment. Developers can also use the 'Extra Small' instance to prototype cloud solutions at a lower cost. To see a pricing and resource comparison of instance sizes, click here. Since that time, we've seen a lot of interest in the 'Extra Small' instance so we're pleased to announce all customers ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/2/2011 7:46:00 PM
We've just released a new white paper that provides decision makers with some guidance around the decision criteria, benefits and risks of moving to cloud platforms such as the Windows Azure platform. This white paper, "The Benefits and Risks of Cloud Platforms: A Guide for Business Leaders", is now available for download here. This paper provides a short survey of what cloud platforms, such as Windows Azure, can offer businesses, as well as which applications might be best suited for the ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/1/2011 8:45:00 PM
We continue to add physical nodes to the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN to further enhance our ability to deliver performance-sensitive content around the world. Our node in Moscow, Russia is the latest to go live. This brings the total number of Windows Azure CDN nodes to 23*. You can see a list of all 23 nodes in our previous blog post here. Offering pay-as-you-go, one-click-integration with Windows Azure Storage, the Windows Azure CDN is a system of servers containing copie ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/1/2011 5:43:00 PM
Want to hear first-hand about Microsoft's own move to the cloud and Windows Azure? Would you like to know more about the benefits, implications and strategies involved? Then be sure to listen in to a new series of TechNet Edge interviews with top Microsoft IT executives as they discuss the company's move to the cloud. The first interview, "What does the cloud mean to Microsoft CIO, Tony Scott?", aired last Wednesday and subsequent interviews will debut every Wednesday for the n ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 2/1/2011 5:07:00 PM
Since the Windows Azure platform became generally available one year ago, it has been adopted by customers across 41 countries who are creating new services and gaining greater efficiencies as they take their companies to the cloud. Among them, T-Mobile USA and Xerox have moved to the Windows Azure platform to address customer needs quickly with innovative solutions that are cost effective and reliable. You can read more about these customer stories and the one-year anniversary in a press ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/31/2011 7:52:00 PM
A newly updated version of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit is now available for download. This January update provides new and updated demo scripts, as well as a new Windows Phone 7 hands-on lab (HOL) for the Windows Azure platform. Other new features include several new demo scripts and an improved mechanism for installing Visual Studio code snippets. Read more about this update in a post by Windows Azure Technical Evangelist Wade Wegner here. For help getting started, check ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/31/2011 5:02:00 PM
Our objective is to make the WindowsAzure.com usability experience intuitive and efficient. We'd like to know how we're doing on this objective, and if the information that we've presented on WindowsAzure.com is valuable and easy to find. If you've visited www.windowsazure.com recently, we'd appreciate it if you could complete a brief survey about your experience. We'll be relying on this feedback to add new content and functionality to the site. We look forward to hearing from you! Tweet ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/28/2011 6:28:00 PM
If you're looking for a great introduction to Windows Azure startup tasks, don't miss the latest episode of Cloud Cover on Channel 9 with Steve Marx and new co-host Windows Azure Technical Evangelist Wade Wegner. In this episode, Steve and Wade will walk through how to set up startup tasks on Windows Azure and share some of their learnings, tips and tricks. Click here to watch this video on Channel 9 if you're having trouble watching it here. For more information, you should ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 1/26/2011 10:16:00 PM
Randy Bias is a cloud computing pioneer and recognized expert in the field. He has driven innovations in infrastructure, IT, Operations, and 24×7 service delivery since 1990. He was the technical visionary on the executive team of GoGrid, a major cloud computing provider. Prior to GoGrid, he built the world's first multi-cloud, multi-platform cloud management framework at CloudScale Networks, Inc. In this interview, we discuss: Cloud isn't all about elasticity. Internal ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/26/2011 4:59:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Carl Ryden, CTO at MarginPro, about using the Windows Azure platform for its loan pricing and profitability system. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about MarginPro and the services you offer. Ryden: MarginPro develops loan deposit pricing and profitability management software for community banks and credit unions. Our solution takes the intuition and guesswork out of loan structures and risk assessments to help banks increas ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/24/2011 7:17:00 PM
Looking for guidance and training to help you deliver solutions on the Windows Azure platform? Then you'll want to sign up for one of the two-day Windows Azure Boot Camps taking place around the country now through May 2011. Each one of these 20 regional boot camps will be filled with training, discussion, reviewing real scenarios, and hands on labs taught by the region's best Windows Azure experts. Click on each location to learn more and register: January 25-26, 2011: Waukesha, ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/24/2011 5:53:00 PM
Microsoft has been actively supporting the work of the Drupal community and has listened to their customers' requests to improve Drupal and SQL Server integration. To that end, we are pleased to highlight the latest posts on the Interoperability blog, which officially welcome Drupal 7 on the Microsoft Platform and announce four new generic modules showcased running on Windows Azure. This is the first version of Drupal that comes with SQL Server support and a few other key improvements, bri ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/21/2011 6:53:00 PM
Here's something very cool: a new real-time online reality show called Career Factor has just debuted that will tell the stories of nine real individuals around the world, each working to improve their IT careers. During the next five months, each will be working toward a career goal with the help of Microsoft, its partners, and the global IT community. One of the people you can follow is Neil, a Windows Azure developer from Dublin, Ireland who wants to learn how to develop an ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/20/2011 5:39:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to David MacLaren, President and CEO at VRX Studios about using the Windows Azure platform for its enterprise-class digital asset management system, MediaValet. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about VRX Studios. MacLaren: VRX Studios is a Microsoft Registered Partner that provides content production, management, distribution, and licensing services to over 10,000 hotels across the globe, including brands such as Hilton, Wyndham ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 1/18/2011 11:01:00 PM
Aron Pilhofer acts as editor of interactive news technologies at The New York Times, overseeing a news-focused team of journalist/developers who build dynamic, data-driven applications to enhance the Times' reporting online. He joined The Times in 2005. Previously, he was at the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, and before that at Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE.org). In this interview, we discuss: The purpose served by DocumentCloud Lack of technology in newsrooms, and how ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/13/2011 6:24:00 PM
The Real World Windows Azure series spoke to Nicklas Andersson, Chief Technology Officer at eCraft; Peter Löfgren, Project Manager at eCraft; and Jörgen Westerling, Chief Communications Officer at eCraft about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver cloud-based website solutions for the company's customers: MSDN: Can you give as a quick summary of what eCraft does and who you serve? Andersson: We are based in Finland and Sweden, and we help companies around the globe integrate IT s ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/13/2011 6:24:00 PM
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 1/11/2011 8:22:00 PM
Chris Auld is a Microsoft MVP, the CTO at Intergen Limited and a director of Locum Jobs Startup MedRecruit. Trained as an attorney, Chris chose to pursue a career with emerging technologies instead of practicing law. He is widely known for his evangelical, arm-waving style, as well as for his enthusiasm and drive. In this interview we discuss: Cloud computing as a business, rather than technological, innovation Scenarios that utilize the cloud's elastic capabilities The red herring of securi ...
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 1/11/2011 8:22:00 PM
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/10/2011 11:39:00 PM
Looking for the latest information about PHP and Windows Azure? Then look no further, below are links to the latest tutorials and tools to help you get started. You can also read more about these on the Interoperability @ Microsoft blog here. New Tutorials: Using Worker Roles for Simple Background Processing Getting the Windows Azure Pre-Requisites via the Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 Getting the Windows Azure Pre-Requisites Via Manual Installation Deploying Your First P ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/10/2011 11:39:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/7/2011 8:52:00 PM
Would you like a chance to win an Xbox 360 with Kinect or an Intel i7 laptop? If so, build an innovative cloud application on the Windows Azure Platform using datasets from the Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket and submit the URL to contest@codeproject.com no later than March 31, 2011*. At the end of the contest, the best eight** apps will be selected and the winners will each receive an Intel i7 laptop. One of these eight winners could also win the grand prize, an Xbox 360 with K ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/7/2011 8:52:00 PM
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/6/2011 4:53:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Miguel Campos, Chief Information Officer at Autoplaza about using Windows Azure as a storage platform for its online classified-ads website. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Autoplaza and the services you offer. Campos: Autoplaza is an online classified advertising company based in Mexico City, Mexico. We are premier website destination for sellers and buyers of automobiles in Mexico, including consumer-to-consumer and ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/6/2011 4:53:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/6/2011 2:11:00 AM
Today at CES in Las Vegas, Flickr and Microsoft previewed the first Flickr applications built specifically for Windows Phone 7 and Windows 7 Slates. Supported by a Windows Azure back end, these applications will provide a sleek user interface and unique inter-connectivity between devices. With these applications, Flickr - one of the best online photo sharing communities in the world - is making it even easier for users to organize and share their photos anytime, anywhere. The Flickr Application ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/6/2011 2:11:00 AM
by Robert_Duffner via Windows Azure on 1/5/2011 5:25:00 PM
Barton George joined Dell in 2009 as the company's cloud computing evangelist. He acts as Dell's ambassador to the cloud computing community and works with analysts and the press. He is responsible for messaging as well as blogging and tweeting on cloud topics. Prior to joining Dell, Barton spent 13 years at Sun Microsystems in a variety of roles that ranged from manufacturing to product and corporate marketing. He spent his last three years with Sun as an open source evangelist, blogger, and dr ...
