Powered By Windows Azure

New, Impressive, Unique is little words describing the newly released program from Microsoft Windows Azure team. 

This eager move from Microsoft to give a helping hand to their Windows Azure customers to promote their cloud industrial application worldwide. A certified "Powered By Windows Azure" logo is provided to the customers who meets Microsoft's minimum requirements -which apply almost to all customers- which are:

• Completion of program application
• Verification by Microsoft that the application or service runs on Windows Azure
• Functionality and performance meets specifications by Microsoft.

Submit your request now via email here

Go forward Windows Azure team, original announcement.

Office Web Apps New features

Just announced! Microsoft Office Web Apps revealed exciting new features that adds more usability and integration between cloud services.

Review the original post here Office Web Apps New features base article.

Quote: "Cloud isn't only about building new apps, but integrating apps over the clouds".

Cloud computing by the numbers: What do all the statistics mean?

Recently i read this blog post that's worth to share with you.

Cloud computing by the numbers: What do all the statistics mean? - Computerworld Blogs

SQL Server Management Studio to SQL Azure

SQL Server Management Studio to SQL Azure:
Starting with SQL Server 2008 R2, SQL Server Management Studio can connect directly to SQL Azure. The minimum install to do this is SQL Server Management Studio Express Edition (download here for free); however any version of SQL Server (except SQL Server Express) that includes the SQL Server Management Studio will work.
Here is how to us SQL Server Management Studio to attach to SQL Azure:
1. The first step is to figure out your server name, to do this go to the SQL Azure Portal.
2. Login with your Windows Live Id
3. Click on your project name.
4. You should be at the Server Administration page.

5. Highlight the server name in the browser and copy (Ctrl-C) in your clipboard.
6. Now open SQL Server Management Studio 2008 R2. By default it will open the Connect to Server dialog.

7. Paste in the full DNS of the server stored in the clipboard into Server Name.
8. In the login box enter in your Administrator username for SQL Azure, this was on the Server Administration page where you got the full DNS of the server from.
9. The password is your SQL Azure password.
10. Click on Options >>

11. This will take you to the Connection Properties tab, check the Encrypt connection box. You should always encrypt your connection.
12. Press the Connect button.
It is that easy to start administrating SQL Azure using SQL Server Management Studio 2008 R2. Do you have questions, concerns, comments? Post them below and we will try to address them.

App Engine goes to work with App Engine for Business

App Engine goes to work with App Engine for Business:
App Engine has a storied history at Google I/O. Two years ago, we launched Google App Engine to at the inaugural I/O. It’s been two amazing years for App Engine and we’re very excited to be back at this year’s third annual I/O with the announcement of Google App Engine for Business. Google App Engine for Business lets organizations build and maintain their applications on the same scalable architecture that powers Google applications, with added management and support features tailored specifically for the enterprise.
Google App Engine for Business introduces a number of new features that our enterprise customers have been asking for, including:

• Centralized administration: A new, company-focused administration console lets you manage all the applications in your domain.
• Reliability and support: 99.9% uptime service level agreement, with premium developer support available.
• Secure by default: Only users from your Google Apps domain can access applications and your security policies are enforced on every app.
• Pricing that makes sense: Each application costs just $8 per user, per month up to a maximum of $1000 a month. Pay only for what you use.
• Enterprise features: Coming later this year, hosted SQL databases, SSL on your company’s domain for secure communications, and access to advanced Google services.

With these new features, we’re making it easier for businesses to take advantage of the core benefits of Google App Engine: easy development using languages you already know (Java and Python); simple administration, with no need to worry about hardware, patches or backups; and effortless scalability, automatically getting the capacity you need when you need it.
Google App Engine for Business is currently in preview, opened to a limited number of enterprises. Learn more about App Engine for Business, how you can sign-up, and check our roadmap to follow features as they become available.

Windows Azure FireStarter Sessions Now Available On Demand

Windows Azure FireStarter Sessions Now Available On Demand:

"If you couldn't attend the recent Windows Azure Firestarter event, you can now see
what you missed - recordings of all the event sessions are now available for viewing on-demand on Channel 9. For those who missed it, the WindowsAzure Firestarter Event was an all-day live event we held last month at our Redmond, Washington campus to help developers learn more about how they can take full advantage of cloud services.

Topics covered included Microsoft's strategic vision for the cloud, an end-to-end overview of the Windows Azure platform from a developer's perspective, as well as how to migrate your data and existing applications (regardless of platform) onto the cloud. In addition to these sessions, you can also watch the Q&A that took place at the end of the day with the event's speakers.

Click the links below to watch each session:

• Windows Azure Storage with Brad
  Calder
• Platform Overview for Developers with Steve Marx
  
• SQL Azure with David Robinson
• Building Applications for the
  Cloud with David Aiken
• Migrating Applications to the
  Cloud with Mark Kottke
• Panel Q&A

App Engine goes to work with App Engine for Business

App Engine goes to work with App Engine for Business:

"App Engine has a storied history at Google I/O. Two years ago, we launched Google App Engine to at the inaugural I/O. It’s been two amazing years for App Engine and we’re very excited to be back at this year’s third annual I/O with the announcement of Google App Engine for Business. Google App Engine for Business lets organizations build and maintain their applications on the same scalable architecture that powers Google applications, with added management and support features tailored specifically for the enterprise.

Google App Engine for Business introduces a number of new features that our enterprise customers have been asking for, including:

• Centralized administration: A new, company-focused administration console lets you manage all the applications in your domain.
• Reliability and support: 99.9% uptime service level agreement, with premium developer support available.
• Secure by default: Only users from your Google Apps domain can access applications and your security policies are enforced on every app.
• Pricing that makes sense: Each application costs just $8 per user, per month up to a maximum of $1000 a month. Pay only for what you use.
• Enterprise features: Coming later this year, hosted SQL databases, SSL on your company’s domain for secure communications, and access to advanced Google services.

With these new features, we’re making it easier for businesses to take advantage of the core benefits of Google App Engine: easy development using languages you already know (Java and Python); simple administration, with no need to worry about hardware, patches or backups; and effortless scalability, automatically getting the capacity you need when you need it.

Google App Engine for Business is currently in preview, opened to a limited number of enterprises. Learn more about App Engine for Business, how you can sign-up, and check our roadmap to follow features as they become available."