New DataMarket, Improved SQL Azure Services Announced -- Visual Studio Magazine

Data Driverby David Ramel

New DataMarket, Improved SQL Azure Services Announced

Microsoft last week announced that its portal to buy and sell data services has launched as DataMarket, part of the Windows Azure Marketplace.

Formerly called Project Codename "Dallas," the market serves as a repository "that makes it easy to discover, purchase and consume data through a variety of different sources, both public domain and commercial," said program manager Steve Yi in a PDC10 session.

DataMarket has a new Web site and new information sources available for subscription, with many more on the way. The site lists 13 data categories such as Financial, News, Statistics and Weather, along with 28 publishers and more than 70 individual data feeds.

The feeds are typically presented in the XML-based OData format and can be easily integrated into applications built with the .NET Framework, for example, or directly into PowerPivot and Tableau data visualization projects.

Microsoft is rolling out new paid services through Nov. 22, with a variety of pricing and consumption options. Users can also request early access to the paid subscriptions.

You can learn more about DataMarket here, and Microsoft has also put up several YouTube videos, dealing with topics such as discovering and subscribing to data and using DataMarket with PowerPivot.

In other data-centric news, the company announced several enhancements to the cloud-based SQL Azure, including a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of SQL Azure Reporting, bringing the same capabilities of SQL Server Reporting Services to the cloud.

A SQL Azure Data Sync CTP 2 was also announced, along with a lightweight, Silverlight-based database manager, formerly called "Project Codename Houston."

You can learn more by watching the following PDC10 video presentations:

Introduction to Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket

What’s New in SQL Azure

Code First Development with Entity Framework

Building Engaging Apps with Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket

Introduction to SQL Azure Data Sync

Introduction to SQL Azure Reporting

Introduction to Database Manager

What do you think about the new DataMarket and SQL Azure enhancements? Comment here or drop me a line.

Posted by David Ramel on 11/03/2010

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