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 1/5/2011 5:25:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/4/2011 10:53:00 PM
The Adoption Program Insights series describes experiences of Microsoft Services consultants involved in the Windows Azure Technology Adoption Program assisting customers deploy solutions on the Windows Azure Platform. This post is by Tom Hollander. In the past, if you had an application running in a web farm and you needed more capacity, you would have needed to buy, install and configure additional physical machines - a process which could take months and potentially cost thousands of dollars. ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/4/2011 10:53:00 PM
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 1/3/2011 6:40:00 PM
Don't miss the free online event, "Windows Azure and Cloud for Social Game Developers", January 12, 2011 10:00- 11:00am PST to learn more about building social, stable, and scalable games from Sneaky Games, one of the first game developers to deploy a massive web based game on the Windows Azure Platform. In this free online session, Sneaky Games CEO David Godwin and Lead Server Engineer Mark Bourland will talk about how they have been able to build a successful social games business using ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/3/2011 6:40:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/29/2010 6:13:00 PM
The Real World Windows Azure series spoke to Rok Bermež, Lead Programmer at Kompas Xnet, and Uroš Žunic, Development Manager at Kompas Xnet, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver cloud-based website solutions for the company's customers. Here's what they had to say: MSDN: Can you give us a quick summary of what Kompas Xnet does and who you serve? Bermež: Kompas Xnet was originally established as the IT support and training group for the Slovenian company KOMPAS d.o.o. We becam ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 12/29/2010 6:13:00 PM
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 12/27/2010 5:51:00 PM
Don't miss this FREE three-part series of webinars that cover the benefits, implications of - and best practices for - adopting Windows Azure. Click on the session title to register. The Business Case for Azure (Part 1) - January 12, 2011 The objective of this session is to provide an understanding of why Software as a Service is a compelling business model for today's ISVs and how Windows Azure can be a key enabler for ISVs considering a move to the cloud. Understanding Implications of ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/27/2010 5:51:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/22/2010 4:59:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Wayne Houlden, CEO at Janison, about using the Windows Azure platform for the online science testing system at the Department of Education & Training of New South Wales. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Janison and the services you offer. Houlden: Janison provides an online learning management system and custom learning portals to customers throughout Australia. We offer our innovative learning solutions to a wide v ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 12/22/2010 4:59:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/21/2010 5:37:00 PM
If you plan to enroll in the Windows Azure Extra Small Instance beta program, please note that the Extra Small compute instance will be billed separately from other compute instance sizes. Compute hours included in the Introductory Special, MSDN Premium or Development Accelerator offers don't apply to Extra Small Instance hours. The Extra Small Windows Azure Instance is priced at $0.05 per compute hour and provides developers with a cost-effective training and development environment. Compute ho ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 12/21/2010 5:37:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/20/2010 6:11:00 PM
To help you get into the holiday spirit, the Microsoft Partner Network folks in the UK have created Festive Game, a fun and addictive application built on Silverlight and powered by Windows Azure. The goal is to get Santa as high up into the clouds as you can and you're rewarded with Windows Azure links after each level. Check it out and Happy Holidays! Tweet ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 12/20/2010 6:11:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/17/2010 6:41:00 PM
Are you in the US or Canada? How would you like the chance to win money and prizes for the Windows Azure platform applications you've created ? Then you'll want to check out #CloudDevComp, a new competition from Perficient. All competition entries must use a Windows Azure platform element- what you use is up to you. The prizes are as follows: First Prize - $500 gift card & a prize pack Second Prize - $250 gift card & a prize pack Third Prize - $150 gift card & a pri ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 12/17/2010 6:41:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/17/2010 1:46:00 AM
To help you understand how to use the new Windows Azure features and enhancements, an updated version of the Windows Azure Platform training kit is now available. This version includes several new and updated hands-on labs (HOLs), demo scripts, and presentations for the Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio release 1.3 and the new Windows Azure Management Portal. You can download the training kit here or walkthrough the hands-on labs on MSDN her ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 12/17/2010 1:46:00 AM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/16/2010 9:20:00 PM
The Real World Windows Azure series spoke to Wolf Ruzicka and Evgeny Popov at EastBanc Technologies about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver a cloud-based solution for the public transportation industry. Here's what they had to say: MSDN: Can you give us a quick overview of what EastBanc Technologies does and who your customers are? Ruzicka: We provide custom software solutions and systems integration services for public agencies and private organizations that produce technology or use ...
by Windows Azure Team via Windows Azure on 12/16/2010 9:20:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/16/2010 6:20:00 PM
ADP Dealer Services has partnered with NVoicePay, a Portland, Oregon based software provider, to help their mutual clients eliminate paper invoices and checks with an integrated electronic payments solution powered by the Windows Azure platform. NVoicePay estimates that paying invoices manually ends up costing about $3(US) per check; for dealerships that opt into this program, transaction costs can be reduced to less than 40 cents. This could amount to $25,000 - $250,000 in savings per ye ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/16/2010 6:06:00 PM
Novell today announced they have joined the Microsoft Windows Azure Technology Adoption Program (TAP) to work together on pre-release non-commercial, internal testing and validation of Novell Cloud Security Service (NCSS) on Windows Azure. The goal is to deliver a consistent access, security and compliance management framework for applications hosted Windows Azure. With Novell Cloud Security Service, developers using Windows Azure will be able to quickly and easily extend any business' id ...
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 12/14/2010 7:37:00 PM
Maarten Balliauw is an Azure consultant, blogger, and speaker, as well as an ASP.NET MVP. He works as a technical consultant at RealDomen. Maarten is a project manager and developer for the PHPExcel project on CodePlex, as well as a board member for the Azure User Group of Belgium (AZUG.BE). In this interview we discuss: Take off your hosting colored glasses - architecting for the cloud yields benefits far beyond using it as just a mega-host Strange bedfellows - PHP on Azure and why it makes se ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/13/2010 9:46:00 PM
Today we have some great news to announce as Transport for London (TfL) has taken to the cloud by moving their new Trackernet data feed - hosted within their Developers’ Area - to the Microsoft Windows Azure platform. This forms the first major step forward as part of their comprehensive Digital Strategy and open data policy initiative. The Developers Area contains TfL's data feeds and allows developers to create applications for mobile and other devices for use by the public. Feeds availa ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/13/2010 6:36:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Girish Kundlani, Program Manager at MAQ Software, about using the Windows Azure platform for the company's enterprise resource management applications. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about MAQ Software and the services you offer. Kundlani: MAQ Software is a digital marketing, analytics, and technology solutions company that helps customers serve their markets effectively. We are a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/10/2010 6:29:00 PM
Microsoft has announced new partnerships with three of Australia's top research organisations as part of the company's Global Cloud Research Engagement Initiative launched earlier this year. Partnerships with National ICT Australia (NICTA), The Australian National University (ANU), and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) will enable scientific researchers across the continent access to advanced client plus cloud computing resources and technical support. Thes ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/9/2010 8:23:00 PM
The Real World Windows Azure series spoke to Kevin Lam, the Founder and President of IMPACTA, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver LOCKBOX SFT, a cloud-based, fully managed secure file transfer (SFT) service for the company's customers: MSDN: Can you give us a quick summary of what IMPACTA does and who you serve? Lam: We help companies assess the security of their information systems, find potential weaknesses, and then address those issues. Then we've taken the lessons we learned f ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/8/2010 8:17:00 PM
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, here's an opportunity to dive into the Windows Azure platform and start building cloud applications. Join other Bay area .NET developers for this exciting, FREE Hackathon: Cloud Development with Windows Azure, which will take place at Microsoft's San Francisco offices on Saturday, December 18, 2010 from 9:00AM-2:00 PM PST. Following a short walkthrough of the Windows Azure platform, you'll have the opportunity to code and collaborate with other cl ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/8/2010 3:29:00 PM
Are you looking to promote your Windows Azure platform applications and services? Would you like to compose Windows Azure platform applications and services in a modular fashion? Are you looking for consulting services to help build Windows Azure platform applications? Then head on over to the new Windows Azure Marketplace to get listed and connect with customers and partners to boost your business. The Windows Azure Marketplace is geared towards simplifying the process of building Windows ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/8/2010 1:20:00 AM
[This blog post original appeared on Steve Marx’s blog at http://blog.smarx.com/posts/how-to-resolve-setconfigurationsettingpublisher-needs-to-be-called-before-fromconfigurationsetting-can-be-used-after-moving-to-windows-azure-sdk-1-3 and is being cross-posted here for visibility.] If you’re receiving this exception after migrating a web role from Windows Azure SDK 1.2 to SDK 1.3, this may have to do with changes associated with the new full IIS model introduced in SDK 1.3. This post ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/8/2010 1:17:00 AM
One of the new features introduced in Windows Azure SDK 1.3 is the ability to host web roles under full IIS (instead of Hosted Web Core, as in previous SDK releases). Among other things, full IIS allows customers to host multiple web sites in a single web role. To support multiple web sites, a change was made in SDK 1.3 to set the machineKey element on a per-web-site basis rather than a per-machine basis. This had the unfortunate side effect of overwriting any site-level machineKey elements alre ...
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 12/7/2010 5:49:00 PM
Todd Papaioannou is currently at Yahoo!, in the role of vice president of cloud architecture for the cloud platform group. Before taking on that role, Todd was responsible for new product architecture and strategy at Teradata, including driving the entire Cloud computing program. Before that, he was the CTO of Teradata's client software group. Prior to joining Teradata, he was chief architect at Greenplum/Metapa. Dr Papaioannou holds a PhD in artificial intelligence and distributed systems. In t ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/6/2010 8:57:00 PM
Wade Wegner has posted an update to the BidNow Sample application on the MSDN Code Gallery. This update increases the applications use of the Windows Azure platform and incorporates many of the latest features and services. He has also written a great blog post that details the new services and features supported in this release. The BidNow Sample is an online auction site that demonstrates how the comprehensive set of cloud services in the Windows Azure platform can be used to develop a h ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/2/2010 8:18:00 PM
The Adoption Program Insights series describes experiences of Microsoft Services consultants involved in the Windows Azure Technology Adoption Program assisting customers deploy solutions on the Windows Azure platform. This post is by Tom Hollander. The new Windows Azure SDK 1.3 supports Full IIS, allowing your web roles to access the full range of web server features available in an on-premise IIS installation. However if you choose to deploy your applications to Full IIS, there are a few subtl ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/2/2010 4:35:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to John Gravely, Founder and CEO of ClickDimensions, about using Windows Azure for the company's marketing automation solution. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about ClickDimensions and the services you offer. Gravely: ClickDimensions is a marketing automation solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM that is built for Windows Azure. Our solution provides email marketing, web tracking, lead scoring, social discovery, and form capture ...
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 12/2/2010 4:17:00 PM
Kate Keahey is a fellow at the Computation Institute at the University of Chicago and works as a scientist at Argonne National Laboratory Computation Institute. She is the creator of Nimbus, an open source toolkit for turning a cluster into an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud, primarily targeted at making IaaS available to researchers and scientists. Her past positions included being a technical staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory. More information about Kate and her ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/1/2010 10:56:00 PM
In conjunction with the release of the Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio release 1.3 and the new Windows Azure Management Portal, we've launched beta availability of the Windows Azure Virtual Machine Role and Extra Small Windows Azure Instance, as well as a CTP of Windows Azure Connect. If you are interested in joining either of these programs, you can request access directly through the Windows Azure Management Portal. Requests will be processed on a first ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/1/2010 4:14:00 PM
Are you a game developer in the Northwest looking to find ways to be more competitive and agile? Then you'll want to join the Windows Azure team on December 15, 2010 at 5:30PM at the W Hotel in Seattle, WA for a two-hour session to learn about the benefits of building your next game on Windows Azure. During this free session, you'll hear from game developer, Sneaky Games, who have successfully leveraged the cloud and Windows Azure to build and deploy Facebook games such as Fantasy Kingdoms. ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/1/2010 12:13:00 AM
Yesterday, we announced availability of the Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio release 1.3, as well as several features being rolled out as a beta or CTP. To help you better understand how to use these new features and enhancements, as well as those announced at PDC10 earlier this month, a new version of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit is now available for free download. This release of the training kit includes several new hands-on labs (HOLs) that fo ...
