#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter - December 20th 2011

Local Overview :

• ETSA Utilities get agile with Azure delivering “Power at my Place”

  Power@MyPlace™ is a free message service which provides timely and accurate information regarding power at your property. Registered users can choose to receive information (via SMS or email) relating to when ETSA Utilities

• Former Harvey Norman CIO bets on Big Buys

Readiness & Resources:

Windows Azure:

General:

• Use the Kinect and your PC to interact with the Windows Azure Service Management API
• 7 Steps [that] will help you to write or migrate your application to Windows Azure

Storage:

• Windows Azure Camp - Windows Azure Storage
• Windows Azure Storage (WAS) Internals - Achieving Consistency

Open:

• Installing the Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java
• Open in the Cloud: Windows Azure Update
• Node.js in Windows Azure, To the Cloud and Beyond!Windows Azure & PHP (for nubs)–Part 1 of 4
• Openness Update for Windows Azure

SQL Azure:

General

• SQL Azure Management Portal Tips and Tricks: Part II

Reporting

• Take BI up a notch with SQL Azure Reporting

Federations

• SQL Database Federations: Enhancing SQL to enable Data Sharding for Scalability in the Cloud
• Building Large Scale Elastic Database Tiers with SQL Azure: Introducing Federations
• Billing Model for Federations in SQL Azure Explained!
• UI for SQL Azure Federations

Service Bus:

• Using Windows Azure Service Bus Topics & Subscriptions in Windows Phone
• How to Use Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus Brokered Messaging
• Cross-device/cross-location Pub-Sub: Using Windows Azure Service Bus Topics Subscriptions in iOS with MonoTouch

EAI:

• An Introduction to EAI Bridges

ACS:

• Important Announcements Regarding the Access Control Service
• Using Facebook with ACS and Windows Azure iOS Toolkit

Marketplace:

- HPC:

• Hadoop:
  • Trying out Hadoop on Azure
  • An Azure Elephant Never Forgets…
  • Helping to make Hadoop easier by going Metro!
  • Introduction to the Hadoop on Azure Interactive Hive Console
  • Microsoft Tries Hadoop on Azure
  • Availability of Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Hadoop based Service on Windows Azure
• MATLAB and Windows Azure

Watch:

• Windows Azure Technical Chats

Case Study:

• Brand Manager Goes Global in the Cloud on Windows Azure | Bruce Kyle's Channel 9 Blog
• Online Game Studio Minimizes Costs, Enhances Margin with Cloud Technology

Tools:

• New December Windows Azure Developer Training Tools, Kits Shows How to Get Started

Guidance:

Walkthrough:

• The Cloud on Your Terms: 30 Part Series
• Deploying Drupal 7 on Windows Azure
• Brand New ACS Walkthrough on the New Windows Azure Developer Center
• Windows Azure SDK for Node.js Installation Walkthrough
• Video Tutorial - How to install and run Node.js on Windows

Architecture:

• Responsive cloud design
• Windows Azure Prescriptive Guidance [for SQL Azure] Released

Labs:

• Azure AppFabric Labs–EAI, Service Bus in the Cloud

In the news:

General:

• Can Cancer Treatment be Found in the Cloud?
• The Imminent Rise of Social Cloud Computing
• ‘Any business can use cloud computing'

Microsoft:

• Apps Are Not Enough: Putting People First
• Microsoft, Nissan in cloud partnership
• Microsoft signs EU accords on data privacy
• Microsoft will beat Linux clouds at their own game

Windows Azure:

• Platform:
  • Azure Service Bus EAI/EDI December 2011 CTP
  • Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java, December 2011 CTP
  • Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows 8 Version 1.1.0 CTP Released
  • Windows Azure Field Notes
  • Windows Azure Achieves IS0 27001 Certification from the British Standards Institute
• Partner
  • GreenButton opening Seattle office after Azure alliance deal

• Other
  • Microsoft Windows Azure's New Open Source, Other Options Enhance Developer Experience
  • SharePoint Trends for 2012; What’s In Azure Cloud Updates?; Microsoft Meets the iPad
  • Microsoft Codename "Data Transfer" Lab Refresh

Events:

Local:

Australia

• Architect training in January (details to follow)

Global

• Understanding Microsoft’s High Availability Solutions course.

Webinar:

• Leveraging Windows Azure for the Windows Phone Developer

January 4th, 2012, 10 am PDT

Six Weeks of Windows Azure will start on … Monday 23rd January 2012

Training

• Free Visual Studio LightSwitch Training
• Slides and Links from Windows Azure Discovery Workshop Dec 13th

Community:

Social:

Keep up to date by:

• Becoming a Facebook fan
• Adding yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
• Watch our regular CloudCast (service now on Windows Azure thanks to Scaffolding kit for PHP)
• Joining the Mailing list for OzAzure

Suggest new ideas by using the Windows Azure Feature Voting

Attend a User Group:

• Sydney (Conor Brady)
• Melbourne (Mahesh Krishnan and Chris Padgett)
• Brisbane (register your interest #baug“ contact Steve Nagy)
• Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)
• Perth (details to follow)

Other - Regional:

• If you want to keep up with IT Pro news in NZ follow @technetnz and follow @msdnnz
• Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

Questions

Windows Azure:

• How you can store decimal data in Windows Azure Table Storage?

SQL Azure:

• SQL Azure Limitations
• …So Isn’t the Root Database a Bottleneck for Federations in SQL Azure?