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Содержание предыдущей серии

 

Для создания базы в интерфейсе SQL Azure Management Portal имеется много кнопок в разных местах. Самая большая виднеется посредине внизу, если в левой верхней панели навигации по иерархии объектов встать на папку Subscriptions - см. Рис.5 позапрошлого поста. Есть иконка Create в секции Database верхней панели меню, если в дереве иерархии встать на сервер (см. Рис.11 позапрошлого поста) или на подписку, внутри которой создан хотя бы один сервер. Можно также нажать в верхнем меню на кнопку Manage в секции Server, как на Рис.12 позапрошлого поста и, оказавшись на новой странице, кликнуть на Create (Database) в верхнем меню или на плитку New database новомодного Metro-интерфейса:

 

image001 

Рис.1

 

Из большого разнообразия параметров, которые можно оговаривать при создании базы на on-premise SQL Server, здесь требуется задать всего три: название, размер и коллацию.

Показанные на рисунке коллации %_100% были введены в SQL Server 2008 (порядковый номер версии которого был 10.0), а для чего - см. статью Fernando Caro "Working with the New SQL Server 2008 Collations and Earlier Versions of the Native Data Provider".


image002

Рис.2

 

Размер имеет значение, т.к. деньги за использование облачного SQL Server складываются из платы за трафик (см.позапрошлый пост после Рис.7) и размера базы, потому к его выбору следует подойти из принципа разумной достаточности, не задирая сверх необходимости. Базы данных бывают двух редакций: Web и Business. Это маркетинговая группировка максимальных размеров баз, по функциональности они не отличаются. Для Web максимальный размер базы составляет 1 и 5 ГБ, для Business - 10, 20 и т.д., как можно видеть на Рис.2. По достижении MAXSIZE возникает ошибка, и добавление новых данных в базу становится невозможно. База остается доступной на чтение. MAXSIZE можно увеличить при помощи ALTER DATABASE, если есть, куда. Плата за объем баз начисляется ежедневно и взимается в конце месяца. Дневная плата за каждую базу рассчитывается как ee пиковый размер в этот день, округленный до n ГБ, делить на кол-во дней в месяце умножить на цену 1 ГБ. В случае Web-редакции n тупо равно MAXSIZE, в случае Business - ближайшее кратное 10 ГБ (сверху). Размер базы включает пользовательские данные, индексы и объекты (хранимые процедуры, метаданные и др.) Размер не включает журнал транзакций, системные таблицы, серверные каталоги. БД master и дополнительные реплики базы (см.первый пост) также не считаются. Вообще, вопросы ценообразования будет лучше выделить в отдельный пост. Пока рекомендуется внимательно прочитать в BOL раздел Учетные записи и выставление счетов в SQL Azure. Здесь и далее я буду ссылаться на англоязычную документацию. Русские BOL по SQL Azure есть, но на момент написания данного поста переведены только сами статьи. Оглавление большей частью осталось на английском, поэтому навигация слева часто съезжает, если справа русский контент. В качестве workaround можно порекомендовать следующее. Если важно прочитать статью на русском, то в приводимых ссылках заменяйте en-us на ru-ru, а если нужно понять, в каком месте документации она расположена, то оставляйте, как есть.

На сервере SQL Azure может быть максимально 150 баз. БД master в данном случае считается, итого,  пользовательских - 149. Database Quota показана на портале справа в Properties на Рис.11-12 позапрошлого поста.

Нажмем кнопку Submit, притаившуюся под комбобоксом с коллациями на Рис.2 и создадим первую базу. Появится сообщение, что database successfully created и страница со статистической информацией о созданной базе:

 

image003 

Рис.3

 

Нажмем кнопку New Query в панели меню и напишем первый запрос к нашей первой базе:

 

select db_name() as [База],

       databasepropertyex(db_name(), 'edition') as [Редакция],

       databasepropertyex(db_name(), 'MaxSizeInBytes') as [Максимальный размер],

       databasepropertyex(db_name(), 'Collation') as [Коллация]

 

image004

Рис.4

 

Как и в человеческом SQL Server, имеется команда CREATE DATABASE. Например, можно попробовать создать за компанию еще одну базу

 

create database [Тестовая база] collate cyrillic_general_100_CI_AS (MAXSIZE = 5 GB)

Рис.5

 

однако попытка выполнить ее из запросного окна Рис.4 не приведет к успеху по причине Msg 5001, Level 16, State 1, Line 1. User must be in the master database.

