Public Cloud

Consume information platform capabilities as fully managed services from Microsoft datacenters.

Platform capabilities offered as a service

• More than a database also includes Reporting and Data Sync capabilities offered as a service.

• No need to build and manage virtual machines, install, setup, patch or manage any software.

• Simply connect to the service to get started and focus on your business and not infrastructure.

Easy provisioning and deployment

• Instant provisioning and deployment capabilities remove challenges in physical deployment.

• Web based provisioning and management portal.

• No hardware, physical DB or file management required.

Auto high availability and fault tolerance

• Automatic high availability with three replicas of your database.

• Built-in fault-tolerance.

• Automated and transparent maintenance and patching eliminates downtime.

Flexibility to scale out depending on needs and a pay-as-you-grow business model.

Database as a utility with pay as you grow scaling

• Elastic provisioning of databases.

• Pay-as-you-grow and shrink business model allows you to add or reduce capacity as required.

• Flexible scaling options to scale up and down without complex operational procedures.

Platform optimized for multi-tenant solutions

• Logical schema per tenant with isolated physical storage.

• Provision new tenants quickly and easily.

Rely on business-ready SLAs and global datacenters

• Rely on service level agreements that guarantee 99.9% uptime.

• Proven Microsoft data platform infrastructure and large geo-dispersed data centers.

Build cloud-based solutions using existing skills and the large ecosystem of developer and management tools.

Build cloud-scale solutions using familiar skills and tools

• Leverage familiar T-SQL based relational database model .

• Use same powerful development and administration tools as SQL Server.

• Same programming model and application connectivity as on-premises solutions.

Span on-premises and cloud with Data Sync

• Supports hybrid deployment models across the cloud and on-premises.

• Data Sync provides bi-directional data synchronization and data management capabilities allowing data to be easily shared between multiple SQL Azure databases and between SQL Server and SQL Azure databases.

Deliver rich insight with SQL Azure Reporting

• Embed cloud based reports on information stored in SQL Azure databases.

• Author reports using familiar SQL Server Reporting Services tools and then use these reports in applications which may be on-premises or in the cloud.

Consume or monetize data with Data Market

• Online marketplace that allows developers to buy and/or sell premium datasets.