Windows Azure Offers Application Hosting, Storage

The centerpiece of the Windows Azure platform, now a paid commercial offering, is the Windows Azure service, which provides a hosted Windows Server—based OS in Microsoft data centers where customers can deploy applications and their associated data. Windows Azure enables utility computing, charging only for the hosted resources customers use, potentially reducing costs over traditional on-premises deployments. The service promises fast provisioning, high scalability, and fault tolerance for applications based on Microsoft’s .NET Framework and other technologies, including PHP and Java. However, extra development effort may be required to get applications to work with Windows Azure and take advantage of its capabilities.

Azure Today

The Windows Azure platform comprises the following:

• The Windows Azure service, which hosts applications and stores application data
• The SQL Azure Database, which hosts relational databases using Microsoft’s SQL Server technology and supports queries in