The ‘Powered by Windows Azure’ logo is designed for applications that have been verified as running on Windows Azure and meet the requirements outlined here.

Earning the logo is one of the important steps to earning the Silver ISV Competency in the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN). Benefits of earning the ISV Competency include Internal-use rights for software relevant to the Silver ISV/Software competency, marketing campaigns, and more.

This post explains each step you need to take to earn the ‘Powered by Windows Azure’ Logo

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I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Ian Howells, the CMO of StorSimple, about the benefits of hybrid cloud storage leveraging the Windows Azure platform. StorSimple’s is the leader in application-optimized cloud storage for Microsoft Server applications. StorSimple's mission is to bring the benefits of the cloud to on-premises applications without forcing the migration of applications into the cloud. At the time of the interview, Ian was authoring an eBook about building an enterprise architecture for secure high-performance hybrid cloud storage. The eBook was recently released and can be downloaded here.

The books covers several topics including:

• The Potential of the Cloud and Elastic Cloud Storage
• Cloud Storage Myths
• The Cloud-as-a-Tier Architecture: An Integrated Enterprise Cloud Storage Strategy
• Instant Thin Provisioning for Big Content
• Deduplication, BlockRank and Automatic Tiering
• Security in a Cloud-as-a-Tier Architecture
• Fast Cloud Backup for Big Content
• Fast Cloud Restore for Big Content
• Disaster Recovery using Cloud-as-a-Tier
• and more…

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The beta for the second service pack (SP2) of Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2 software and the Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 is now publicly available.

The service pack provides improved reliability as well as an enhanced feature set including an enhanced feature set including: Windows Azure integration - you can now add Azure nodes to your cluster

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Learn how to authenticate against Microsoft SharePoint Online in client applications using the SharePoint client-side object models. The paper reviews SharePoint 2010 authentication methods, provide details for some of the operation of SharePoint 2010 with claims-mode authentication, and describe an approach for developing a set of tools to enable remote authentication to the server for use with the client-side object model.

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This is the eleventh and final unit in the SQL Server 2008 R2 Business Intelligence Training Course (a.k.a. SQLInsights) on MSDN. This unit introduces the fundamentals of how to enable great self-service reporting and analytics The SQL Server 2008 R2 Business Intelligence Training Course (SQLInsights) will help you learn how to build your first Microsoft Business Intelligence solution.

SQLInsights is a great resource for developers, consultants and evangelists who need to learn the basics of how to build solutions that deliver integrated reporting, analytics and dashboard experiences. It contains a rich set of videos and hands-on labs that are perfect for self-paced learning.experiences with Report Builder 3.0 and PowerPivot.

You can find SQLInsights on the MSDN Training and Certification Resources page at the following URL:

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ISV Applications

Does your application leverage DataMarket data feeds? We are very intersted in helping to promote the many applications that use data from DataMarket. If you have built an application using 1 or more DataMarket feeds please send an email with the details of your applciation and which feeds you use to datamarketisv@microsoft.com. Your application could be featured on our blogs, in this newsletter and on our website.

World Dashboards by ComponentArt

ComponentArt's mission is to deliver the world's most sophisticated data presentation technology. ComponentArt has built a set of amazing World Data Digital Dashboards to show developers how they can build rich visualizations based on DataMarket data. Check out the dashboards at http://azure.componentart.com/.

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Get $250 USD to help market your Windows Azure compatible application when you verify application compatibility through Microsoft Platform Ready!

To participate:

1. Take a screenshot of the Test Tab in Microsoft Platform Ready indicating that your application is verified compatible between April 15th, 2011 and June 17th, 2011
2. Send it to us using THIS email template before June 21st, 2011 12:00 PST to be eligible (see image below)

Please Note: Only the first Windows Azure compatible application registered per company is eligible.

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This session discusses the steps involved getting up and running using the MPR Test Tool. It also demonstrates how to use the tool and the steps involved testing your applications. This session focuses on Windows Azure and SQL Azure. Please download the Test Tool Guide as well here

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Practical guidance for Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate, which is focused on modeling tools, is available on Codeplex. This release includes common usage scenarios, hands on labs, and lessons learned from the community discussions.

You can learn about how to architecture your application by either reverse engineering an existing application or starting a new application from scratch.

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A new toolkit helps you connect your iPhone apps to the cloud. Check out Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS. This toolkit contains resources and services designed to make it easier for iOS developers to use Windows Azure.

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Join us at WebVisions: Explore the Future of the Web conference May 25-27 at the Oregon Convention Center. WebVisions explores the future of design, content creation, user experience and business strategy to uncover the trends and agents of change that will shatter your assumptions about the Web. This year's all-star lineup of speakers includes Microsoft Distinguished Engineer of Bing Maps and Places Blaise Aguera y Arcas, author Douglas Rushkoff, design strategist David Armano, mobile visionary Rachel Hinman, user experience superstar Jared Spool and more! Special rate for Microsoft customers and fans, when you REGISTER here and don't miss Doris Chen's "Deep Dive into HTML5" presentation on Thurs., May 26th! Keep up to speed on Webvisions and download the WP7 App here.

