Windows® Azure
Windows® Azure is a cloud services operating system that serves as the development, service hosting and service management environment for the Windows Azure Platform. Windows Azure provides developers with on-demand compute and storage to host, scale, and manage Web applications on the Internet through Microsoft® data centers.
Windows Azure is currently in Community Technology Preview. Commercial availability for Windows Azure will likely be at the end of calendar year 2009.
Windows Azure is an open platform that will support both Microsoft and non-Microsoft languages and environments. To build applications and services on Windows Azure, developers can use their existing Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008 expertise. In addition, Windows Azure supports popular standards and protocols including SOAP, REST, XML, and PHP.
Use Windows Azure to:
- Add Web service capabilities to existing packaged applications
- Build, modify, and distribute applications to the Web with minimal on-premises resources
- Perform services (large-volume storage, batch processing, intense or large-volume computations, etc.) off premises
- Create, test, debug, and distribute Web services quickly and inexpensively
- Reduce costs of building and extending on-premises resources
- Reduce the effort and costs of IT management
Recent blog posts
- Thoughts on HP's Cloud Strategy
- Podcast with Tom Lounibos, CEO of SOASTA, at Cloud Connect 2012
- Podcast with Sinclair Schuller, CEO of Apprenda, at Cloud Connect 2012
- Podcast with Randy Bias, CTO of CloudScaling, at Cloud Connect 2012
- Podcast with Dave Wright, CEO of SolidFire, at Cloud Connect 2012
- Cloud Computing in 2012: What's Already Happening
- The Largest Cloud Storage Deal to Date
- Getting Hybrid Cloud Storage Right
- Game On: Nirvanix and IBM Disrupt the Storage Industry
- Podcast with Lucas Carlson, CEO and Founder of AppFog, during VMworld 2011