Azure Feeds

Two New Nodes for the Windows Azure CDN Enhance Service Across Asia

WindowsAzure — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:32:00 GMT

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

Compression for Speed and Cost Savings

Wayne Walter Berry — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:58:26 GMT

SQL Azure doesn’t currently support page level or row level compression like the enterprise edition of SQL Server 2008. However, you can implement your own column level compression in your data access layer to take advantage of the performance and cost savings of compression. I will discuss how to do this and provide some example code in this blog post. Column level compression is the concept of compressing your data before you write it to the database, and decompressing it when you it from the

Real World Windows Azure: Interview with Melvin Greer, Chief Strategist of Cloud Computing, Information Systems, and Global Solutions at Lockheed Martin

WindowsAzure — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:09:00 GMT

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

Video: SQL Server to SQL Azure Synchronization using Sync Framework 2.1

Wayne Walter Berry — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:40:00 GMT

Liam Cavanagh has posted a webcast to Channel 9 that shows you how to extend the capabilities of SQL Azure Data Sync by writing a custom sync applications to enable bi-directional data synchronization between SQL Server and SQL Azure. This enables you to add customization to your synchronization process such as custom business logic or custom conflict resolution through the use of Visual Studio and Sync Framework 2.1. Watch the Video Read The Blog Post

Open Letter Asks: Consider a Move to the Cloud with Microsoft and Windows Azure

WindowsAzure — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:05:00 GMT

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

Real World Windows Azure: Interview with Sinclair Schuller, Chief Executive Officer at Apprenda

WindowsAzure — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:55:00 GMT

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

Microsoft Government Cloud Application Center Connects Customers with Windows Azure Partner Solutions

WindowsAzure — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:21:57 GMT

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

The Cost of a Row

Wayne Walter Berry — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:10:38 GMT

In a previous blog post I covered how to calculate the cost of a covered index, allowing you to evaluate if the performance of the covered index was worth its monthly cost. In this blog post I am going to use Transact-SQL to calculate the average cost of a row in a table. Imagine that you are running a web site that reviews restaurants and you sell advertising space on the web page to generate revenue. The advertising engine can output how much you make in revenue each month for each review. Wo

Real World Windows Azure: Interview with Juan Carlos Robles Navarro, Senior Software Engineer at AXA Seguros

WindowsAzure — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:40:36 GMT

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

Creating a Bing Map Tile Server from Windows Azure

Wayne Walter Berry — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:20:00 GMT

In this example application, I am going to build a Bing Maps tile server using Windows Azure that draws push pins on the tiles based on coordinates stored as spatial data in SQL Azure. Bing Maps allows you to draw over their maps with custom tiles; these tiles can be generated dynamically from a Windows Azure server. The overlay that this example produces corresponds to latitude and longitude points stored in a SQL Azure database. There is another option for drawing pushpins, using JavaScript t