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Soma Somasegar, Senior Vice President of Developer Division at Microsoft, has put together a blog post that describes the tools that you can use to build sites that use HTML5, ECMAScript 5, and CSS3.

To learn more about developing in HTML5, CSS3 and JScript, see ScriptJunkie.

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XAPFest is a Windows Phone 7 Hackathon for developers of every background and skill level. iOS and Android developers, .NET veterans, and curious programmers who want to try their hand at programming for Windows Phone 7 are all invited!  It is a great opportunity to get to learn new technologies, meet members of the SoCal tech community, code, and have fun! XAPFest consists of 1 full day of hacking – breakfast, lunch, dinner, plus snacks and drinks will be provided.  This is a BYOL (Bring...

Today the Interoperability team released the fourth update to the WebSockets prototype on our HTML5 Labs site, bringing the implementation in line with the recently released WebSockets 07 Protocol Specification.

This latest release updates both the server and client prototype implementations based on 07 specification. The majority of the changes in this update are around client-to-server masking. 

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When your user drags your Web page to their Windows 7 taskbar, desktop, or start menu, Windows creates a shortcut to that Website and can expose additional functionality (like tasks in a jumplist). The feature, called Pinned Sites, lets your Web application acts and feels like an installed Windows application in Internet Explorer.

My colleague Jennifer Marsman has published a 10-part series on pinned sites in Internet Explorer. She describes what it will mean for your Web application and how to provide tons of Windows 7 features from your Web page.

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During a recent Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 training event I sat down with the trainer David Yack to get his thoughts on CRM 2011, Windows Phone 7 and more. David and his team have also written a number of books. You can see David's current and forthcoming books on this page . Here is more information on David's books. Watch out for his CRM 2011 releases. Silverlight 4 Jumpstart - Book Site http://www.silverlightjumpstart.com CRM 4 as a Rapid Application Development Platform Book Site...

At Microsoft Convergence 2011 I talked with Wendy Reed from The TAS Group about why every sales organization should be using a sales methodology to improve their sales results. Watch this video and learn how your sales people can become even more successful by following the TAS methodology. As well as working at The TAS Group , Wendy has also written the following book: Selling for the Long Run: Build Lasting Customer Relationships for Breakthrough Results Product Demonstrations Click here...

In this video Wendy Reed from The TAS Group showcases Dealmaker in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online. Dealmaker helps sales people to sell smarter and manage better by embedding intelligent deal coaching, social networking, configurable sales process, and proven sales methodology. Through patent pending technology, Dealmaker has delivered results for customers that – according to an independent study by Aberdeen Research – delivers 20% greater revenue achievement than other sales effectiveness...

In this video Wendy Reed from The TAS Group showcases intelligent social networking in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online with Dealmaker Pulse. Dealmaker Pulse helps sales teams collaborate on opportunities and accounts in addition to proactively notifying sales team members when updates have occurred. Each sales team member can follow deals, accounts and other users, and can also integrate feeds from Twitter and LinkedIn. Team members can collaborate with each other with Pulse messages, and by following...

Jason Zander, corporate vice president of Visual Studio, announced a key pillar of the next version of Microsoft Visual Studio at Tech•Ed North America today. He also demonstrated a connector that will improve the interaction between the development and operations teams.

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Developers submitting 5 new Windows Phone 7 apps will get Free advertising promotion for 1 of their 5 apps. Their choice app will get 25,000 impressions of WP7 mobile advertising across MSN, Windows Live and Fox Sports Mobile networks, approx. 60 days. This offer will end 6/30 and is limited to 4 per developer and a total of 200 offers. The full offer details page will not be active until Monday. http://bit.ly/WP7DevOffer

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A new book, SQL Server Hardware, tells you what you need to know about your hardware before you create your database. The book by Most Valued Professional Glenn Berry of Newsgator describes how you can determine your hardware requirements for SQL Server.

Glenn shares his expertise gained at Newsgator with ISV Architect Evangelist Bruce Kyle in this video on Channel 9.

ISV Video: New Book Explores How to Determine Your Hardware Requirements for SQL Server.

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At Tech·Ed North America Microsoft announced that the next public community preview SQL Server Code Name “Denali” is expected in summer 2011.

You can sign up today for the community preview.

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Several new features for Windows Phone ‘Mango’ have been announced at Tech•Ed this week for Windows Phone users. The team highlighted a number of new capabilities designed to help you stay productive on the go, including the ability to save and share Office documents through Office 365 and Windows Live SkyDrive.

The new capabilities will be available in the next version of Windows Phone—codenamed "Mango”, slated for release later this year.

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Windows Azure AppFabric has released enhancements to Service Bus as part of the Windows Azure AppFabric CTP May release, and an upcoming release of the AppFabric Developer Tools and Application Manager as part of the Windows Azure AppFabric CTP June release.

Announcements were made on the team blog and at Tech·Ed.

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