Сделать use master здесь нельзя, потому что Msg 40508, Level 16, State 1, Line 1. USE statement is not supported to switch between databases. Use a new connection to connect to a different Database. Команды use в SQL Azure нет. Контекст базы остается неизменным на протяжении всего пользовательского соединения. Ничего не остается, как выполнить эту команду с нового соединения. Для этого возвращаемся на Рис.4 на левую закладку в браузере, в левой верхней панели выбираем сервер, в средней нижней - БД master из списка его баз и кликаем в верхнем меню (секция Database) на иконку Manage.

 

image005 

Рис.6

 

В открывшейся новой странице соединения имя базы проставилось автоматически и поменять его нельзя. Вводим логин и пароль для открытия нового соединения.

 

image006

Рис.7

 

Либо на Рис.6 вместо секции меню Database можно выбрать секцию Server (левее) и нажать иконку Manage в ней. Откроется окно, как на Рис.7 с той лишь разницей, что поле Database не будет заполнено автоматически. Туда нужно вбить название master руками, потом аналогично логин и пароль. Если поле Database оставить пустым, соединение на новой странице откроется и кнопка New Query в меню тоже сработает, однако что бы туда ни вводить, кнопка Run в меню запроса будет недоступной. В свое время я вокруг нее плясал с бубном, пытаясь сообразить, с чего бы это вдруг она посерела, пока не вспомнил, что не заполнил имя базы.

 

image

Рис.8

 

Откроется окно базы данных master. Не обращайте внимания на ошибку. Это по аналогии с Рис.3 она пытается отобразить ее свойства, и у нее не хватает прав. В смысле, это у нас их не хватает: The current user does not have VIEW DATABASE STATE permissions on this database. О правах и обязанностях мы поговорим в отдельном посте про безопасность SQL Azure, а пока нажимаем в меню кнопку New Query, как на Рис.4 и выполняем скрипт Рис.5:

 

image008

Рис.9

 

Можно также обновить список баз на Рис.6 (в верхнем меню правая секция View, состоящая из единственной кнопки Refresh), чтобы удостовериться, что новая база создалась нормально.

 

Предположим, [Тестовая база] доросла до своего максимального размера, заданного ей при создании, и это не абсолютный предел размера базы в Azure (на время написания поста 150 GB). Тогда ее можно расширить при помощи команды ALTER DATABASE. Когда-то при этом требовалось указывать редакцию (SKU), сейчас достаточно указать только желаемый размер:

 

alter database [Тестовая база] modify (MAXSIZE=10GB)

 

image009

Рис.10

 

Как и в SSMS, по нажатию кнопки Run выполняются выделенные операторы SQL, либо весь скрипт целиком, если ничего выделено не было. Изменение пользовательской базы, как и создание, следует производить из контекста БД master.

 

Представление sys.databases показывает много привычных свойств базы (Рис.9), однако синтаксис команды ALTER DATABASE говорит о том, что большинство из них доступны только на чтение и приводятся в качестве информации к философскому размышлению. Поменять их в SQL Azure нельзя:

 

alter database [Тестовая база] set recovery simple

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Line 1. Incorrect syntax near 'set'.

