Microsoft Azure - Cloud Platform Update and Article

I saw on twitter today, and nice linke to an Article from Forbes.com, talking about Microsoft's Cloud Computing platform Azure, and how it's hybrid ability to be hosted on-premise + in the cloud will enable it to be, along with other things, the dominate cloud platform.

I agree with this statement, so I thought it was a great article write up. You can see the full article here.: Why Microsoft's Hybrid Cloud Threatens Google

It's interesting actually, because Google recently has been feeling this threat, and therefore has changed it's "Intranet" cloud offering pricing and structure. I use "intranet" because it's still not on premise.

What I love about Microsoft's cloud approach, is the fact that I can develop a WCF service, and run that on-premise, or repackage, and run in the cloud. I can also use upcoming Windows Server AppFabric with Azure AppFabric to help scale out services, and control them like other Windows based technologies, through scripting and MMC snap in that is faimilar, IIS Management console.

Google, still in the cloud only.

I also have years of .Net and Microsoft technology skills that I have invested and built upon which makes it feel like a natural choice for using Azure for any cloud based development needs, as well as recommending doing so to my clients.

Getting back to the article, it points out that BizTalk is not in the cloud. And for now that is true, however BizTalk is very much a key to enabling ESB's, that include cloud based services. It plays a part of enabling Hyrbiid clouds, on the on-premise side of things.

Also, a nice little recap of the recent updates to the Azure platform can be found below here.:
"Recapping the Azure announcements: an updated version of Windows Azure Software Development Kit; support for .NET Framework 4; support for Visual Studio 2010's IntelliTrace feature; under SQL Azure, Microsoft now offers developers 50 GB (from 10 GB) of database storage; and Windows Azure Content Delivery Network is also now in production."

I have been talking about the cloud since 2007, and also how Hybrid clouds will be the norm. Now, here we are in 2010, and well into seeing these Hybrid clouds be formed, and more and more companies seeing the benefits of using the cloud for their needs.

That's all for now, check back soon as more to come!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Dynamics AX 6, DotNet 4 and the WF Designer

A fellow blogger, Anass, over at AX4All.blogspot.com sent me a recent blog post he did, covering the Channel 9 video of Josh Honeyman (Principle Development lead for Dynamics AX workflow), that walks through the use of .Net 4.0, the Workflow Designer, and how it will be used in Dynamics AX 6.

Anass write up about this video can be found here.: Dynamics AX 6.0 and WF4

The video, can be seen here:


In this video we get to see Dynamics AX 6 in action with the .Net 4.0 Workflow designer being used to help create and manage business process workflows. This is highlighted to help reduce the need for code, and the transition into a more model drive development approach.

I first covered this in the following post.:
Dynamics AX, SOA and Oslo on the mind

" In the very near future, [Dynamics AX] will be improved with .Net 4.0 and WF, along with a new designer for the workflow that will be Visio like. The workflows will be easier to manage and offer more flexibility, with less code."

That was over a year ago that I first wrote about .Net 4.0, WF and the Designer, and how it will change the way Dynamics AX processes are created and controlled, with the goal of less code. That same post also talked about Olso, now SQL Server Modeling.

So we can see all these technologies coming together, and how Microsoft leverages research in other products groups, to help Dynamics AX.

This was actually a big topic at Convergence 2010, how Microsoft Dynamics AX team gets to leverage the research in .Net, Office, SharePoint, SQL Server, and beyond.

The idea, as pointed out, is to make Dynamics AX deployments, use, modifications, upgrades, the entire ownership lifecycle of a Dynamics AX investment, for agile, and bottom line being.: Better, Faster, Cheaper

I would like to thank Anass for the post, and his insight, coverage of this video. This is also a topic well covered in the interview I held with Microsoft's Mike Ehrenberg.: Interview with Microsoft Distinguished Engineer - Mike Ehrenberg


The above is from the video, that is the Business User interface. That is not the developers interface. And it's the out of the box DSL, or Domain Specific Langauge (Ref: SQL Server Modeling).

This is some powerful stuff, and can't wait to see how this speeds up deployments of Dynamics AX 6 and beyond!

That's all for this post, however this still part of the coverage from Convergence, in which I have a lot more to post about, including another interview, focused on Dynamics AX team that I did while at Convergence.

Check back tommorrow, as more great post are coming!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"