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 11/30/2010 7:23:00 PM
Roger Jennings is the owner of OakLeaf Systems, a software consulting firm in northern California. He is also a prolific blogger and author, including a book on Windows Azure. Roger is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. In this interview we discuss: What gets people to have the "Ah-ha" moment to understand what the cloud is about Moving to the cloud to get out of the maintenance business Expected growth of cloud computing The suitability of the cloud for applicati ...
Roger Jennings is the owner of OakLeaf Systems, a software consulting firm in northern California. He is also a prolific blogger and author, including a book on Windows Azure. Roger is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. In this interview we discuss: What gets people to have the "Ah-ha" moment to understand what the cloud is about Moving to the cloud to get out of the maintenance business Expected growth of cloud computing The suitability of the cloud for applications ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/29/2010 7:34:00 PM
At PDC10 last month, we announced a host of enhancements for Windows Azure designed to make it easier for customers to run existing Windows applications on Windows Azure, enable more affordable platform access and improve the Windows Azure developer and IT Professional experience. Today, we're happy to announce that several of these enhancements are either generally available or ready for you to try as a Beta or Community Technology Preview (CTP). Below is a list of what's now availa ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/24/2010 5:30:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Allen Smith, Chief of Police for the Atlantic Beach Police Department, about using the Windows Azure platform for its first-responders, law enforcement solution. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about the Atlantic Beach Police Department and the services you offer. Smith: Our mission at the Atlantic Beach Police Department is to deliver "community-oriented policing." That is, to join in a partnership with our residents, merch ...
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 11/18/2010 7:48:00 PM
Chandra Krintz is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is also the director of the AppScale open source project. Chandra has received a number of awards, including the 2010 IBM X10 Innovation Award, the 2009-2010 IBM OCR Award, 2008-2009 UCSB Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award, and 2008 CRA-W Anita Borg Early Career (BECA) Award. You can learn more about Chandra at www.cs.ucsb.edu/~ckrintz/ and www. ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/18/2010 5:53:00 PM
VRX Studios has been in the business of providing photography and content services to the global hotel industry for more than 10 years and we currently work with more than 10,000 hotels around the world. With this many customers who are so widely dispersed, you might think operations and logistics are our biggest challenges-they're not. Today, our biggest headache comes from managing terabytes of media assets for dozens of large hotel brands with thousands of individual hotels and tens of ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/16/2010 3:56:00 PM
Today at Supercomputing 2010 in New Orleans, Microsoft announced the release of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) BLAST on Windows Azure, a new application that enables a broader community of scientists to combine desktop resources with the power of cloud computing for critical biological research. NCBI Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) on Windows Azure provides a user-friendly Web interface and access to Windows Azure cloud computing for very large BLAST computati ...
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 11/12/2010 4:09:00 AM
Jonathan Ellis chairs the Cassandra project at the Apache Software Foundation and is the co-founder of Riptano, a commercial entity that provides software, support, and training for Cassandra. Prior to the founding of Riptano in the spring of 2010, Jonathan was a system architect at Rackspace, and before that, he designed and built a large-scale storage system at Mozy. In this interview, we cover: The Cassandra distributed database, originally developed by Facebook A critical benefit of the clo ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/12/2010 1:25:00 AM
The Microsoft Corporate Strategy Group has just released a new whitepaper, "The Economics of the Cloud", which details underlying the economics driving IT's shift towards the cloud. This paper, written by Rolf Harms, director of the Corporate Strategy Group and Michael Yamartino, manager of the Corporate Strategy Group at Microsoft, provides great guidance to IT leaders as they consider their investments in infrastructure, architecture and skills during this shift. You can read more ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/11/2010 3:50:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Jeff Yoshimura, Head of Product Marketing at Zuora, about using the Windows Azure platform to create the Zuora Toolkit for Windows Azure. Here's what he had to say. MSDN: Can you please tell us about Zuora and the services you offer? Yoshimura: Zuora is the global leader for on-demand subscription billing and commerce solutions. Our platform gives companies the ability to launch, run, and operate their recurring revenue businesse ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/10/2010 9:31:00 PM
Cloud platforms are a new world, and they open new possibilities. Reflecting this, the Windows Azure programming model helps developers create applications that are easier to administer, more available, and more scalable than those built using traditional application development models. To use this Windows Azure programming model successfully, developers need to understand the changes the model brings to how applications interact with the operating system, use persistent storage, and communicate ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/10/2010 8:31:59 PM
Windows Azure drives support the use of a local cache to improve performance of drives. With the upcoming Guest OS 1.8 and 2.0 releases, there’s a breaking change in the way this local cache is allocated. Background A Windows Azure application can request local storage in its service definition (.csdef). Here’s an example: <LocalResources> <LocalStorage name="DriveCache" cleanOnRoleRecycle="true" sizeInMB="1000" /> </LocalResources> ...
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 11/9/2010 6:04:00 PM
Charlton Barreto is an accomplished and visionary cloud, Web, and distributed computing expert. He is currently a Technology Strategist in cloud technologies at Intel, where he has worked since 2008. His previous role was with Adobe as a Technology Evangelist, prior to which he was with Web Methods and Borland. Charlton is a luminary who actively blogs, tweets, and speaks on cloud technologies and initiatives. He also has an active role on the boards of advisors for a number of companies, ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/8/2010 7:33:00 PM
Mike Wickstrand just posted a great write-up about his experiences with Windows Azure over the past year, so good that we're posting it in its entirety here... enjoy! Although I've worked at Microsoft for more than 11 years, 2009 marked the first time I had the opportunity to attend Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference. When I walked around PDC 09 in Los Angeles last year and spoke with developers, I found that I was inundated with many great ideas on how to make Windows Azure better, ...
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 11/6/2010 5:05:00 PM
Kevin Jackson is a luminary in the field of cloud computing. He is currently an engineering fellow at NJVC, one of the largest IT solutions providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense. He is also editor of the Government Cloud Computing Journal and founder of "Cloud Musings" blog. Kevin was trained at the United States Naval Academy, Naval War College, and Naval Postgraduate School. In this interview, we discuss: Actual government IT successes, especially using cloud computing ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/4/2010 7:56:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/4/2010 7:40:00 PM
Looking for an up-to-date primer on Windows Azure and the Windows Azure platform? We've got just what you need - two newly updated David Chappell whitepapers available on our site as a FREE download. "Introducing Windows Azure" and "Introducing the Windows Azure Platform" both offer overviews that include all the latest enhancements and feature updates announced at PDC to guide you through the key components of the Windows Azure platform. Check them out and tell us what other topics you'd ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/4/2010 6:22:00 PM
Windows Azure platform pricing options range from "pay as you go" to commitment. If you want to try the Windows Azure platform with no financial commitment, you should sign up for our Introductory Special offer, which allows you to try a small amount of Windows Azure platform resources at no charge. When you sign up for the Introductory offer, you will be asked for a credit card but your card will not be billed as long as you stay within the no-charge amount included in the offer. If you want t ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/4/2010 4:34:00 PM
Last week at SIBOS 2010 in Amsterdam, Misys announced a new strategic alliance with Microsoft that will deliver Misys' banking and capital markets applications via the Windows Azure platform. As Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft, notes in a video interview discussing the announcement, this collaboration is significant because, "cloud computing, and specifically Windows Azure, enables banks to move from a capital intensive cost model to one which is based on the consumpti ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/3/2010 9:30:00 PM
Is cloud computing still a foggy concept for you? Have you heard of Windows Azure, but aren't quite sure of how it applies to your development projects? If you're a developer who'd like to learn more, then join Microsoft Developer Evangelists at one of eight free, all-day Firestarter events that will combine presentations, demos and hands-on labs to help you better understand where the cloud and Windows Azure can take you. All sessions run 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM. Click on a session ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/3/2010 4:13:00 PM
Good news - the Windows Azure Platform Introductory Special offer (which includes the SQL Azure Free Trial) has been extended through March 31, 2011! This promotional offer enables you to try a limited amount of the Windows Azure platform at no charge. The subscription includes a base level of monthly Windows Azure compute hours, storage, data transfers, AppFabric Access Control transactions, AppFabric Service Bus connections, and a SQL Azure Database, at no charge. Included each month at ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/2/2010 4:54:00 PM
Last week at PDC10, we announced a wide variety of enhancements and new features for Windows Azure. To get an overview of all our new announcements, we recommend you start by watching the 'What's new in Windows Azure' session by Ori Amiga. To help you find out more about what's coming next for Windows Azure, please find below a list of the announcements covered or touched on during each of our sessions. You can watch any of these sessions on-demand here. Session Speaker ...
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 11/1/2010 10:21:00 PM
Chris C. Kemp is CTO of NASA, a position he has held since March of 2010. Before that appointment, he was NASA's CIO and was in charge of the Ames Research Center, the Security Operations Center, and various other facilities. Chris started with NASA as director of strategic business development; in that capacity, he forged a partnership with Google Earth regarding access to moon and Mars data as well as real-time tracking data for the space shuttle, space station, etc. Prior to joining NASA, Ch ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/28/2010 4:26:00 PM
Today, at PDC 2010, we announced new Windows Azure functionality that will make it easier for customers to run existing Windows applications on Windows Azure, enable more affordable platform access and improve the Windows Azure developer and IT Professional experience. This new Windows Azure functionality is driven by extensive customer and partner feedback collected through forums such as mygreatwindowsazureidea.com. We thank you for your valuable input over the past year and look forward to yo ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/27/2010 9:42:00 PM
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by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/25/2010 5:37:00 PM
With PDC10 right around the corner, we wanted to provide a "cheat sheet" with information to help you get the most out of the event, no matter how you plan to attend! If you're looking to learn the latest about the Windows Azure platform, below is a list of the live sessions you won't want to miss; all sessions will stream live here on the "Cloud Services" channel and will be available on-demand if you miss the live session (all times PDT). Thursday, October 28, 2010 9:00 - 11: ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/21/2010 5:06:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Richard Godfrey, cofounder and CEO of KoodibooK, about using the Windows Azure platform to develop the company's unique self-publish service, which lets customers design and publish personalized photo albums in minutes. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Can you please tell us about KoodibooK? Godfrey: KoodibooK provides a unique "Create Once, Publish Anywhere" experience for people looking to capture memorable moments in their lives w ...