 

Чтобы проверить, какими теперь стали максимальный размер и редакция базы Тестовая база, нужно перейти в ее контекст, т.к. в функции DATABASEPROPERTYEX(<database>, <property>) аргумент с указанием базы данных должен совпадать с текущей базой данных, в противном случае все возвращаемые значения будут равны NULL, а иного способа посмотреть свойства Edition и MaxSize ни через sys.databases, ни через какое-либо другое DMV мне неизвестно. Как мы помним, команда USE в SQL Azure не поддерживается, следовательно, для изменения контекста следует открыть новое соединение, указав БД Тестовая база в его свойствах (Рис.6-7). Выполнив запрос Рис.4 в контексте БД Тестовая база, убеждаемся, что ее размер из 1 ГБ превратился в 10 и редакция из Web - в Business.

 

Удаление базы производится из интерфейса портала нажатием кнопки Drop в верхнем меню, секция Database:

 

image010

Рис.11

 

либо командой DROP DATABASE, выполнять которую также нужно из контекста БД master.

 

 

Продолжение следует.

 

 

Summary: Guest blogger, Tim Bolton, shares a real world story that brings home the need to learn Windows PowerShell.

Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here, and it’s time for the Weekend Scripter. Today we have a guest blogger, Tim Bolton.

Photo of Tim Bolton

Tim Bolton has been involved in the IT Pro community for over 18 years. Tim received the Microsoft Certifications MCITP Enterprise Administrator on Windows Server 2008 and MCTS Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Configuration. Tim is currently working as a Microsoft consultant and systems engineer at Software Solutions. Tim and his family have recently relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Blog: Tim Bolton – MCITP – MCTS, Sharing information about IT and things I have broken, fixed, and seen 
Twitter: @jsclmedave
LinkedIn: Tim Bolton

Take it away Tim…

Working within a large corporate environment can produce some strange IT issues. Often these issues demand immediate attention and answers, usually with a manager hovering over you.

Recently while I was working in one of those large corporate environments, which had a large network that had just inherited over a thousand servers, a security issue was raised. Each of the production servers are required to have RSA installed and running to ensure secure log ons.

Because this was one of those scenarios where the servers were recently inherited, it proved to be extremely difficult to provide an accurate answer for, “Can you confirm that the RSA service is running on all of the servers within our scope?”

SCCM was not an option at this time and management wanted an answer “now,” so there was not time to open a service ticket for assistance. Logging on to over a thousand servers to verify if the RSA service was running was obviously not an option, and other third-party applications were not at our disposal.

Windows Powershell to the rescue!

With guidance from Windows Powershell MVP, Claus Nielsen, who happened to be online and available, I was able to provide the answer that was needed in a timely manner. I already had a text file (MyServers.txt) with all of the servers in our scope listed, so that part was already accomplished.

The service that the RSA application ran as is OASVC_Local. I simply needed to check for that service on each server in the text file.

Using the appropriate credentials, I pulled the servers from the text file by using Get-Content, and I placed them into a variable that I called $Servers. Here is the command I used.

$Servers = Get-Content "C:\Temp\MyServers.txt"

Now, using the Foreach command, I started checking for the service on the remote servers. The Foreach command will loop through each server in the $Servers variable. Each loop will use the variable $Server which will contain one item from the variable $Servers list of servers. By using the variable $Server (the computer name in this case) and Get-WMIobject to connect to remote servers, the script will query for the service OASVC_Local, and populate the variable $Service with a "Service" object that will contain the properties for each object. Here is the command I arrived at using.

Foreach ($Server in $Servers)

{$Service = Get-WMIobject win32_service -computername $Server -Filter "Name = 'OASVC_Local'"

I also want to determine if the service is running or not. I query if the service is running by using the If statement. If the state equals “running,” then write "RSA is Running for $Server" to a file called RSA.txt, and also write it to the console screen. I wanted to have the results appear on the console screen for quick viewing, in addition to a text file that I could use as a simple search for the key word “NOT” to identify servers that needed attention. (Note: NOT running -BackgroundColor red.) Here is that portion of the script.

