December 6, 2012 News Thursday: Reduced Windows Azure Storage Pricing and more Server and Tools News…

by STB Blogger

Microsoft Announces Reduced Pricing for Windows Azure Storage

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced reduced Windows Azure Storage pricing, offering customers as much as 28% savings beginning Dec. 12. This follows the March 8 reduction of 12%. These reduced prices, along with Geo Redundant Storage, high bandwidth network connectivity and scalability, further demonstrate Microsoft’s commitment to offering the best overall value in the industry.

For detailed information on the new, reduced pricing for storage, read the Windows Azure blog post.

Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Replica Helps Customers Make it Through Disaster

When the winds and waves of Hurricane Sandy bore down ferociously on New York City, Microsoft partner WorkITsafe helped two customers prepare with Windows Server 2012 and the built-in Hyper-V Replica feature. As a result, their IT systems experienced minimal interruption as the hurricane flooded the surrounding area and required employees to hunker down at home. In this blog post, WorkITsafe President Steve Rubin tells how Windows Server 2012 protected his customers’ businesses—and has the potential to protect many more.

Imagine Cup Grant Winners Utilize Windows Azure

Earlier this week at the Social Innovation Summit in Silicon Valley, Microsoft revealed the five winning teams of the second annual Imagine Cup Grant; four of those teams developed their apps on Windows Azure. All grant winners participated in the Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals, a global competition that invites students to develop a technology solution and create a business plan while gaining a keen understanding of what they need to do to bring their concept to market. Winners will receive funding to jumpstart their projects into mainstream nonprofit and social enterprise opportunities.

For more information on this year’s winners using Windows Azure, visit the Windows Azure blog post.

Windows Azure Eases Identity Management in the Cloud

Last Friday, the Windows Azure team announced that two key features of Windows Azure Active Directory, Access Control and Core Directory & Authentication, are now available at no charge. Access Control provides centralized authentication and authorization by integrating with consumer identity providers or by using on-premises Windows Server Active Directory. Core Directory and Authentication enables capabilities such as single sign-on, user and group management, directory synchronization and directory federation. Both services are critical to identity management in the cloud, and with these changes it’s now easier than ever to experience the benefits.

For more information, check out Steven Martin’s post on the Windows Azure blog.

IT Brand Pulse Recognizes Windows Server 2012 Innovation

At last week’s Server Design Summit, IT Brand Pulse awarded Microsoft the Innovation Leadership Award in the Operating Systems category. Voted on by IT professionals, the award recognizes enhancements in Windows Server 2012 across virtualization, networking and storage which make the product a strong solution for private, public and hybrid cloud deployments.

PhoneFactor Launches Authentication App for Windows Phone

PhoneFactor, Inc., a leading multi-factor authentication provider recently acquired by Microsoft, has announced the availability of an authentication app for Windows Phone. The PhoneFactor App for Windows Phone extends the PhoneFactor platform to include yet another option for strongly authenticating access to both on-premises and cloud applications using the phone a person already carries. The PhoneFactor App is available for Windows Phone 7 and 8.

For more information, please view the press release.