Snowball - The Blog

On PDC 2008, Microsoft announced a ton of new technologies we'll be working with in the not-so-distant future. It's vital that you get up to speed with these technologies.
My friend, fellow Regional Director and travel companion Grégory "Rédo" Renard found some interesting e-books and white papers on Microsoft.com regarding these new technologies.

1. Introducing the Azure™ Services Platform

Using computers in the cloud can make lots of sense. Rather than buying and maintaining your own machines, why not exploit the acres of Internet-accessible servers on offer today? Get an early look into the Azure Services Platform in this White Paper by David Chappell.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/4/3/e43bb484-3b52-4fa8-a9f9-ec60a32954bc/Azure_Services_Platform.docx

2. Getting Started with Microsoft SQL Data Services – A Developer’s Focus

Microsoft® SQL Data Services (SDS) offers highly scalable, Internet-facing, enterprise-class database and advanced query processing for customers who want to build new applications or extend existing investments into the cloud. This paper explains the key features and architecture of SDS, and describes how you can start programming with SDS in your own applications.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/b/4/8b4aa374-cbee-4e6b-9f01-c9177204b6e1/Microsoft%20SQL%20Data%20Services%20-%20Developer%20Focus.pdf

3. Microsoft SQL Data Services – Under the Hood

Microsoft SQL Data Services (SDS) is a cloud-deployed database service from Microsoft. SDS provides a web-facing database, retrieval, and manipulation features in a hosted, Web-facing solution. Cloud-deployed database solutions such as SDS can provide many benefits to the enterprise, including rapid provisioning, cost-effective scalability, high availability, and reduced management overhead. This paper provides an architectural overview of SDS, and describes how you can use SDS to augment your existing on-premises data infrastructure.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/b/4/8b4aa374-cbee-4e6b-9f01-c9177204b6e1/Microsoft%20SQL%20Data%20Services%20-%20Under%20the%20Hood.pdf