If ($Service.state -eq "running")

 {

Write-Output "RSA is Running for $Server" | out-file -append C:\Temp\RSA.txt

Write-Host "RSA is Running for $Server”

} else

 {

Write-Output "RSA is NOT Running for $Server" | out-file -append C:\Temp\RSA.txt

Write-Host "RSA is NOT Running for $Server" -BackgroundColor red

}

}

The following image shows the commands that I typed and the output that I received in the Windows PowerShell console.

Image of command output

Here is the script in its entirety. Simple, quick—and it provided me with the information that I needed in seconds. I actually found fewer than 10 servers out of a thousand, that needed to be checked as to why the RSA service was not running. This was a manageable task, which was corrected before the lunch hour.

$Servers = Get-Content "C:\Temp\MyServers.txt"

Foreach ($Server in $Servers)

{$Service = Get-WMIobject win32_service -computername $Server -Filter "Name = 'OASVC_Local'"

If ($Service.state -eq "running")

 {

Write-Output "RSA is Running for $Server" | out-file -append C:\Temp\RSA.txt

Write-Host "RSA is Running for $Server"

} else

 {

Write-Output "RSA is NOT Running for $Server" | out-file -append C:\Temp\RSA.txt

Write-Host "RSA is NOT Running for $Server" -BackgroundColor red

}

}

Without guidance and explanation from Windows PowerShell MVP, Claus Nielsen, this would have taken “me” most of the day to configure—time that I did not have. This is yet another “real world” reason that seems to iterate throughout the IT community about learning Windows PowerShell. How many of us can reach out to a Windows PowerShell MVP that “may” be available to assist you with management’s emergencies? I was lucky today, but what will my managers ask tomorrow?

If you are an IT administrator, I would highly suggest that you become familiar with Windows PowerShell. It may save the day and make you out to be the “go to” person when an issue arises. This may also come into play when reviews are due. Harness the power of Windows PowerShell to show your company why you and your skills stand out above the others.

~Tim

Thank you, Tim. This is a great real world example of using Windows PowerShell to save the day! It is also a tribute to the amazing Windows PowerShell community.

I invite you to follow me on Twitter and Facebook. If you have any questions, send email to me at scripter@microsoft.com, or post your questions on the Official Scripting Guys Forum. See you tomorrow. Until then, peace.

Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy 

Die fünfte Premier Auftakt Veranstaltung in den Räumen von Microsoft in Berlin widmet sich in diesem Jahr dem Thema „Consumerization of IT“. Eingeladen sind die Hauptansprechpartner unserer Microsoft Premier Kunden. Nach der Begrüßung am Nachmittag gibt es zu den Themen Veränderungen bei der Entwicklung unter Windows 8, Sicherheit und Microsoft Services verschiedene Vorträge und Demonstrationen wie die Informationtechnologie (IT) unser Leben verändert . Anschließend besteht die Möglichkeit, über die unterschiedlichen Themen mit Experten  zu diskutieren, sich mit der Xbox und Kinect sportlich zu betätigen, oder sich mit neuen coolen Windows Geräten zu beschäftigen.

 

Wenn Sie Interesse an der Veranstaltung haben, kontaktieren Sie gern Ihren Technical Account Manager oder mich.

Interview with Marcin Borecki, founder and CEO of PlaceChallenge.

Web site: http://placechallenge.com

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

My name is Marcin Borecki and I am founder and CEO of PlaceChallenge startup. In first months of operation my role was creating infrastructure and software architecture of PlaceChallenge platform and first games. Starting in Jan 2012 all my tasks connected with software development were delegated to second co-founder Jakub Kądziela (current CTO) and thanks to that I can focus now on strategy planning and customer engagement. In the past I’ve been developer and software architect in large insurance companies all around the world, and Microsoft Student Consultant in Microsoft Poland.

What is your company’s mission?

PlaceChallange mission is to provide a fun and engaging system where people can play games in real places. We want people to get out of the home and give them entertainment similar to computer games but outside the home with interaction with places and other people. We think that will be next big thing and we are investing all our time to make it true..