by Robert Duffner via Windows Azure on 10/20/2010 4:58:00 PM
I'm Robert Duffner, director of Product Management for Windows Azure and I'm kicking off a new series of blog posts where I will be interviewing thought leaders in cloud computing. I'll be reaching out broadly across the globe to industry, public sector, and academia. You definitely don't want to miss these intellectually stimulating and thought provoking discussions on the cloud, my first interview is with Chris C. Kemp, NASA's first chief technology officer for IT and the driving force b ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/19/2010 6:16:00 PM
In support of the launch of JAY-Z's first book, DECODED, JAY-Z and BING have just launched a multi-platform search experience and interactive game. The objective of this experience is to help people decode the hidden meanings behind some of JAY-Z's most provocative songs by locating the places that inspired them. Running through November 20, the immersive online experience utilizes multiple facets of Bing, including Bing Maps and Bing Entertainment, to give fans full access to the stories ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/15/2010 5:37:00 PM
The Adoption Program Insights series describes experiences of Microsoft Services consultants involved in the Windows Azure Technical Adoption Program assisting customers deploy solutions on the Windows Azure platform. This post is by Norman Sequeira, Patrick Butler Monterde and Tom Hollander. This is the second part of a two-part series describing options for sending emails from Windows Azure applications. In Part 1 we described a pattern that uses a custom on-premise Email Forwarder Service to ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/14/2010 6:02:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Scott Houston, Chief Executive Officer at InterGrid, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's GreenButton service. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about InterGrid and the services you offer. Houston: As a Microsoft Registered Partner, we offer cost-effective solutions for companies that need occasional bursts of computing power for complex, intensive computing processes, such as computer-aided drafting a ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/13/2010 7:48:00 PM
For ISVs who want detailed guidance for building Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) applications on the Windows Azure Platform, look no further than the new blog post and associated resources from Microsoft Evangelist, Vittorio Bertocci. Posted last week, Vittorio's latest blog entry, "New Online Demo: Introducing Fabrikam Shipping SaaS", announces the FabrikamShipping SaaS demo, a full end-to-end sample scenario, which demonstrates how to use the Windows Azure platform for exposing an app ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/12/2010 10:26:00 PM
Earlier today, the Microsoft Interoperability Technical Strategy team announced availability of the October 2010 Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Windows Azure Tools for Eclipse for PHP. This Eclipse plug-in provides PHP developers using Eclipse with tools to create and deploy web applications targeting Windows Azure. This is an update to the September 2010 CTP. To learn more about how to use the updated tools, please read the tutorial, "Using the Windows Azure Too ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/12/2010 8:07:00 PM
The cloud represents a tremendous business opportunity for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Systems Integrators (SIs). To help them better understand the business opportunities with the Windows Azure Platform and position themselves for success, we've created the Windows Azure Platform University. The goal of the University is to provide in-depth sales-focused readiness training with a full day of training sessions designed to help partners: Understand the Cloud market s ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/8/2010 4:34:00 PM
The Adoption Program Insights series describes experiences of Microsoft Services consultants involved in the Windows Azure Technical Adoption Program assisting customers deploy solutions on the Windows Azure platform. This post is by Patrick Butler Monterde and Tom Hollander. Many custom-developed applications need to send email, whether it is a part of the registration process, a way of notifying users when important events occur or something else. If you're a .NET developer you've probab ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/7/2010 8:00:00 PM
In conjunction with its Rise of Social Commerce event yesterday in Palo Alto, CA, Altimeter Group announced that the Congressional House Republican Caucus has been recognized for its "Creating Impact" Open Leadership Award for AmericaSpeakingOut.org (ASO). The awards recognize the organizations and individuals using social technologies to transform their organizations. Congressional House Republicans (GOP) partnered with Microsoft to create ASO, which was designed to increase the dialogue ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/7/2010 5:16:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Craig Osborne, Principal Program Manager on the Windows Gaming Experience team at Microsoft, about using the Windows Azure platform to support the enhanced gaming experience in the next version of Bing Games. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about the Windows Gaming Experience team at Microsoft. Osborne: At Microsoft, it's not all about work. We are invested in the entertainment industry and we deliver multiple gaming platfor ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/6/2010 3:19:00 PM
Do you have a project in mind that you'd like to run on Windows Azure? Are you in the United Kingdom? How would you like the chance to get your cloud application off the ground with free support and services from Microsoft and the Avanade Cloud Lab? All you have to do is submit your business case here by October 29, 2010 outlining the opportunity for your organization, the expected benefits, the solutions overview, the use of Windows Azure, and the risks assessment. A judging p ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/1/2010 9:54:33 PM
A security update has been released which addresses the ASP.NET vulnerability we blogged about previously. This update is included in Guest OS 1.7, which is currently being rolled out to all Windows Azure data centers globally. Some customers will begin seeing Guest OS 1.7 as early as today, and broad rollout will complete within the next two weeks. If you’ve configured your Windows Azure application to receive automatic OS upgrades, no action is required to receive the update. ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/1/2010 3:21:00 PM
Microsoft and Japan's National Institute of Informatics (NII) just announced a joint program that will give university researchers free access to Windows Azure cloud computing resources for the "Info-Plosion Project." Similar to the agreement made earlier this year with the National Science Foundation, this Windows Azure Research Engagement will provide researchers with Windows Azure resources for scientific technical computing, enabling them to take advantage of Windows Azure's ability to ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/30/2010 5:38:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Vincent Vergonjeanne, Chief Executive Officer at Kobojo, about using Windows Azure to host the company's latest online game, RobotZ. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Can you tell us about Kobojo and the services you offer? Vergonjeanne: Kobojo is a young software development company that creates online, casual games. Our games are available on Facebook and some mobile phones, and will soon be available on MySpace and other social netw ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/24/2010 5:47:00 PM
The Windows Azure Domain Name System (DNS) is moving to a new globally distributed infrastructure, which will increase performance and improve reliability of DNS resolution. In particular, users who access Windows Azure applications from outside the United States will see a decrease in the time it takes to resolve the applications' DNS names. This change will take effect on October 5th, at midnight UTC. Customers don't need to do anything to get these improvements, and the ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/23/2010 5:28:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to David Ruiz, Vice President of Products at Ravenflow, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's cloud-based process analysis and visualization solution. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Ravenflow and the services you offer. Ruiz: Ravenflow is a Microsoft Certified Partner that uses a patented natural language technology, called RAVEN, to turn text descriptions into business process diagrams. Our cust ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/21/2010 11:03:00 PM
An important part of my charter on the Windows Azure marketing team is to help customers, partners and developers be successful on the platform. Over the last few months, I've heard from many partners and customers that they would like to identify and showcase the fact that an application is running on Windows Azure. To help meet this need, I'm excited to announce a new 'Powered by Windows Azure' logo program that developers can use to promote their Windows Azure applications. The program ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/21/2010 7:45:00 PM
To make it easier for Windows Azure customers to keep track of their compute hours usage, we are now sending customers emails notifications when their compute hour usage exceeds 75%, 100% and 125% of the number of compute hours included in their plan. Customers on our standard consumption offer will receive, for the first 13 weeks of their subscription, email alerts every week with their compute hour usage for the previous week. After the 13th week, customers will receive email alert ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/21/2010 4:16:00 PM
During his keynote at the Open Source India conference, in Chennai, India this past Sunday, Vijay Rajagopalan, principal architect for Microsoft's Interoperability Strategy team, presented the Interoperability Elements of a Cloud Platform and announced several new tools for PHP developers who want to build cloud applications for the Windows Azure platform. You can read all about Vijay's keynote here, which includes detailed descriptions of all the tools. Below is a list of each tool, ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/21/2010 1:03:39 AM
On Friday, Microsoft posted a security advisory about a recently discovered ASP.NET vulnerability. More details are available in a blog post by Scott Guthrie, including a workaround. This vulnerability applies to all ASP.NET applications, including those hosted in Windows Azure. If you're using ASP.NET in your Windows Azure applications, we recommend that you read Scott Guthrie's blog post immediately to determine if your application is vulnerable and to learn how to apply the worka ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/20/2010 9:46:00 PM
Earlier today at the High Performance Computing (HPC) in Financial Markets Conference in New York, Microsoft announced the immediate availability of Windows HPC Server 2008 R2. In addition to describing the benefits of Windows HPC Server 2008 R2, Bill Hilf, general manager of the Microsoft Technical Computing Group, also showcased upcoming capabilities in Windows HPC Server that will allow customers to provision and manage HPC nodes in Windows Azure from within on-premise server clusters.& ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/16/2010 5:47:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Shekar Chandrasekaran, Chief Technology Officer at Transactiv about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver its e-commerce transaction solution. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Transactiv and the services you offer. Chandrasekaran: Transactiv is a startup company that facilitates online transactions between buyers and sellers through social networking platforms. Our software enables three ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/12/2010 5:26:00 PM
Want to watch the experts discuss the Windows Azure platform and hear their tips to help you get started? Then you'll want to take a look at these four videos that were just posted to Bytes by MSDN on Channel 9. Bytes by MSDN: Adam Grocholski and Mickey Williams discuss Cloud Computing In this video, Adam Grocholski and Mickey Williams talk about Thor, one of Adam's latest projects designed to help people get real-world experience using Windows Azure. Adam is a Microsoft ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/9/2010 5:34:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Bob West, Director of the Office of Reapportionment for the Florida House of Representatives, about using the Windows Azure platform to help capture accurate U.S. Census statistics. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about the Florida House of Representatives and how you use technology to help serve your constituents. West: The Florida House of Representatives is part of the Florida Legislature and has 120 membe ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/2/2010 9:32:00 PM
We are happy to announce that two additional nodes for the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network are now live in Seoul, Korea and Taipei, Taiwan. These two new nodes bring the total number of CDN physical nodes available globally to 22, with six of these nodes available in the Asia-Pacific region. These two new locations expand our service in the Asia-Pacific region and enhance the delivery of performance-sensitive content for customers choosing to serve data through the CDN*. Please read our p ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/2/2010 4:09:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Melvin Greer, Chief Strategist of Cloud Computing, Information Systems, and Global Solutions at Lockheed Martin, about using the Windows Azure platform to develop the company's ThundercloudTM design pattern. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Lockheed Martin and the services you offer. Greer: Lockheed Martin is well known as a premier defense contractor. We are principally engaged in the research, design, development, manu ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/31/2010 3:05:00 PM
