Hey, Windows Azure MVPs, are you looking for more information about the upcoming 2012 MVP Global Summit that will take place February 28 – March 2, 2012? To get a first glimpse at what’s in store at this year’s Summit, which will be...

As part of the Real World Windows Azure series, I talked to Luke Spikes, Chief Executive Officer at Spikes Cavell, about how the company took a long-term strategic bet on Windows Azure to deliver a new product, spotlightonspend, that helps public sector...

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. Articles and Blog Posts Developing a Hello World...

For those of you who aren’t yet familiar with it, Windows Azure Marketplace is an online market for data providers and developers to buy and sell datasets and applications. Available in 26 countries around the world, Windows Azure Marketplace...

As part of the Real World Windows Azure interview series, I spoke to Randy Starr, Vice President of Technology at Blue Dot Solutions, and Sebastian Witzmann, CEO at Vela Entertainment Studios, about how they used Windows Azure to lower sales barriers...

In this blog post we will cover some new abilities in SQL Server Management Studio 2012 (SSMS) that enhance the ability to work with SQL Azure . Specifically, we will highlight support in SSMS for the new SQL Azure feature known as SQL Azure Federation...

To meet evolving customer needs across both ends of the database size spectrum, we are lowering the price of SQL Azure and introducing a 100MB database option. Customers will realize 48% to 75% savings for databases larger than 1GB. The 100MB DB option...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

In this blog post we will cover some new abilities in SQL Server Management Studio 2012 (SSMS) that enhance the ability to work with SQL Azure . Specifically, we will highlight support in SSMS for the new SQL Azure feature known as SQL Azure Federation...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

[This article was contributed by the SQL Azure team.] Real World SQL Azure: Interview with Kai Boo Lee, Business Development Director, aZaaS As part of the Real World SQL Azure series, we recently talked to Kai Boo Lee, Business Development Director...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

[This article was contributed by the SQL Azure team.] David Chappell recently completed a whitepaper on OData that I encourage you to take a look at. You can view it here , or download a PDF version. David does an outstanding job providing an overview...

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...

[This article was contributed by the SQL Azure team.] This week I decided to take on an interesting challenge and see what commonly available applications I could get running on SQL Azure and the Windows Azure platform. I remembered a while ago that...

[This article was contributed by the SQL Azure team.] On Wednesday March 9th, I had the opportunity to talk at Cloud Connect about cloud computing, the Windows Azure platform - and I also took some time to talk about what the public cloud is along with...

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...

[This article was contributed by the SQL Azure team.] Visual Studio LightSwitch Beta 2 was released earlier this week and is now available for public download . L ightSwitch applications utilize Silverlight that can be run in the browser or on the desktop...

For those of you who aren’t yet familiar with it, Windows Azure Marketplace is an online market for data providers and developers to buy and sell datasets and applications. Available in 26 countries around the world, Windows Azure Marketplace...

To meet evolving customer needs across both ends of the database size spectrum, we are lowering the price of SQL Azure and introducing a 100MB database option. Customers will realize 48% to 75% savings for databases larger than 1GB. The 100MB DB option...

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...

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...

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...

  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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...