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

We give people the opportunity to play mobile games around the city in various scenarios using their location. For now we are working on the well-known game, snake, but in a real city and in multiplayer mode and traveling app which helps the user travel in a foreign city by using others’ photo tips.

Tell us about your Azure based solution.

First of all we are creating a platform solution which gives games:

User management

Points management

Virtual Currency management

Virtual Items management and shop

The second part of our business is to provide games for people who want to use our platform. For now we are creating:

Tail is a game which is very well known from very long time as a snake. The game is changing the user experience by moving the playground from the computer or mobile phone to the real world. Players are running, riding a bike or a car around the playground which is a real city. The tail of the player's snake increases from the start position, adding on when they reach each new location and they are connected by lines. The player’s goal is to cut off the road of others player and make them to hit someone else's tail.

RunAway is a game where people are running around the city protecting the virtual token in their phone and the person who has the token at the end of the game wins. Every 3 days we give a special prize and hide virtual tokens somewhere in the selected cities. The first person who finds the token has it in their phone and runs around the city to avoid others players. Each player who is closer than 50 meters to the token owner grabs it on his/her phone. Everyone can see each other on the map, so the target is in a known position. Three days, one prize and one person running away.

Shape is a game where people are creating figures and gain points for creating territories around the real world. Every day we spread around the world about 1 million virtual items which could b,e for example, points or bombs. Players can go to a place where the item is and get it for his virtual pocket. At any time, you can buy items using PlaceChallenge coins in a special shop and place them in your virtual pocket too. Players are creating shapes, searching virtual items, collecting points and having battles with others using e.g. bombs.

How is Azure implemented in your solution?

Games: each game has its own API which uses the Platform to communicate.

Platform: (1) the platform has a web frontend where people can check their status, currency values and virtual items promotions; (2) a worker who is monitoring the platform and connected games; (3) API for games.

Cache: we are testing Azure Cache, in the past we had MemCache on one of our servers.

Databases: databases are hosted on SQL Azure; for now we have one 25GB database per game and one additional for platform.

How did you get excited about Azure?

Azure is very simple. The only thing you have to do is to create a solution for deployment and provide the information in package, determine what kind of computer we need and how many of them Azure should run for me. Additionally it is very well connected with other Microsoft’s’ technologies e.g. .NET and Visual Studio which my company is using all the time.

What specific value are you getting from BizSpark beyond the technology?

Bizspark is not only technology. We have very valuable contacts which we can use in crisis situations. This is also place where young companies (startups) can build momentum by getting exposure, connect with peers’ around the world and get special offering,  like the BizSpark Plus offer which we got.

What has been your biggest “aha” moment since founding your company?

The idea for a project is only the beginning of execution process. My company started during Warsaw Startup Weekend in April 2011 and from that time we’ve had two-three pivots which change our main idea of project. This lesson is that the idea is worthless and only execution matters. Execution is a very hard process when you’ve never had company with no-funds, no-employees, and no-office. My first impression was that the goal for my company is getting funded and that was only thing what I was doing. After a couple of months, we did afew idea pivots and I changed my mind after working closely with set of mentors – I realized that first thing we should do is to validate idea by ourselves , then give small number of people opportunity to test what we’ve done, listen to their feedback and then do next version of product.  As of today – we have all headcounts filled, final tests will be completed within few days and we are anxiously looking forward for “PlaceChallenge Adventure” – our trip to Silicon Valley in March, 2012.

What were the Azure features that prompted you to decide to build on Azure?

Azure was natural  for my company because it has a great connection with .NET technology and the Visual Studio environment which we use in our company. Second reason – and maybe more important - is that Azure is PaaS (Platform as a Service) so it is cost effective from our perspective – we provide a solution to Azure and the Azure mechanism creates instances, manages operating system updates and solves problems with availability. It is much better than using IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) where we would probably need to hire an administrator.

What advice do you have for companies that are thinking about building in the cloud?