You may have seen a letter in USA Today this morning suggesting that customers evaluating a licensing agreement with VMWare talk to Microsoft to learn more about how products and services such as the Windows Azure platform can enable a complete cloud-computing environment. We posted this letter because we feel that cloud computing represents the biggest opportunity in decades for organizations to be more agile and cost effective. Also, while virtualization clearly played a role in enabling ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/30/2010 4:55:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Sinclair Schuller, CEO at Apprenda, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's middleware solution, which helps Apprenda's customers deliver cloud applications. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Apprenda and the services you offer. Schuller: Apprenda serves independent software vendors (ISVs) in the United States and Europe that build business-to-business software applications on the Microsoft .NET Fra ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/30/2010 4:21:57 PM
State and local governments evaluating a move to the cloud should have a central location where they can find partners and solutions with the right cloud-based solutions to meet their business needs. To meet this need, the Public Sector team just announced the Microsoft Government Cloud Applications Center to provide government customers with a centralized place to quickly find and learn about partner applications built on Microsoft cloud computing technologies such as the Windows Azure pl ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/26/2010 5:40:36 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Juan Carlos Robles Navarro, Senior Software Engineer at AXA Seguros, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the insurance company's claims-management system. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about AXA Seguros and the services you offer. Navarro: AXA Seguros in Mexico is part of the AXA Group, which offers insurance solutions to consumers and businesses worldwide. We strive to be a leader in our industry, prov ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/19/2010 4:03:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/12/2010 5:08:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Rhett Thompson, Cofounder of CoreMotives, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's automated marketing solution. Here's what he had to say:MSDN: Tell us about CoreMotives and the services you offer.Thompson: CoreMotives develops business-to-business marketing automation and lead generation software that enables marketing and sales teams to detect, track, and target potential customers. Our marketing automation su ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/10/2010 5:51:00 PM
Windows Azure must provide confidentiality, integrity, and availability of customer data, while also enabling transparent accountability. To help customers better understand the array of security controls implemented within Windows Azure from both the customer's and Microsoft operations' perspectives, a new white paper, "Windows Azure Security Overview", has just been released that provides a comprehensive look at the security available with Windows Azure. Written by Charlie Kaufman and Ramanath ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/6/2010 4:18:02 PM
The Internet provides powerful capabilities for individuals to gain visibility and control over their environment. A good example of this is HeyGov! for San Francisco, - a cloud services solution that the City of San Francisco just adopted to give their citizens a faster and easier way to submit service requests regarding potholes, graffiti, and street cleaning to the City's 311 Department. The HeyGov! Service also provides an interactive mapping application for citizens to monitor and ana ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/5/2010 8:06:08 PM
How would you like to try Windows Azure and SQL Azure for a month - for FREE? Now you can, with the Windows Azure One Month Pass USA. Through this unique offer, US developers can get a one month pass to try out Windows Azure and SQL Azure - without having to submit a credit card! Limited to US developers, the first 500 to sign up each month will get a full month's pass good for the one calendar month. In addition, you'll get free phone, chat and email support through the Front ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/5/2010 5:42:58 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Sanjay Kumar, ERS SEG Online Practice Head at HCL, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's carbon-emissions management solution. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about HCL and the services you offer. Kumar: HCL is a global technology firm. We focus on outsourcing that emphasizes innovation and value creation, and we have an integrated portfolio of services that includes software-led IT solutions, remote ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 7/29/2010 4:25:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Alexandre Zanghellini, Cofounder at Arzeda, and Yih-En Andrew Ban, Project Leader and Scientist at Arzeda, about using the Windows Azure platform to power the company's compute-heavy enzyme-design process. Here's what they had to say: MSDN: Tell us more about Arzeda and the services you offer. Zanghellini: Arzeda is a biotechnology firm that engineers custom-made enzymes for almost any chemical reaction. By designing these biopro ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 7/22/2010 3:24:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Johannes Schick, CEO of höltl Retail Solutions, about using the Windows Azure platform to run the company's point-of-sale (POS) system. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: What service does höltl Retail Solutions provide? Schick: höltl Retail Solutions is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that offers innovative products for optimizing retail processes for the clothing and nonfood industries. The most popular of these is th ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 7/20/2010 4:47:00 PM
Ever wonder what happens to tweets after they disappear? Would you love a way to keep track of, analyze and even export tweets related to topics you care about? Enter The Archivist, a new lab/website from Mix Online built on Windows Azure that allows you to monitor Twitter, archive tweets, data mine and export archives. As Microsoft Developer and Archivist creator, Karsten Januszewski explains it, "When you start a search using The Archivist, it will create and monitor ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 7/19/2010 4:43:00 AM
As David Aiken recently mentioned on his blog, the Microsoft Patterns & Practices team has just released the Windows Azure Architecture Guide - Volume 1. The first in a planned series about the Windows Azure platform, this book walks readers through how to adapt an existing, on-premises ASP.NET application to one that operates in the cloud. Each chapter explores different considerations including authentication and authorization, data access, session management, deployment, development ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 7/16/2010 4:53:59 PM
InformationWeek Mexico just named OCCMundial as the second most innovative company in Mexico in its annual "50 Most Innovative Companies" issue. OCCMundial developed the largest job-listing website in the Mexican employment market and has more than 15 million unique visitors annually and posts more than 600,000 jobs each year. The company earned its innovator distinction from InformationWeek Mexico for its recommendation system, OCCMatch, that uses a powerful algorithm to match job openings to ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 7/15/2010 5:44:30 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Steve Orenstein, Chief Executive Officer at Connect2Field, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's software-as-a-service application. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Connect2Field and the services you offer. Orenstein: Our company's namesake, Connect2Field, is a web-based field service and job management software application. By using Connect2Field, businesses can manage customers, track jobs, di ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 7/13/2010 2:44:00 PM
Today at our Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Washington D.C., partners are showing their commitment to the cloud, with several companies making announcements about the solutions they've built on the Windows Azure platform. Here are some of the highlights: Bedin Shop Systems, a provider of POS and In-Store Management systems designed for the cloud, announced version 2.0 of aKite, its cloud-based software services suite built for retail stores on the Windows Azure platform. The solut ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 7/12/2010 2:46:39 PM
At the Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Washington D.C. today, Bob Muglia outlined our vision for the cloud and explained how we're investing heavily in supporting both customers and partners as they shift to the cloud. For those customers who are looking for more control than a public cloud offering can provide, Bob announced today the Windows Azure Platform Appliance, a turnkey cloud platform that customers and partners can deploy in their own datacenter. Read on for answers to the ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 7/8/2010 5:41:29 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Francois Bochatay, CEO and Cofounder at Sobees, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's social-media aggregator and the benefits that Windows Azure provides. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Sobees and the services you offer. Bochatay: Sobees develops software that people can use to manage all of their social-media information streams with a single application. Our aggregator is popular among consu ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 7/1/2010 4:58:20 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Pavel Bondarchuk, Vice President of Business Development at CloudBerry Lab, about using Windows Azure storage services to deliver the company's online backup solution. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us more about CloudBerry Lab and the services you offer. Bondarchuk: CloudBerry Lab was established in 2008 by a group of experienced IT professionals with the mission to help customers adopt cloud-computing technolog ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 6/24/2010 4:53:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Andy Harjanto, cofounder at Guppers, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's mobile service, which enables people to access business data from any mobile phone. MSDN: Tell us about Guppers and the services you offer. Harjanto: Guppers enables business to take advantage of mobility, cloud computing, and social networking to exchange business data through email, short messaging service (SMS) messages, and f ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 6/17/2010 5:25:38 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Martin Svensson, CEO at Sagastream, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver its online video platform. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Sagastream and the services you offer. Svensson: Sagastream is a new online video startup company based in Gothenburg, Sweden. We've developed a flexible online video platform-ensity-that includes an easy-to-use tool set that companies can use to successfully upload, manage, and ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 6/14/2010 9:10:11 PM
Recently, the Microsoft Research team blogged about a cool project called CloudLab, which was developed by a team of students enrolled in CS210, Project-Based Computer Science Innovation & Development at Stanford University. During the course, Microsoft External Research challenged students to make satellite data more accessible to environmental scientists, with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory serving as the team's customers. The result was CloudLab, which utilizes the Window ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 6/11/2010 9:22:52 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Steve Gable, EVP and CTO at Tribune Company, about using the Windows Azure platform to build the company's centralized content repository for all its editorial and advertising information. Here's what he had to say. 1. MSDN: Tell us more about Tribune and the services you provide. The Chicago, Illinois-based Tribune Company operates newspapers, television stations, and a variety of news and information Web sites ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 6/11/2010 5:13:00 PM
We're happy to announce that the June update of the Windows Azure Platform training kit is now available and ready for download here. This training kit has everything you need to get started and then dig deep into the Windows Azure platform. The training kit includes: Hands On Labs Introduction to Windows Azure Exploring Windows Azure Storage Deploying and Monitoring Applications in Windows Azure Windows Azure: Worker Role Communication Federated Authentication in a Windows Azure Web ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 6/10/2010 5:25:16 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Dmitry Sotnikov, director of cloud solutions at Quest Software, about using Windows Azure to deliver the company's software-as-a-service IT management solution. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Quest Software and the services you offer. Sotnikov: Quest Software is a systems management company and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that helps customers improve IT efficiency for software applications, databases, server infras ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 6/7/2010 3:14:00 PM
Want to know what's being announced about Windows Azure at TechEd 2010 this week in New Orleans? Here's the rundown: the Windows Azure team will discuss the release of the June 2010 version of the Windows Azure Tools + SDK, the production launch (including pricing) of the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) and enablement of the OS auto-upgrade feature. The SQL Azure team is also making several announcements so be sure to read about them on their blog here. New Windows Azure Tools ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 6/3/2010 5:35:29 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Paddy Srinivasan, CEO at Cumulux, about ManageAxis, the company's monitoring, management, and deployment solution for customers who use the Windows Azure platform for delivering cloud-based applications. MSDN: Tell us about Cumulux and the services you offer. Srinivasan: Cumulux is a leading provider of cloud-computing products and services to Fortune 100 enterprises and major independent software vendors. Cumulux is led by Microsoft ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/28/2010 10:10:39 PM
