Chapter 16. Windows Azure

The research company Gartner defines cloud computing as follows:

"A style of computing where massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided as a service"

www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=707508

Windows Azure is Microsoft's entry into the cloud computing arena and competes with offerings from established heavyweights such as Amazon and Google. Windows Azure applications are created using standard .NET technologies, and developers will be glad they will not need to learn many additional techniques to get up and running.

The complexity of the Azure infrastructure is hidden from the developer and managed by Microsoft, allowing you to concentrate on developing your application without having to worry about maintaining the platform your application runs on. Once your application's development is complete, you can then deploy it to Windows Azure, taking as much or as little of Microsoft's massively powerful infrastructure as you need. Unlike traditional hosting, you can instantly scale up the infrastructure your application runs on to meet demand.

Hosting applications and services within the cloud environment poses a number of challenges to the developer, such as how to authenticate requests, store data, and route messages, so in addition to the core Azure offering, Microsoft offers a number of services, or building blocks, to assist you with conquering these problems.