As of March 11 2015, SAP has certified support for SAP NetWeaver-based applications on Microsoft SQL Server 2014.  Now you can run even more of your Tier-1, mission-critical workloads on SQL Server.  And, the ability to run SAP on Microsoft Azure means that it can be accomplished with low total cost of ownership (TCO).

[…] With SAP’s certification, you can also run SAP in Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines with SQL Server 2014. Azure enables SAP customers to reduce TCO by leveraging Microsoft infrastructure as system needs grow, rather than investing in additional servers and storage. With Microsoft Azure, customers can leverage development and test environments in the cloud that can be spun up and scaled out as needed. SQL Server 2014 also introduced Disaster Recovery to Azure using an asynchronous AlwaysOn secondary, which can make Azure a part of your SAP disaster recovery plan.

via SQL Server 2014 is Certified for SAP Applications On-Premises and in the Cloud – SQL Server Team Blog – Site Home – TechNet Blogs.

The topics explored in this book include:

• Getting started with Azure: Understand what cloud computing is, visit the management portals, and learn about billing.
• Websites and Cloud Services: Learn about Azure Websites, from deployment to monitoring, and gain an understanding of the web and worker roles used in Azure Cloud Services.
• Virtual Machines: Explore the basic features of Azure Virtual Machines, including how to create, configure, and manage them.
• Storage: Read about the basics of Azure Storage, including blobs, tables, queues, and file shares.
• Virtual Networks: Learn the basics of virtual networks, including how to create one, and why a virtual network might be necessary. This also covers site-to-site and point-to-site networking, as well as ExpressRoute.
• Databases: Explore two relational database options available in Azure: Azure SQL Database and SQL Server in Azure Virtual Machines.
• Azure Active Directory: Explore basic features of Azure AD, including creating a directory, users and groups, and using the application gallery.
• Management Tools: Explore three common tools for working with Azure: Visual Studio 2013 and the Azure SDK, Azure PowerShell cmdlets, and the Cross-Platform Command-Line Interface
• Business Scenarios: Explore four common scenarios for utilizing Azure features: development and test, hybrid, application and infrastructure modernization, and Azure Mobile Services.

Get it on Microsoft Virtual Academy

via MSDN Blogs.

Don’t miss this event with some of our best speakers. The cloud is ready, are you?

via Einladung zur Road to the Cloud: Zürich.

Kernbankensystem in die Cloud

Temenos setzt auf Microsoft Azure

 

Zusammen mit Microsoft hat Temenos seine Kernbanken-Lösung “T24” in die Azure-Cloud gebracht. Die Lösung soll flexibler und schneller einsetzbar sein. Besonders in Schwellenländern soll die Lösung Wachstum generieren.Der Schweizer Softwarehersteller für Banken Temenos hat die neueste Version seines Kernbankensystem “T24” als Cloud-Lösung lanciert. Das Unternehmen wurde 1993 in Genf gegründet und zählt momentan 1600 Institutionen in über 150 Ländern zu seinen Kunden. Bereitgestellt wird die neue Lösung über die Microsoft Azure-Cloud, heisst es in einer Customer Story von Microsoft.

Zeit- und Kostenersparnis

Mit dem Gang in die Cloud folge Temenos dem Trend zur Digitalisierung in der Bankenbranche. Kunden würden zunehmend mobile Geräte für das Banking nutzen, und die neue Lösung biete eine Antwort auf dieses Bedürfnis, sagte Ben Robinson, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer des Unternehmens.

[…]

via Temenos setzt auf Microsoft Azure – Netzwoche.

One month after we announced AES dynamic encryption for live streaming, today we are excited to add PlayReady encryption for your live streams as well. With Azure Media Services, our supported streaming protocols, such as Http-live-streaming (HLS), Smooth Streaming and MPEG-DASH, you could configure either AES or PlayReady encryption and deliver the encrypted live stream.

via Announcing Azure Media Services Live Streaming With PlayReady encryption capability | Microsoft Azure Blog.

Exploit all the benefits of Cloud, while keeping your data secure…

By MikeByrnes | November 13, 2014

Earlier this year, CloudLink launched SecureVM for Microsoft Azure, a virtual machine security solution designed to encrypt boot and data volumes in the cloud. SecureVM was designed to address two key customer needs.

First and foremost, SecureVM addresses the top concern associated with running workloads on a cloud-based infrastructure. In the traditional physical world, organizations have adopted full disk encryption technology to protect against data loss. However, in a virtual and cloud computing world, organizations must now resolve how to protect VM images from malicious or accidental mounting of virtual disks, leading to sensitive data loss. SecureVM allows organizations to segregate their data and protect access to VM images, keeping data private from other tenants and even their cloud provider.

Second, SecureVM addresses solution deployment and management. The cloud is all about IT agility and this can be negatively affected by solutions that introduce new technology that involves learning how to use tools and make sure they inter-operate with existing applications and platforms. SecureVM is an innovative and pragmatic security solution that makes data encryption in the cloud easy to deploy and manage by enabling proven and familiar encryption tools already built into the operating system.

…

via Azure Virtual Machine Encryption – making data security easy to buy, deploy and manage | CloudLink.

You can find detailed instructions on how setting this up under: Encrypting Azure Virtual Machines with CloudLink SecureVM.