Over 20 years in the industry… and I’m reduced to…

Posted on October 27, 2011 by ericnel

Creating this to start my Thursday Smile

Related Links:

Six Weeks of Windows Azure – Tips to make the most of those six weeks! #6weeksazure #azure

Posted on October 19, 2011 by ericnel

We have designed Six Weeks of Windows Azure to ensure a company with no exposure to the Windows Azure Platform or Cloud Computing will get plenty of value by taking part. However, we are also focused on given you options between now and then to maximise the value you get from the six weeks.

The first two tips are now live over on the Six Weeks of Windows Azure website:

Getting Ready Tip 1: Attend a Windows Azure Discovery Workshop (Nov to Jan)

Next is Nov 8th

Getting Ready Tip 2: Send your developers to a Windows Azure Bootcamp (Nov)
- Edinburgh is Nov 11th
- London is Nov 25th

Related Links:

Detailed overview of Six Weeks of Windows Azure and FAQ.
Signup

Announcing Six Weeks of Windows Azure – FREE help from Microsoft UK #6weeksazure #azure

Posted on October 19, 2011 by ericnel

[Previously posted on my team blog]

Quick Link: Sign up for FREE help in the UK on exploring and adopting Windows Azure

SaaS? Cloud? PaaS? Azure? Help!

Do you build applications? Are you thinking about Cloud? Are you wondering about how to move to SaaS? Are you considering the Windows Azure Platform?

Imagine that you could get:

A clear understanding of why cloud may be relevant to your applications
What options you have to adopt it
Advice on how to start and how to be successful – both in terms of business transformation and technology choices
Plus regular help to actually get the application designed, built, tested and deployed
Plus optional advice on marketing and selling

And… you could get all that for FREE from experts in helping companies get competitive advantage from adopting the Windows Azure Platform.

Well… now you can with Six Weeks of Windows Azure brought to you by Microsoft UK.

Six Weeks of Windows Azure

Starting in January 2012 we will be delivering 6 weeks of FREE assistance to UK based companies who want to build or extend applications with the Windows Azure Platform covering the commercial and technical aspects of adopting Windows Azure.

And the best bit is … you won’t need to leave the comfort of your office to take part.

Curious? Then head over to www.sixweeksofazure.co.uk where you will find a detailed overview, a companion FAQ and details of how to signup (It is painless!).

Slides and Links from MPN Windows Azure Briefing 19th Oct 2011

Posted on October 19, 2011 by ericnel

Big thanks to everyone who attended my Windows Azure workshop in Birmingham yesterday. Two of you were kind enough to say it was the “best session of the day” – thanks! Shame my laptop twin gpus refuse to be tamed!

Main next steps are:

Send a “technical folk” along to a FREE Windows Azure Discovery Workshop in Reading. Next Nov 8th.
Sign up to Six Weeks of Azure to get FREE help
Sign up to Microsoft Platform Ready to tell us about your company and your applications

Ultimate Battlefield 3 FPS Simulator

Posted on October 19, 2011 by ericnel

Move over Kinect … how about this for FPS fun 🙂

Slides and Links from Windows Azure Discovery Workshop Oct 11th

Posted on October 11, 2011 by ericnel

On Tuesday David and I delivered a Windows Azure Discovery Workshop in Reading. A big thank you to everyone who attended and asked such great questions – I know David and I really enjoyed the day even if the agenda went out the window early on!

The next step is to sign up at http://www.sixweeksofazure.co.uk for FREE assistance to fully explore and adopt the Windows Azure Platform.

Note: We have further FREE Windows Azure Discovery Workshops taking place in November and December if you would also like to explore the possibilities whilst getting a more detailed grounding in the technology. They take place in Reading, are completely FREE and the next is on November the 8th.

Slides

Windows Azure Overview (TBD)
10 great questions

Links

Eric Nelson http://www.ericnelson.co.uk
David Gristwood http://blogs.msdn.com/david_gristwood
Get better connected with our team http://bit.ly/ukisvfirststop (Blog/Twitter/LinkedIn/FREE Events)
2b Will it run Foo?
- Umbraco on Aure http://uktechdays.cloudapp.net/home.aspx
- http://things.smarx.com/
3 How Big.
- 150,000 Tickets in 10 seconds. Flavorus Case Study
- SQL Azure Federations
  - Multi tenanted Federations example http://shard.codeplex.com/
  - SQL Azure Federation Data Migration Wizard
3 Soft Limits. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/support/ to ask for soft limits to change
5 SQL Server vs SQL Azure.
- A great place to start – technet wiki on SQL Azure
- SQL Azure Throttling
- More on SQL Azure Throttling
6 How fast is it
- Design Targets
- http://azurescope.cloudapp.net/ for benchmark results and scripts
7 Autoscaling
- Azure Watch from Paraleap
- Enterprise Library autoscaling block and the release of the preview in Sep.
8 How secure is it
- www.globalfoundationservices.com
- Security resources for Azure including Windows Azure Security Overview and Windows Azure Security Notes
9 How much will it cost http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/pricing-calculator /

Related Links:

http://www.sixweeksofazure.co.uk for FREE assistance
Sign up to Microsoft Platform Ready for assistance on the Windows Azure Platform
http://www.azure.com/offers
http://www.azure.com/getstarted

Slides and Links from UK BizSpark Azure Camp Sep 30th

Posted on October 3, 2011 by ericnel

On Friday David and I delivered a new session as part of a great agenda for the BizSpark Azure Camp. Our session was “10 Great Questions to ask about the Windows Azure Platform”.

A big thank you to everyone who attended and asked such great questions – and also to the other speakers for making it a great day.

One of the things we discussed was “next steps”. I would recommend the monthly Windows Azure Discovery Workshops if you are new to the platform and would like to explore the possibilities whilst getting a more detailed grounding in the technology. They take place in Reading, are completely FREE and the next is on October the 11th. Hope to see some of you there.

Slides