This keynote was presented by Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of the Cloud and Enterprise group at Microsoft. You can find the webcast on Channel9. During this session, Scott presented Microsoft's cloud vision and what it can offer to users.
He began by presenting the benefits of the cloud:
- Agility: Azure services enable rapid development and deployment of solutions, with the option to automate the process through Continuous Integration.
- Flexibility: You only use the services you need, with hybrid cloud support available.
- Scalability: Adjust resources by moving a slider, and in some cases this can be automated, helping reduce costs by avoiding over-provisioning.
He then showed that Azure is well-suited for developers:
- This platform is very well integrated with Visual Studio
- It is possible to deploy applications developed in all languages (Java, nodeJS, etc.)
It also provides access to useful services:
- Management (traffic, alerts, …)
- Analytics including Application Insights
- Integration and continuous deployment
Azure evolves quickly:
- Improvements for existing services (e.g. "boot diagnostics")
- New services such as data analysis (Data Warehouse, Machine Learning, PowerBI)
Several successes:
- 3M: Developed a small application then made it grow very quickly using more and more Azure services
- AccuWeather: Able to handle billions of queries per day (about 8 billion)
- NBC: Raises capacity when streaming sports events, then returns to the normal charge
Some figures to highlight Azure:
- Used by 80% of Fortune 500 companies
- 24 data centers, more than Google and AWS combined (no details on the size of each data center)
- More certifications than competitors
In conclusion, the cloud helps accelerate application development and can reduce costs when used effectively.
Do you have a question or a suggestion about this post? Contact me!
