Robust Cloud Integration with Azure

What is cloud computing?

There is little doubt that the concept of cloud computing is still in its infancy and as such, the definition of what cloud computing means is still much debated. This book doesn't seek to enter into the debate, instead prefers to focus on the services and capabilities that Azure can provide.

A good (and impartial) definition is available at http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/SP/nistspecialpublication800-145.pdf provided by The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), who defined cloud computing as follows:

"Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and ...