Overview of Microsoft SQL Azure

Companies today are faced with ever-increasing amounts of data from numerous sources that need to be shared across a variety of devices. Meeting these needs requires constant investment in servers, operating systems, storage, and networking. Microsoft® SQL Azure Database, provides an improved way to respond to these challenges with enhanced manageability, scalability, and developer agility. This whitepaper provides an overview of the SQL Azure Database. It lays out the advantages for using a cloud-based relational database service, and also describes practical usage scenarios that help you understand how SQL Azure Database can be used to optimize business solutions.

Similarities and Differences - SQL Azure vs. SQL Server

SQL Azure Database is a cloud database service from Microsoft. SQL Azure provides web-facing database functionality as a utility service. Cloud-based database solutions such as SQL Azure can provide many benefits, including rapid provisioning, cost-effective scalability, high availability, and reduced management overhead. This paper provides an architectural overview of SQL Azure Database, and describes how you can use SQL Azure to augment your existing on-premises data infrastructure or as your complete database solution