Windows Azure is very simple to integrate with your company and not only for people developing in Microsoft technologies. For now there is lot of developers tools for PHP and Ruby which integrate with Azure and I think this is good. Windows Azure saves lot of time and company’s money because it is a PaaS, so you only need to care about your software. All rest is managed by Windows Azure. That’s great!

What is the one thing that you would like readers to take away about your Azure app?

Please follow us on Twitter and Facebook and wait for our first games. In next two months,  we are going to present games where people around the world can step up to the challenge and play outside the home, some very interesting scenarios only running and doing quest around cities. We want to give readers the opportunity to try a new way of entertainment – this is our one thing.

Last thing – in March we will provide information about special actions in New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Interview with Adam Stevens, Head of Client Account Management at MaoCite.

Web site: www.MapCite.com

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Head of Client Account Management.

What is your company’s mission?

To deliver simple to use Location Intelligence solutions to the most demanding enterprise clients. We deliver Location Intelligence tools that embrace sophistication from simplification.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

MapCite's innovative suite of web mapping tools enable our clients to visualise, gather and interrogate location based data - generating complex mapping quickly and simply

Tell us about your Azure based solution.

MapCite delivers high availability mapping solutions to SME’s and large corporate enterprises. A key requirement from all our customers is the availability of their data and the speed that it is delivered to their desktop or mobile device. Azure assures of high scalability and high availability at all times.

How is Azure implemented in your solution?

MapCite has deployed an Azure hosted application to a global office services company which is used within their customer contact centre. For the same client we are about to release an additional web application for specific initiatives to their clients - the scalability of Azure makes this extremely easy to manage.

How did you get excited about Azure?

Simply the fact our customers business can exist in a single technological infrastructure that will ramp up and down with their demands. Azure enables us to take a whole level of planning out of the equation.

What were the Azure features that prompted you to decide to build on Azure?

High scalability and availability at a price that is affordable.

What specific value are you getting from BizSpark beyond the technology?

Amazing support and visibility of future product features that enables us to expand and plan for the future. BizSpark takes a whole lot of guessing out of the commercial equation.

What has been your biggest “aha” moment since founding your company?

Delivering complex and sophisticated data into extremely demanding businesses on tablet devices. Typically the times in a system build that you close your eyes and cross your fingers. The technology we have at our disposal takes the luck out of the game. We know we have complete faith in our end to end infrastructure.

What were the Azure features that prompted you to decide to build on Azure?

It can cope with the requirements of our biggest enterprise client’s data availability.

What advice do you have for companies that are thinking about building in the cloud?

Do it in Azure!

What is the one thing that you would like readers to take away about your Azure app?

It is robust, scalable and simple to use.

 

Interview with Richard Edwards, CEO of Media Science.

Web site: http://media-science.com/

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

CEO.

What is your company’s mission?

To unlock the power of data for everyone

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Media Science is the SaaS platform that harvests, unifies and stores all the data our clients need to unlock the insight that matters.

Tell us about your Azure based solution.

Media Science hosts our entire offering on Azure. Everything from data gathering, through processing to delivery to our users is handled on Azure.

How is Azure implemented in your solution?

Our API is delivered from WebRoles as well as Javascript based applications that use our API from the users’ browser. Our background harvesting capabilities uses WorkerRoles to gather data and store it in within Azure on behalf of our clients.

How did you get excited about Azure?

As Azure is platform as a service, and not just hosting, we are able to focus our development effort on our core product rather than supporting infrastructure. Because Azure is .NET we could seamlessly switch onto developing for the platform using existing tools and skills. Azure means we have to worry less and focus on what really matters.

What were the Azure features that prompted you to decide to build on Azure?

Platform as a service and maintained .NET. The logical split between Web and Worker roles alongside storage so we didn’t need to maintain in-house infrastructure besides what is needed for development.

What specific value are you getting from BizSpark beyond the technology?