Last November, we announced a community technology preview (CTP) of the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN). The Windows Azure CDN enhances end user performance and reliability by placing copies of data, at various points in a network, so that they are distributed closer to the user. The Windows Azure CDN today delivers many Microsoft products – such as Windows Update, Zune videos, and Bing Maps - which customers know and use every day. By adding the CDN to Windows Azure capabilities, w ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/27/2010 7:47:36 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Markus Mikola, Partner at Sopima, about using the Windows Azure platform to run the company's contract management solution. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us more about Sopima and the services you provide. Mikola: In 2009, we started to develop Sopima Online Contract Bank-a software application that simplifies the steps of creating, managing, and approving business contracts, including negotiations processes among stakeholders. ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/26/2010 5:29:33 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Sean Nolan, Distinguished Engineer in the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft, about using Windows Azure to deliver the H1N1 Response Center Web site and the benefits that Windows Azure provides. Here's what he had to say:MSDN: Tell us about the H1N1 Response Center.Nolan: In October 2009, public health officials were concerned that the H1N1 pandemic was becoming a serious issue for our national ability to deliver quality care. When fa ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/21/2010 7:07:00 PM
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by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/20/2010 6:11:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/18/2010 5:59:00 PM
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by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/13/2010 5:11:00 PM
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As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Pankaj Arora, Senior Solution Manager at Microsoft, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's 2009 Giving Campaign Auction Tool. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about the annual Giving Campaign Auction at Microsoft. Arora: The Giving Campaign Auction is a grassroots initiative that runs an online auction site, called the Giving Campaign Auction Tool, where donors can list items and services for buyers t ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/6/2010 5:34:00 PM
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by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/4/2010 4:55:00 PM
In late March 2010, we announced the availability of the Windows Azure Toolkit for Facebook. We're now happy to announce the launch of CloudPoll on Facebook, a new application hosted on Windows Azure and built using the Windows Azure Toolkit for Facebook. Available for free to all Facebook users, CloudPoll allows you to create, manage, and evaluate all kinds of polls for your pages using blob storage, SQL Azure, and compute hosted in Windows Azure. CloudPoll was built by Thuzi in col ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/29/2010 5:12:00 PM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/27/2010 5:04:00 PM
Do you live in the UK and want to learn more about Windows Azure? Then you'll want to register today for the Windows Azure Self-paced Learning Course, a 6-week virtual technical training course developed by Microsoft Evangelists Eric Nelson and David Gristwood. The course, which will run from May 10 to June 18 2010, provides interactive, self-paced, technical training on the Windows Azure platform - Windows Azure, SQL Azure and the Windows Azure Platform AppFabric. Designed for pro ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/22/2010 5:09:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Matthew Davey, Founder of TicketDirect, about using the Windows Azure platform to run the company's ticketing system. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: What service does TicketDirect provide? Davey: We provide online and on-premises ticketing services for 80 venues in New Zealand and Australia. We've really grown from a small rugby-specific ticketing business to a company that was responsible for 45 percent of professionally ticketed e ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/19/2010 4:00:00 PM
Today at the Politics Online Conference in Washington, D.C. Microsoft launched TownHall, a new Windows Azure-hosted engagement platform that fosters, moderates and houses conversations between groups. As you may have seen on today's Microsoft on the Issues blog, TownHall is an ideal tool for politicians and other public officials (among others) who want to host online social experiences that drive richer discussion around top interests and concerns with the American public. Think of Tow ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/15/2010 6:07:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Eduardo Pierdant, CTO at OCCMundial.com, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver OCCMatch and the benefits that Windows Azure provides. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about OCCMundial.com and the services you offer. Pierdant: OCCMundial.com is the largest job-listing Web site in the Mexican employment market, providing an online link between job seekers and opportunities. OCCMundial.com has more than 15 million uniq ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/14/2010 4:24:00 PM
Following PDC09 last fall, we announced support for running Java and Tomcat in Windows Azure, but this doesn't mean Tomcat is the only Java application container supported in Windows Azure. In fact, the approach basically consists of creating a Java Runtime (JRE) and any Java package that can be instantiated via the command line (instead of needing to install into the OS). This Java application can then be packaged into a Worker Role application, and then deployed into Windows Azure. If you're l ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/13/2010 6:27:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Richard Prodger, Technical Director at Active Web Solutions (AWS), about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's search-and-rescue application and the benefits that Windows Azure provides. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Active Web Solutions and the services you offer. Prodger: AWS specializes in Web application and custom software development. In 2006, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution c ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/12/2010 12:04:00 AM
Update: We are happy to inform you that as of April 12, 2010, Windows Azure platform AppFabric has transitioned to commercial availability and is now a fully SLA-supported paid service. More details available here. Starting today, the Microsoft Windows Azure platform, including Windows Azure, SQL Azure, and Windows Azure platform AppFabric will be generally available in an additional 20 countries, making our flexible cloud services platform available to a global customer base and partne ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/9/2010 6:37:00 PM
Would you like to know how to leverage your existing ASP.NET skills to build Windows Azure applications? Then be sure to check out two new articles, Cloud Development in Visual Studio 2010 and Developing and Deploying Windows Azure Apps in Visual Studio 2010, that explain how to build cloud services and applications with Visual Studio 2010. Written by Windows Azure Tools experts Hani Atassi, Anson Horton, Jim Nakashima and Danny Thorpe, these articles provide step-by-step instructi ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/8/2010 8:53:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Patricio Jutard, CTO at Three Melons, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver Bola-an online soccer game available on social networks, such as Facebook and Orkut. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about Three Melons and the services you provide. Jutard: Three Melons is a game studio-we love games. We develop our games for the Web and for smartphones, and all of our games have a social component.&nbs ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/1/2010 4:49:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Andy Lapin, Director of Enterprise Architecture at Kelley Blue Book about using the Windows Azure platform to create the company's premier Web site and the benefits that Windows Azure provides. Find out what he had to say: MSDN: What services does Kelley Blue Book provide? [Kelley Blue Book]: Kelley Blue Book is an automotive information and value exchange service that gives consumers, automotive dealers, government, and compa ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/25/2010 5:19:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Madhuri Tambe, Senior Product Manager at Persistent Systems, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's e-governance solution for developing regions. Here's what she had to say: MSDN: What services does Persistent Systems provide? Madhuri: We are a software development company. Our main offering is our e-governance suite, which offers governments and agencies the ability to deliver services and inter ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/24/2010 5:05:00 PM
One of the exciting announcements we made last week at SXSW Interactive 2010 was the release of the Windows Azure Toolkit for Facebook. This new toolkit, built by Thuzi in collaboration with Microsoft, enables developers to rapidly develop Facebook applications on Windows Azure. To see the toolkit in action, check out Thuzi.com CTO Jim Zimmerman's session, Facebook Apps in Windows Azure, at Mix10 last week where he showcased live Facebook applications for Outback Steakhouse and CloudPoll ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/18/2010 5:05:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Sarim Khan, CEO and Co-Founder of sharpcloud, about using the Windows Azure platform to run its visual business road-mapping solution. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: What service does sharpcloud provide? Khan: sharpcloud helps businesses better communicate their strategic plans. Our service applies highly visual and commonly used social-networking tools to the crucial task of developing long-term business road maps and strat ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/17/2010 7:51:00 PM
During his MIX10 session in Las Vegas yesterday, Building PHP Applications using the Windows Azure Platform, Sumit Chawla, Technical PM/Architect, Microsoft Interoperability Strategy Team, announced the new Windows Azure Command-line Tools for PHP Community Technology Preview (CTP). As Sumit describes them in his blog post today, these tools enable developers to easily package and deploy PHP applications to Windows Azure using a simple command-line tool, without any Integrated Deve ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/16/2010 4:17:00 PM
Now that Windows Azure is commercially available, we're reaching out to customers to ask, "How are we doing?" Last week we rolled out the Windows Azure 2010 Q1 Customer Satisfaction Survey to customers who opted in to be contacted by Microsoft when they established their billing account. Every single response from our customers will be read, reviewed and considered as we plan the future direction of Windows Azure. We're also offering calls and email dialogs with the product planning ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/11/2010 6:01:00 PM
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director for the European Environment Agency (EEA), about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the agency's environmental awareness communication platform and the benefits that Windows Azure provides. Here's what she had to say: MSDN: Tell us about ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/9/2010 5:18:00 PM
Ben Riga, a platform advisor on the Windows Azure evangelism team, has begun publishing a new series of video interviews with customers and partners that are building on the Windows Azure platform today. In this series Ben interviews technical leaders and explores how companies are using Windows Azure, Microsoft SQL Azure, and other components, such as Windows Azure AppFabric-giving you the chance to apply their lessons learned to your own development efforts. Ben Rig ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/1/2010 6:16:00 PM
An updated release of the Windows Azure Service Management (WASM) Cmdlets for PowerShell is now available. These cmdlets enable developers to effectively automate and manage all services in Windows Azure such as: Deploy new Hosted Services Upgrade your Services Remove your Hosted Services Manage your Storage accounts Manage your Certificates Configure your Diagnostics Transfer your Diagnostics Information Built to meet the demand for an automation API that would fit into the standard to ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/25/2010 5:24:00 PM
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Jim Graham, Technical Manager at 3M, about using the Windows Azure platform for the company's innovative Visual Attention Service. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: Tell us about 3M-what kind of products do you develop? Graham: We are a recognized world leader in research and developme ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/24/2010 5:32:00 PM
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by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/23/2010 1:11:00 AM
Starting today, February 22, 2010, Windows Azure developers have the option of deploying their applications in two more regions. These two new sub-regions should provide developers with additional resources and flexibility in addressing customer needs. With the two new locations, ‘West Europe' and ‘East Asia", a total of six available deployment options are now available: Europe: West Europe and North Europe Asia Pacific: East Asia and Southeast Asia North America: South Central ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/22/2010 9:27:00 PM
There have been a lot of questions about how Windows Azure Platform billing works so we thought we'd provide some additional explanations and definitions. Feel free to contact Microsoft Online Services customer support or post a comment here if you have any additional questions. You can also review the Windows Azure Platform Offers Comparison Table to help you decide which of the current Windows Azure Platform Offers best suits your needs. The Microsoft Online Customer Service ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/18/2010 5:55:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Phil Calvin, CTO at Sitemasher, about using the Windows Azure platform to deliver the company's Web development software platform and the benefits that Windows Azure provides. Here's what he had to say MSDN: What services does Sitemasher provide? Calvin: We offer a software platform that enables service providers, Web professionals, and large organizations to build, deploy, and manage both custom and template Web sites with ma ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/17/2010 4:58:00 PM
