Windows Azure and Windows Communication Foundation

At the end of October 2008 Microsoft introduced the Windows Azure operating system, inviting developers to start building applications and services designed to run in the Cloud. Developers could turn to a variety of tools in order to tailor code to the Redmond company's Cloud platform, including Windows Azure SDK, Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio and Visual Studio 2008 SP1. On April 7, 2009, the software giant also made available WCF Azure Samples via MSDN for all developers interested in leveraging Windows Communication Foundation in Windows Azure.

“Many of you may have wondered what is the experience of hosting WCF services in the Azure cloud. We have created a full set of samples on our newly launched Code Gallery site,” revealed Yavor Georgiev, program manager, Connected Framework Team. “The samples show hosting WCF services for use by Silverlight clients and ASP.NET AJAX clients, as well as REST WCF services built using the new WCF REST Starter Kit.”

When it was initially introduced, WCF was applauded by the Redmond company as the evolution of distributed programming based on the .NET Framework. Formerly code-named "Indigo," Windows Communication Foundation focused .NET distributed technologies in a programming model, which transitioned from Windows client and server operating systems into the Cloud.

Developers are invited to take advantage of the WCF REST Starter Kit Preview 2 (REST in Windows Communication Foundation), a free download hosted on CodePlex. Via the WCF Azure Samples, Microsoft is offering the source code for each sample. But at the same time, the company is also delivering live demos of each item.

“Windows Azure is Microsoft's cloud services operating system, based on Windows Server 2008 and .Net Framework 3.5 SP1. Azure is currently in a Community Technology Preview stage and you can register and try it out for free,” Georgiev added.