Access to the suite of Microsoft enterprise software, introduction and subsequent partnership with Microsoft commercial teams (our very own extended Salesforce), the ability to draw on Microsoft expertise in response to questions/concerns from potential clients.

What has been your biggest “aha” moment since founding your company?

That opening up our API can take us to unpredictable and uncharted (but valuable) waters

What advice do you have for companies that are thinking about building in the cloud?

It’s a no brainer. A capability that scales as you do, meaning you can manage your cost base to your revenue line, preserving cash flow -- the only metric that matters in your start-up business. From a technology point of view: if you accept the very minimal limitations, and embrace the fact that you don’t have to worry about the infrastructure, you really can just focus on building your product.

What is the one thing that you would like readers to take away about your Azure app?

Whatever the source, size, format or location of your data, Media Science can bring it all together. Everything is a source.

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Interview with Marco António Fernandes Ferreira Soares, founder and CEO of InovRetail.

Web site: www.inovretail.com

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am Inovretail founder and Joint CEO and I have over 14 years experience in the IT Retail space (food and non-food). I was formerly a Delivery Manager within Wipro Retail (a Wipro Company). I am an experienced Delivery Manager and have played pivotal roles in Sonae Distribuição Portugal, Sonae Distribuição Brasil, Debenhams, Nisa Todays, Esprit, Tesco Central Europe and Despar.

What is your company’s mission?

Improve the customer retail experience, making store environments more appealing, dynamic and efficient, with measurable return to our clients.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

We are a Retail Innovation company, fully invested to Research & Development of new and advanced technological solutions designed to improve the customer store experience. Our solutions help Retailers create Store Environments that are more appealing, dynamic and customer oriented, thus improving customer satisfaction and revenue potential.

We do it by delivering solutions that provide a never seen before in-depth insight and measuring capabilities on how customers interact with the Retail Space and its sensorial ecosystem, providing Retailers with unique tools to make fact-based business decisions regarding the store ecosystem.

Our team of experts and our solutions offer a highly differentiated approach to Customer Experience Management, delivering innovative and fully integrated solutions on an everyday changing world.

Tell us about your Azure based solution.

All our product suite is Azure based, we offer to our clients a CLOUD full compliant customer experience management tool that communicates with retailers in house systems.

How is Azure implemented in your solution?

Azure is present along all product flow, integrations from retailers systems into our system is based on  BLOB’s, our data tier is SQL Azure based and our services and front end are hosted services in azure. More, all our development infrastructure is Azure based being all our software development lifecycle subtended in Azure.

How did you get excited about Azure?

Being able to focus only on software development and not worry about managing infrastructure is the dream of any software company, don’t need to be worry about sizing, implement and maintain an internal infrastructure.

What were the Azure features that prompted you to decide to build on Azure?

The web based configuration portal making easy to manage complex and multiple environments was with no doubt one of the key points in the process decision.

What advice do you have for companies that are thinking about building in the cloud?

Your development mind set should be application driven instead of infrastructure driven; you have a huge pool of hardware resources to use whatever you need so no technical or functional decisions should be taken based on hardware restrictions.

What is the one thing that you would like readers to take away about your Azure app?

More than deliver value to our client business, our product is based on the best of breed technology in the market leading to fast implementations and reduced operational costs.

Interview with Hendrik Van Iterson, Co-founder and CTO of  Atomblock.

Web site: www.atomblock.com

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Co-founder and CTO.

What is your company’s mission?

To become the market leader in electronic video distribution.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Electronic video distribution platform that means computer games, software and ebook publishers have a fast route to reaching customers, without big upfront investment to build their own e-retail infrastructures

Tell us about your Azure based solution.

With its e-distribution infrastructure, Atomblock takes all the hard work out of publishing and selling on-line.  Using APIs, companies can become e-retailers in less than a week, complete with links to social media sites like Facebook. Typical customers are retailers and online portals, but also brands that have never sold directly on-line at all.  To use Atomblock, e-retailers pay a small fee and then an additional fee is negotiated based on sales volume or revenue share.  Atomblock is also available as a pure white-label service. By the end of 2011, over 1400 video games were available on the Atomblock platform, with software and ebook distribution planned for the future.  