0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false There's still time to attend a free local event to learn more about cloud computing and Windows Azure! Join your local MSDN and TechNet teams at an upcoming session to take a deep dive into cloud computing, better understand Windows Azure and assess how you can leverage it in your work. Attendees will get a free thumb drive with key information and demos.The MSDN-ho ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/16/2010 6:05:00 PM
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by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/12/2010 7:27:00 PM
Are you a current or prospective Microsoft partner who wants to know more about our partner strategy in the cloud with Windows Azure? Would you like a way to communicate, collaborate and get feedback to us about Windows Azure? Check out the newly revamped Windows Azure Platform Partner Hub to share stories, learn about tips and resources or get access to simulated custom dev projects and application migrations currently being done by Microsoft partners building on the Windows Azure ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/11/2010 5:08:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Michael Lucaccini, President of Archetype, about using the Windows Azure technology platform for the company's media management system. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: What services does Archetype provide? Lucaccini: Archetype is an interactive design and engineering firm that specializes in developing Internet applications, branded experiences, and advanced user interfaces. MSDN: What was the biggest challenge your company ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/4/2010 7:57:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to CEO Joannès Vermorel about using the Windows Azure technology platform to deliver powerful forecasting models to Lokad customers. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: What services does Lokad provide? Vermorel: Lokad delivers forecasts as a service. Companies send us data, and we return forecasts-in less than one hour, no matter the amount of data. Sales forecasts are especially useful in retail and manufacturing industries to opt ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/4/2010 6:31:00 PM
Today, February 4, Microsoft and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a collaborative project where Microsoft will offer individual researchers and research groups (selected through NSF's merit review process) free access to advanced client-plus-cloud computing including Windows Azure. By extending the capabilities of powerful, easy-to-use PC applications via Microsoft cloud services, this project aims to shift the focus from infrastructure to empowerment to broaden resea ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/2/2010 11:52:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Conor O'Riordan, CEO at TradeFacilitate, about using the Windows Azure technology platform to build the company's premier Web site and the benefits that Windows Azure provides. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: What services does TradeFacilitate provide? O'Riordan: TradeFacilitate delivers an online service that enables importers and exporters of excisable alcohol products in the European Union (EU) to exchange customs d ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/2/2010 12:16:40 AM
Today we are providing access to a beta release of Windows Azure Drive (announced as XDrive at PDC 2009). Customers have told us that they want to take their already running Windows applications and run them in the cloud using the standard Windows NTFS APIs, and make sure that the data is durable. With Windows Azure Drive, your Windows Azure applications running in the cloud can use existing NTFS APIs to access a durable drive. This can significantly ease the migration of existing Windows appli ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/1/2010 4:58:00 PM
In today's era of computing, businesses face the challenge of reducing their IT infrastructure costs while extending the value of their current investments. For us, this has meant that the experiences of our customers and the developer community are key in building a cloud services platform that provides the flexibility and agility our customers need to tackle their business problems in new ways. As we continue this journey, today marks a significant milestone, not only for us at Microsoft ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/28/2010 11:21:00 PM
Zend and Microsoft have just made it easier for PHP developers to write web applications targeting Windows Azure with Zend's announcement today of the availability of Zend Framework 1.10. With this framework, developers can use the new Zend_Service_WindowsAzure component to easily call Windows Azure APIs from their PHP applications and leverage the storage services, including Blob Storage, Table Storage and Queue Service, offering them a way to accelerate web application developmen ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/27/2010 5:13:00 PM
Now available are three easy, no charge* offers to enable you to start using Windows Azure to develop and test cloud applications before deploying them into production. To get started, simply choose one of the following three offers: Open to Everyone: Windows Azure Platform Introductory Special Offer. For Microsoft Partners: Windows Azure Platform Introductory Special Offer for Microsoft Partner Network members. For MSDN Subscribers: Windows Azure Platform MSDN Premi ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/26/2010 6:14:00 PM
We love sharing stories about the interesting and creative ways that customers are using Windows Azure Platform. One great new story about a cool new implementation is the Mosaic 23/25 built by Wirestone for Jordan Brand, a division of Nike, Inc., to celebrate their 25-year anniversary during the NBA 2010 All-Star Weekend. Jordan Brand is leveraging Microsoft solutions to engage consumers to creatively market their new "Air Jordan 2010" collection and enable enthusiasts to pe ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/25/2010 4:48:00 PM
Do you have a suggestion or idea for a new feature for Windows Azure? We'd love to hear about it so we've created a forum for you to weigh on which new features we should consider adding to Windows Azure and to hear about what you need or want in the product moving forward. Go here: http://www.mygreatwindowsazureidea.com/ to post requests and vote on other people's ideas. We'll be monitoring the posts and incorporating this input into our plans for the product mov ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/21/2010 6:26:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to Anthony Du Preez, Founder of Tradeslot and Adslot, about how the companies use the Windows Azure technology platform for their combinatorial auction platform and the benefits that Windows Azure provides. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: What services do Tradeslot and Adslot provide? Du Preez: At Tradeslot, we design large-scale business-to-business and government-to-business auction platforms. Unlike other auction platforms, we have b ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/19/2010 8:44:00 PM
Want to know how much your organization could save with the Windows Azure Platform? Check out the Windows Azure Platform TCO and ROI Calculator: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/tco/, now available in both online and offline versions! Designed to help measure the potential savings of product development or migration to Windows Azure platform services for organizations of all sizes, the calculator will ask you for detailed information about the needs of your organization, its size and ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/14/2010 5:41:00 PM
As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, we talked to CEO Ezequiel Steiner about the cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) application that Acumatica developed on the Windows Azure technology platform and the benefits it provides. Here's what he had to say: MSDN: What services does Acumatica provide? Steiner: Acumatica develops cloud-based accounting and ERP applications that have the power, usability, and speed of traditional client-server applications. MSDN: What was the ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/11/2010 8:14:05 AM
Customers can now choose when their applications receive new operating system updates and patches by selecting which version of the operating system their applications will run on in Windows Azure. Right now there is only one available operating system version (released on December 17th, 2009), but new builds with the latest updates and patches will be released regularly. This new feature allows developers to test their applications when new patches come out before upgrading their pr ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/5/2010 8:05:00 PM
At the Professional Developers Conference last November, we announced the availability of Windows Identity Foundation (WIF), a new extension to the .NET Framework that makes it easier for developers to create more secure applications with interoperable, identity-based access. The software and documentation are available here. You can watch various video discussions about WIF on Channel 9 here. The new identity developer training kit and channel9 training course contain ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/4/2010 9:30:00 AM
Today marks an important step towards our goal of enabling you, our customers and partners, to build and grow your businesses on the Windows Azure platform. We are pleased to announce that starting today you can upgrade your Community Technology Preview (CTP) accounts of the Windows® Azure™ platform (i.e., Windows Azure, SQL Azure and/or Windows Azure platform AppFabric) to paid commercial subscriptions. If you upgrade your CTP accounts during the month of January, 2010, all Windows Azure platfo ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/20/2009 10:29:00 PM
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by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/15/2009 9:05:19 PM
There are two new December 2009 Windows Azure-related challenges underway.* Elance has just launched a way for you to get paid to play with Windows Azure. You will need to have an Elance account to participate. You can sign up for a free account here. There are two ways to get paid by Elance for creating a Windows Azure based application: Earn $50 from Elance for each accepted application you build on Windows Azure and submit through Elance by December 31, 2009. Any ty ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/8/2009 8:14:57 PM
Microsoft is announcing today a new organization within the Server & Tools Business (STB) that combines the Windows Azure group with the Windows Server & Solutions group. This new organization is called the Server & Cloud Division. This is an exciting time for Windows Azure with the recent launch of the Windows Azure platform at Microsoft’s Professional Developer Conference (PDC). The new organization presents a great opportunity for us to deliver more value to our custo ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 12/1/2009 7:27:26 PM
Windows Azure Diagnostics is a new feature in the November release of the Windows Azure Tools and SDK. It gives developers the ability to collect and store a variety of diagnostics data in a highly configurable way. Sumit Mehrotra, a Program Manager on the Windows Azure team, has been blogging about the new diagnostics feature. From his first post “Introducing Windows Azure Diagnostics”: There are a number of diagnostic scenarios that go beyond simple logging. Over the past year ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/25/2009 6:33:06 PM
Last week at PDC 2009, we announced several new features for Windows Azure Storage. Windows Azure Storage enables applications to store and manipulate large objects and files in the cloud via Blobs, store and manipulate service state via Tables, and provide reliable delivery of messages using Queues. In addition, we also announced two new features coming soon to storage: Windows Azure XDrive – This allows your Windows Azure compute applications running in our cloud to use the existing ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/24/2009 7:04:33 PM
At PDC last week, we introduced two communication-related capabilities: a) inter-role communication and b) external endpoints on worker roles. These capabilities enable new application patterns in Windows Azure-hosted services. Inter-role Communication While loosely coupled communication via Queues remains the preferred method for reliable message processing, roles can now communicate directly using TCP, HTTP, or HTTPS connections. In addition, roles are notified as role inst ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/23/2009 11:35:12 PM
Last week at PDC 2009, we announced several new features for Windows Azure. These are available in the November 2009 release of the Windows Azure Tools and SDK. This release adds support for Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and Visual Web Developer Express 2010 Beta 2. What’s New Service Model UI: A redesigned and significantly more complete interface for manipulating Role configuration information. To access, double-click on a role node in the Solution Explorer. Windows Azure Service Ho ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/5/2009 11:35:00 PM
As part of the Windows Azure CTP, we are announcing the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) to deliver Windows Azure Blob content. Windows Azure CDN offers developers a global solution for delivering high-bandwidth content. Windows Azure CDN has 18 locations globally (United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America) and continues to expand. Windows Azure CDN caches your Windows Azure blobs at strategically placed locations to provide maximum bandwidth for delivering your conte ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 11/5/2009 11:34:00 PM
Today we are releasing the ability to access Windows Azure Blobs using custom domain names. Windows Azure Blob storage enables applications to store and manipulate large objects and files in the cloud. The custom storage domain name feature allows you to register a custom domain name for a given storage account for anonymous blob access using that domain name. Currently we provide access to blob storage using the following domain name: http://<account>.blob.core.windows.net/<containe ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/29/2009 5:45:00 PM
In October 2008 at our Professional Developer Conference we opened the Community Technology Preview (CTP) for the Windows Azure platform (Windows Azure, SQL Azure and .NET Services). The CTP has been invaluable in terms of shaping many aspects of the Windows Azure platform. PDC 2009 is an exciting event for all of us who are working on the Windows Azure platform as it’s our opportunity to show you the work that we’ve done over the past year, including some brand new features. The confere ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/28/2009 4:22:25 PM
