Cloud Computing : MicroSoft Windows Azure

What is Windows Azure?

Author: dwspriya

Windows Azure is a Microsoft cloud service operating system involved in service hosting, service management, and development for the platform of Windows Azure. It enables clients to develop, manage, and host web applications online with the help of Microsoft's data centers.

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Windows Azure is able to support several languages and can integrate with the environment of your existing premises. At present, it is sold commercially in 41 countries including United States, Canada, UK, and Australia.

There are three main components in Windows Azure. These are compute, storage, and fabric. Compute provides an environment for computation while storage deals mainly on providing storage for large-scale data. Fabric refers to the physical make up of the platform as it is composed of a network of servers and switches. A content delivery (CDN) service is also offered along with Windows Azure to allow content delivery from Azure storage to end users.

With the use of Windows Azure, developers can run applications and even store data on servers that are owned and operated by Microsoft. Such cloud applications can be valuable for both consumers and businesses.

There are several benefits associated with the use of Windows Azure. For one thing, it helps improve efficiency. It does not only improve productivity of a business but it can also reduce up-front costs. In fact, Windows Azure can help reduce the total cost of operations by as much as 40within a period of three years.

Since Windows Azure supports common languages, protocols, and standards, it is easy to operate and you can still make use of you skills in .NET, PHP, and Java in creating and managing applications on the web.

Another advantage of using Windows Azure is that you can get to focus more on giving quality services to your clients instead of worrying about technological and operational obstacles. You can also make the most out of the development tools provided as well as the automated service management to meet the needs of your customers at a faster rate. Of course, Windows has always provided reliable services and you can be sure of first rate experience by using Windows Azure.

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