How is Azure implemented in your solution?

Atomblock is based on Azure, which it migrated to in 2011.

How did you get excited about Azure?

I knew that cloud computing was going to be important for us, to enable scalability, so when Azure became available, we made the decision to migrate.  I have worked closely with Microsoft for years and could see that the Azure platform offered us the stability, security and flexibility that we need. 

What were the Azure features that prompted you to decide to build on Azure?

Azure is a robust platform that prevents us from needing to build our own server infrastructure, and to scale in line with customer demand.

What specific value are you getting from BizSpark beyond the technology?

We were one of the first companies in the Netherlands to join BizSpark. As well the cost savings of having access to free technology licences, the technical support has been great too, particularly during our migration to Azure.  Equally important is the visibility and partnership you get through being part of Microsoft.  Working with Microsoft really gave us a kickstart when we needed it.

What has been your biggest “aha” moment since founding your company?

It is hard to choose just one ‘aha’ moment, but big milestones for us have been having MSN Belgium as our launch partner, signing with Sanoma (the largest magazine publisher in the Netherlands and Nordic regions ), and rolling out a mobile version of Atomblock to over 50 retailers in the Netherlands.  We were also delighted to be selected as one of the top 15 BizSpark startups in Europe to present at the European BizSpark Summit in 2011.

What advice do you have for companies that are thinking about building in the cloud?

Cloud means you can think big.  We’ve gone from being an early stage start-up to a successful company with revenue from global customers in a relatively short period of time. 

What is the one thing that you would like readers to take away about your Azure app?

Atomblock is fast becoming one of the world’s leading digital publishing platforms, with customers in Europe, Turkey, Scandinavia.

Interview with Olivier Bourrouilh-Parège, CEO of ROK Solution.

web site: http://www.rok-solution.com/

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I’m actually creator of the solution and also CEO of the company.  I’m in charge of the product vision, the company strategy but my major function is to find and reveal talents that might work and perform together in a good spirit and enthusiasm; people are the key point of our company.

What is your company’s mission?

The company is a pure player turned around one single solution: ROK-Solution

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

We edit ROK Solution, a collaborative platform which goal is to improve productivity performance and innovation in the company. Collaboration makes sense to us if the solution is, user friendly of course, but also flexible, adaptable, and technically powerful.  That means we integrate in the platform BPA, BPM, GRC, BAM and UC functionalities and technology. Using Microsoft technology gives us a wonderful advantage (integration of workflow foundation, BizTalk, Lync, Exchange …).

Tell us about your Azure based solution.

Investing in Cloud technology was not obvious when we started the project two years ago. Today it gives us a significant competitive advantage.

How is Azure implemented in your solution?

ROK uses  Windows Azure Web Role as a multitenant Web services application and Workflow engine using WCF and WF 4.0.

A dedicated SQL Azure database is reserved for each customer.

Documents in ROK are stored in the Azure Blob storage.

The configuration of all customers is defined in a unique configuration database.

How did you get excited about Azure?

Our Microsoft privileged interlocutor in Paris did a very good job to convince us.

What were the Azure features that prompted you to decide to build on Azure?

Simplicity and ability to provide both public or private needs.

What specific value are you getting from BizSpark beyond the technology?

BizSpark ensures us a technology watch and provides useful help in marketing support.

What has been your biggest “aha” moment since founding your company?

To be honest it comes the day Carlos Dominguez said « Collaboration + Technology + Process = huge $$$$ savings…. Collaboration is no longer an option or a choice, it’s a matter of survival!

What were the Azure features that prompted you to decide to build on Azure?

Being able to be as well on a private and/or a public cloud without difficulty.

What advice do you have for companies that are thinking about building in the cloud?

Go ahead, the worse that can happen to you is that your architect manager will have spend time to think about how to perform your architecture.