Yesterday at the Eclipse Summit Europe in Ludwigsburg, Germany, Microsoft announced two exciting new open source projects that will make it easier for PHP and Java developers to work with Windows Azure. Both projects were created in collaboration with Soyatec, a France-based IT solutions provider. The first project, Windows Azure Tools for Eclipse, helps PHP developers to use Eclipse to author Windows Azure projects. From the Interoperability @ Microsoft blog: Windows Azure Tool ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/4/2009 12:07:00 AM
At commercial launch, Windows Azure will feature an improved logging system. The new system will give users greater flexibility over what information is logged and how it is collected. In preparation for the new logging system rollout, next week we will disable the ability to retrieve logs via the Windows Azure Portal. Your existing applications will continue to run without modification. Why a New Logging System? In our initial Community Technology Preview, we provided a logging A ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/24/2009 6:32:00 PM
You can now check out the first CTP of SQL Azure. You can read more about it here: http://davidaiken.com/windows-azure/sql-azure-ctp-available-amp-updated-training-kit/ You can also find out more about SQL Azure and how to sign up at: http://blogs.msdn.com/ssds/default.aspx. And to help you get started with SQL Azure, we have updated the Windows Azure Platform training kit with new SQL Azure content in the August release of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit. Check i ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/23/2009 8:48:00 PM
Yesterday Microsoft, Zend and others launched the Simple API for Cloud Application Services project, a new open source initiative that allows developers to use common application services in the cloud, while enabling them to unlock value-added features available from individual providers. In essence, this project will allow developers to write basic cloud applications that work in all of the major cloud platforms. More specifically, it gives developers who use the PHP scripting language a “spe ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/18/2009 3:49:38 AM
Today we are introducing a new upgrade mechanism, called “in-place upgrade,” which enables you to incrementally roll a new version of your service over the existing version without first deploying the new version to staging. With this new mechanism, you can upgrade your entire application or just a single role (e.g. web role) without disturbing the other roles in your application. Note that you will still have the option to upgrade as before, by first deploying the new version to staging and the ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/18/2009 1:38:00 AM
Today, we are releasing a preview of the Windows Azure Service Management API to help you manage your deployments, hosted services and storage accounts. This is a REST-based API which users can code against in their toolset of choice to manage their services. API Details at a glance You can find the documentation (along with the rest of the Windows Azure documentation) here. This is a REST-based API which uses X509 client certificates for authentication. Users can upload any valid X509 ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/18/2009 12:12:00 AM
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/17/2009 11:11:00 PM
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by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/14/2009 5:09:00 AM
Want to try out Azure services but don’t want to wait for the invitation code? No problem, we’ve made it easier – and faster - to get the token so you can start using the Windows Azure Community Technology Preview right away. Register at: http://www.microsoft.com/azure/register.mspx to sign up and you’ll receive your invitation code immediately so you can get started in Windows Azure today! To help you get started, be sure to check out the videos, demos and labs available ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 9/2/2009 10:04:07 PM
UPDATE [9/3/2009 @ 10:14AM]: Twilio has extended the deadline an extra week to accommodate Labor Day weekend in the USA. Window Azure is joining forces with Twilio to bring you Week #16 of the Twilio Developer contest. For those of you who don’t know, Twilio is a web service API for making and receiving phone calls using simple HTTP requests. We thought it would appeal to a lot of the same developers who use Windows azure, so this week we’re challenging you to build an application t ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/11/2009 8:07:58 PM
Today we are releasing a new set of features for Windows Azure Blob. Windows Azure Blob enables applications to store and manipulate large objects and files in the cloud. The blobs (files) can be up to 50GB in size for the CTP. All changes for this release are versioned changes, using “x-ms-version: 2009-07-17”. All prior versions of commands executed against the storage system will continue to work, as we extend the capabilities of the existing commands and introduce new commands. The feature ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 8/4/2009 2:32:16 AM
Windows Azure offers users the option of choosing the geographic region in which their application runs. During our current Community Technology Preview (CTP), the options available to users are “USA - Northwest,” “USA - Southwest,” and “USA - Anywhere.” This list will grow as we expand into more geographies. In the next few weeks, we’re going to disable the “USA - Northwest” option for new applications. Existing applications will continue to run unaffected, and you’ll continu ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 7/14/2009 4:39:00 PM
Today, during the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 we announced the business and partner model for the Windows Azure platform including service level agreements and support programs. Windows Azure, SQL Azure and .NET Services will be commercially available at the Professional Developer Conference 2009 and we hope you will continue building on the Community Technology Preview (CTP) at no cost today. Upon commercial availability we will offer Windows Azure through a ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/28/2009 8:58:20 PM
Today we released a new set of features for Windows Azure Storage. The main features in this release are: Entity Group Transactions for Windows Azure Table – It is now possible to perform a transaction across entities stored within the same table and same partition (i.e., entities having the same partition key value). An application can now atomically perform multiple Create/Update/Delete operations across multiple entities in a single batch request to the storage system, as long as the enti ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/28/2009 9:42:00 AM
Today we released new versions of the Windows Azure SDK and the Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio. Both are available now on http://dev.windowsazure.com. The major news is support for the recently released Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1. What’s new in Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio? Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio now supports using Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 to develop scalable web applications and services deployed to Windows Azure. The update is now available at http: ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 5/15/2009 11:07:08 PM
Earlier this week, the initial CTP of the “PHP SDK for Windows Azure” was released on Codeplex. You can read more about this project on the Interoperability @ Microsoft blog. From the blog post: The PHP SDK for Windows Azure focuses on REST and provides the following core features: PHP classes for Windows Azure blobs, tables & queues Helper Classes for HTTP transport, AuthN/AuthZ, REST & error management Manageability, instrumentation & logging support ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/30/2009 6:00:00 PM
At MIX ‘09, we announced the upcoming support for geo-location, and we’re pleased to announce that last night this functionality went live. Choosing a Location The first thing you’ll notice when creating a new storage account or hosted service is that there’s a new “affinity group” section. The simplest thing you can do here is choose a region (currently limited to “USA – Anywhere,” “USA – Northwest,” and “USA – Southwest”) where you’d like your storage or hosted service to run. Using Aff ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/10/2009 2:52:00 PM
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by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 4/3/2009 4:17:00 AM
Today a number of applications running in Windows Azure were unreachable for a period of time. The earliest occurrence took place at 1:15pm PDT today (April 2nd), our team restored affected applications throughout the day, and all applications were accessible by 9:00pm PDT. The storage service was unaffected. We communicated throughout the afternoon on this thread on the Windows Azure forum. What Happened? One of the responsibilities of the Fabric Controller is to monitor the h ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/18/2009 5:12:00 PM
Since we announced our Community Technology Preview (CTP) in November our team has gathered input from customers all over the world in every major industry. The feedback is very helpful in this early stage of the CTP as we prioritize new features. Today leaders from our engineering team reviewed several new capabilities with attendees at MIX that continue to deliver on our commitment to providing a comprehensive and flexible cloud platform. Developers can begin taking advantag ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/18/2009 4:49:00 PM
One of the great things about Windows Azure is that it handles the deployment, monitoring, and management of your service so that you have more time to focus on the business logic. Until recently, realizing these benefits meant your code had to run under Windows Azure partial trust, a code access security (CAS) level which locks down certain .NET functionality. Windows Azure now offers the option of running the code in your Web and worker roles under full trust. This unlocks a numbe ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/18/2009 4:44:00 PM
At MIX 09, we are announcing that we’ll be launching a set of ‘geo’-related features. We’ll be rolling out the features to all our users very soon. In Microsoft-speak, we are ‘super-excited’ about this since we can finally unveil in public what we’ve been working on for the past several months. Before I talk about what exactly we are releasing, I wanted to explain *why* we’re doing this. Why are we doing this? Performance — We heard loud and clear that our users wanted to have more choic ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/18/2009 2:34:00 AM
First things first: we're sorry. As a result of a malfunction in Windows Azure, many participants in our Community Technology Preview (CTP) experienced degraded service or downtime. Windows Azure storage was unaffected. In the rest of this post, I'd like to explain what went wrong, who was affected, and what corrections we're making. What Happened? During a routine operating system upgrade on Friday (March 13th), the deployment service within Windows Azure began to slow down due to n ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 3/11/2009 8:12:00 AM
Developers using the Windows Azure CTP have been asking about the roadmap for SQL Data Services. Today the team detailed some important announcements most importantly they will deliver full relational database capabilities delivered as a service. Also note that SDS will stop supporting the current ACE (Authority, Container, Entity) data model and developer experience since Windows Azure storage has a similar data model. Windows Azure tables provide structured storage ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/26/2009 5:17:00 AM
Currently, the time zone within Windows Azure is Pacific Standard Time (PST). Soon, we’ll be migrating to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This is potentially a breaking change for applications which rely on local time. When will we make the change? UPDATE [3/6/2009]: We'll be making this change starting Sunday, March 8th, at 10:00am GMT. Thanks to all who gave us feedback on this plan. We’d like to make this change soon, within the next few weeks. Feedback from the comm ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 2/13/2009 11:58:00 PM
Doug Hauger, General Manager Business Strategy, recently spoke at the Thomas Weisel Partners 2009 Technology & Telecom conference. The wide ranging discussion covers an overview of the Windows Azure service and cloud technology more broadly. Transcript | Webcast | PowerPoint On describing Azure... "What we've done is to come out with a set of services that we believe simplify the life of the developer, and make it easier for them to build applications that scale..." ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/29/2009 9:43:00 PM
Our next few posts will be discussions on the components of the Windows Azure service. Please add comments on anything you would like to hear more about. By Hoi VoDirector We are frequently asked about the Windows Azure Hypervisor, and whether or not the code will be made available to customers as a product they could run in their own datacenters. We built the Windows Azure Hypervisor with three principles: Efficient: push work to hardware as much as possible. Any percentage ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 1/14/2009 11:52:00 PM
Today, in less than three months since its announcement, Microsoft’s Windows Azure team has announced a refresh to the Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure tools for Visual Studio. The Community Technology Preview (CTP), announced at Microsoft’s PDC ’08 event in October, was launched to gather feedback from the Developer community, and this updated SDK and tools release is one way Microsoft is incorporating feedback in the Windows Azure offering. The newly announced SDK and Tools includes: ...
by WindowsAzure via Windows Azure on 10/27/2008 10:21:00 PM
Today at the Professional Developers Conference, Microsoft announced our Community Technology Preview of Windows Azure. Windows Azure enables you to host your web applications in Microsoft data centers on a scalable and highly available software platform. Windows Azure is a comprehensive platform that we designed and built with developers in mind: Windows Azure provides a scalable and highly available virtualized hosting environment on which you can develop and deploy .NET applications. ...
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