March 7, 2013 News Thursday Microsoft VDI vs. VMware View: Freedom of Choice...

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by STB Blogger

Business Intelligence Templates for SQL Server Data Tools in Visual Studio 2012 Available for Download
Today, Microsoft released the Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools - Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2012, which are now available for download. The tools include project templates for SQL Server Analysis Services, SQL Server Reporting Services, and SQL Server Integration Services. These project templates will enable customers to upgrade their BI projects to the latest version of Visual Studio.

To learn more, please read the post on the SQL Server Reporting Services Team Blog.

Microsoft VDI vs. VMware View: Freedom of Choice
A blog post by Microsoft technical product manager Adam Carter discusses how Microsoft’s approach to Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is fundamentally different from VMware’s, primarily because we believe in providing choices to our customers. Unlike VMware, Microsoft offers IT pros flexibility in choosing the right mix of technologies to deliver a VDI solution while providing:

  • Efficient management – Enables customers to manage session-based desktops and virtual machine-based desktops from the same console, and manage both by using the same tools you use to manage physical PCs.
  • Best value – Provides the best density of users per server and flexible storage options, which reduces costs.
  • Rich user experience – Delivers a high fidelity remote experience by automatically adapting the experience to changing network conditions; includes access to local USB devices from the remote session, local start menu integration, and support for RemoteFX Multi-Touch.

For more information, check out the Server and Cloud Platform blog or download and start evaluation Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure today!

Windows Azure Enhancements
Earlier this week, Microsoft announced a number of updates and new capabilities to Windows Azure, including:

  • Android support: Windows Azure now enables Mobile Services support for the Android platform. Users can easily create a new Android app or connect an existing Android app to their Mobile Service from the Windows Azure dashboard.
  • Android push notifications: Mobile Services now makes it easy to enrich apps through push notifications. Users can send push notifications to their Android device by registering for Google Cloud Messaging.
  • East Asia availability: Windows Azure added the ability to deploy Mobile Services to the East Asia region of Windows Azure in order to reduce latency for applications with customers in Asia.
  • Availability Monitoring for Compute Services: Microsoft enabled a new preview feature that will let users monitor the availability of their web applications to help them understand the response time and availability of web applications from different geo-distributed locations. This feature is available for Mobile Services in reserved mode.

All of these improvements are now available to start using immediately. You can visit Scott Guthrie’s blog for more details.

Windows Azure Customer, Classed In, Brings Private Social Networks to Schools
Microsoft BizSpark startup, Classed In, has chosen Windows Azure and SQL Server to support its online education social network that connects teachers, students, administrators and parents in Russia. A cloud-based software platform, Classed In automates administrative processes, while providing online learning capabilities and a private, secure social network for each school or school district. Knowing scalability would be important, Classed In chose Windows Azure for its ability to store large amounts of video, photos and other content and to back up its enormous files.

In addition to managing large amount of data, Classed In also uses Windows Azure to support real time requests. You can read more about Classed In’s use of Windows Azure and additional Microsoft software on Microsoft News Center.

Customers Bet Their Business on Windows Server Hyper-V
Learn about three customers that selected Windows Server Hyper-V over other providers, including VMware, to achieve impressive enterprise innovation and trim IT costs. ING Commercial Banking, American University of Beirut, and Florida Atlantic University deployed Hyper-V and are thrilled with the results. Visit our blog for an in-depth look at how these customers use Microsoft’s virtualized private cloud environments to gain benefits such as solved business problems, satisfied stakeholders and savings up to $600,000.

Microsoft Unveils Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2012
Following last week’s announcement of commercial availability of the new Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft has officially released Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2012. Now, developers can more easily create Office and SharePoint apps and publish them to the Office Store. Apps for Office and SharePoint are built on popular web technologies – such as HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, REST and OData – enabling web developers to build apps with their existing skills and familiar tools.

As a second option, developers can use Microsoft’s “Napa” online development tool to build Apps for Office and SharePoint from within a browser window. “Napa” is available at the Office 365 development site and updated on a weekly basis.

Check out S. Somasegar’s blog post for more information about the new Office Developer Tools. If you’re a developer, you can download and start using them today!