The Windows Azure Platform is an Internet-scale cloud services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers. It provides an operating system and a set of developer services that can be used individually or together. As a cloud computing platform, Windows Azure reduces the need for up-front technology purchases, and it enables developers to quickly and easily create applications running in the cloud using their existing skills.
When your Facebook app hits it big, how will it scale? Very nicely, thank you, if you build on Windows Azure and design with scaling out in mind. We step through the creation of a simple Facebook 'viral' marketing app on Azure, using the Windows Azure Toolkit and the Facebook C# SDK, both on CodePlex, to make the job a lot easier.
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So you've decided to leverage social media with an application you hope will go viral. Are you prepared to log signups at a rate of 20 per minute, 1,200 per hour and 670,000 in five weeks? Can you handle 50,000 signups in one day? Here's how the Outback Steakhouse restaurant chain, in cahoots with Florida ISV Thuzi and Windows Azure, turned a free appetizer offer into a Bloomin' success--and how others are following suit.
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Organizations need to examine TCO and innovation value issues closely before migrating applications to the cloud.
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Windows Azure is Microsoft's cloud services platform that provides cloud-based computing, storage, and more. Promo Code SHOWCASEPASS
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Cloud Computing is often presented as an esoteric technology that is only interesting to large companies. In point of fact, small- and medium-sized companies will find the economics and technology opportunities very compelling. Shy Cohen and Michael Stiefel discuss why this is so, and why SMBs should look for opportunities in the cloud computing area.
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What are the business considerations of risks and benefits when considering cloud computing options, strategies, and trends? Check out this discussion between Miha Kralj and Zhiming Xue.
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Bob Familiar interviews Dennis McCarthy, a software architect at Kronos about his research into leveraging Microsoft Dynamics 4.0 as an S+S Platform.
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Energynet transfers watts and usage data, connecting anything and everything in the energy market. In this unique session, Juval Lowy presents the case for the next boom in software, shares personal observation and perspectives, and points out the skills and expertise required of developers that want to not only survive but thrive on the next boom in software.
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More Cloud Computing 101 »
Create cloud computing projects and upload them to the Microsoft Pinpoint marketplace. The marketplace will allow you to showcase your products and services to the people who need them the most.
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Join Grégory Renard, CIO of Wygwam, as he and Mickey Williams discuss Windows Azure and the advantages that the Azure cloud computing platform offers developers.
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Cloud computing offers significant advantages for businesses of all sizes, and it's easier to get started than you think. Microsoft makes Windows Azure compute time available for MSDN subscribers, as well as for software start-ups through the Microsoft BizSpark program. Learn why cloud computing is a good fit for you and how you can get started.
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End-to-end interoperability and an open approach to language, development tools and Internet protocols eases pressure on IT. Just ask Domino's Pizza.
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Hanu Kommalapati discusses the Windows Azure platform at the architectural level and intersect it with the needs of enterprise-class solutions.
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Windows Azure is a pay-as-you-go service that provides easy, automatically managed scalability and availability. The Windows Azure hosting platform nearly eliminates the need for hardware and human resource allocations.
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More Windows Azure 101 »
Listen in as Clemens Vasters, Principal Technical Lead for Windows Azure Platform, talks about the newly announced "Project Sydney" and the beauty of hybrid applications that live on-premise and in a cloud computing environment.
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If youre a developer and youre new to Windows Azure, this is the place to start. In this video youll learn what Windows Azure is, and what is provided by the Azure Services Platform.
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This session will cover SQLCMD basics, deployment, development, management, and provisioning.
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More Developer Basics »
The Facebook C# SDK helps .Net developers build web, desktop, Silverlight, and Windows Phone 7 applications that integrate with Facebook.
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Originally built by Thuzi in collaboration with Microsoft to give the community a good starter kit for getting Facebook apps up and running in Windows Azure. The introduction of the Facebook C# SDK has made this toolkit more of a helper library to build Azure applications more quickly.
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This open source project, announced in May, is an effort to bridge PHP developers to Windows Azure. PHPAzure is an open source project to provide software development kit for Windows Azure and Windows Azure Storage – Blobs, Tables, and Queues.
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The Microsoft .NET Services offer interoperability by design through industry standards and web protocols such as REST, SOAP, WS-*, as well as through community based libraries that make it easier to use the services. The Java SDK for .NET Services, developed by Schakra Inc, includes a set of libraries, tools, prescriptive guidance & sample applications that will enhance productivity for Java developers willing to use the .NET Services to extend their Java applications by using the Microsoft cloud services platform.
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The Ruby SDK for .NET Services, developed by ThoughtWorks, includes a set of libraries, tools, prescriptive guidance & sample applications that will enhance productivity for Ruby developers willing to use the .NET Services to extend their Ruby applications by using the Microsoft cloud services platform to build, deploy and manage reliable, Internet-scale applications.
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The SQL Data Services SDK provides APIs, tools, documentation, and code samples to giet you quickly get started with SQL Data Services.
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More Software Development Kits »
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 Windows Azure platform including:
Windows Azure, SQL Azure and .NET Services.
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The Windows Azure Platform Training Course includes a comprehensive set of
technical content including samples, demos, hands-on labs, and presentations
that are designed to expedite the learning process for the set of
technologies released as part of the Windows Azure Platform.
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The Windows Azure SDK provides a development fabric that provides a cloud on your desktop. In this screencast, learn how to debug your Windows Azure applications in this environment.
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Windows Azure provides a built-in framework for writing log messages from your applications. In this screencast, youll learn how to use the Windows Azure logging API and how to read log messages whether your application is running in the development fabric or in the cloud.
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Connect with other users and developers through MSDN community resources. There's a growing archive of technical questions and answers in the forum.
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More Get Help »
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 Get Started with Cloud Computing
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Use these resources to start building application for the Windows Azure Platform.
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The Windows Azure SDK provides developers with the APIs, tools, documentation, and samples needed to develop Internet-scale applications that run on Windows Azure.Using the Windows Azure SDK, developers can create applications and run it in a local development fabric even without a registered account.
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In order to be able to host your applications on the Azure Services platform, you will need to create a Windows Azure account and obtain the tokens necessary to create Windows Azure projects and/or SQL Azure database servers and databases.
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This video will teach you about the Windows Azure SDK and the Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio.
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Windows Azure features a very powerful, yet simple deployment model. By focusing on your application and abstracting away the infrastructure details, you can deploy almost any app with minimal fuss.
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Deploying a service to the Windows Azure hosting environment is a relatively straightforward process. The only real requirements are to supply a package and a service configuration file.
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 Case Studies |
Cloud Computing 101
