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#Azure Action - Weekly Newsletter - 29th October 2010

Whilst I was away on leave last week PDC was in full swing with at least 15 major changes to the platform.

The new  Windows Azure Platform Management Portal, Extra Small Role size and Remote Desktop were my top 3.

Then there was also the announcement of Azure Connect (previously known as Project Sydney)

Enterprise Resources: Enable Windows Azure applications to connect directly to on-premises resources without re-designing to be Internet accessible (e.g., SQL Server)

Domain-Join: Join Windows Azure apps to on-premises Active Directory; control access to Windows Azure roles based on existing AD accounts and groups

Simplified Development: Directly connect from your development machines to your Windows Azure instances, use your favorite tools for configuring and debugging

Remote Administration: Use your existing tools for remote administration tasks directly against your Windows Azure instances (e.g., remote PowerShell)

And major changes to SQL Azure (Backup/Restore, Developer Portal, Reporting Service and Data Sync CTP + more) and the joining of Data MarketPlace and App Marketplace.

As a starting point its worth reading Steve Ballmer’s “PDC Thoughts”.

 

So, what happened?

At PDC You spoke. We listened, and responded.

 

Key Announcements

Windows Azure

- Virtual Machine role

- Virtual Network

- Elevated privileges for Web and Worker role

- Full IIS support

- Support for Windows Server 2008 R2 in the web, worker and VM role

- An improved developer and operator experience

SQL Azure

- Reporting disclosure

- Data Sync update

- Sync Fx v3 update

- Houston

AppFabric

- First CTP of Caching service

- New CTP of Service Bus

- Disclosure of Composite App service + composition model + tooling support

- Disclosure of Integration service, drive momentum for existing Access Control CTP

Data Marketplace

- RTW of the Marketplace and new & updated user experience

- Disclose final list of content providers

- Share Key ISV partner stories.

 

- Go to the PDC site and watch

 

 

Sessions

Keynotes

- The very illuminating BobMu keynote including demos by Pixar, Mark Russinovich, James Conard

Windows Azure

- CS53 – Developing PHP Applications on the Windows Azure Platform, Vijay Rajagopalan

- CS10 – Open in the Cloud: Windows Aure and Java, Vijay Rajagopalan

- CS66 – HPC to the Cloud – Windows HPC and Azure, Richard Ciapala, Parmita Mehta

- CS55 – Integrating Sharepoint with Windows Azure, Steve Fox

- CS09 – Migrating and Building Apps for Windows Azure with VM Role & Admin Mode, Mohit Srivastava

- FT07 – Lessons Learned from Moving TFS to the Cloud, Remi Lemarchand

SQL Azure

- CS02 - Building Scale-out Database Solutions on SQL Azure, Lev Novik

- CS06 - Enabling New Scenarios and Applications with Data in the Cloud, Dave Campbell

- CS59 – Introduction to SQL Azure Reporting, Nino Bice, Yi Lao

AppFabric

- CS04 – Composing Applications with AppFabric Services, Karandeep Anand

- CS05 – Connecting Cloud & On-Premises Apps with the Windows Azure Platform, Yousef Khalidi

- CS07 – Identity & Access Control in the Cloud, Vittorio Bertocci

- CS01 – Building High Performance Web Applications, Matthew Kerner

Data Marketplace

- CS06 - Enabling New Scenarios and Applications with Data in the Cloud, Dave Campbell

- CS54 – Inside the Windows Azure Data Marketplace, Christian Liensberger

- CS51 – Building Engaging apps with the Data Marketplace, Adam Wilson

Mobile / Cloud

- CD07 – Building Windows Phone apps with the Windows Azure Platform, Steve Marx