The holidays are just about to end, but there's still time to boost your knowledge or learn something totally new.

During these two weeks we'll be giving the fourth and final topic of these Architect summer issues their place in the sun, namely Windows Azure Platform Interoperability. Click through and you'll find all the best material about Interoperability, presented based on the amount of time you want to spend on it.

Explore and dive into the Windows Azure Platform Interoperability Journey

Microsoft is totally committed to interoperability and as such the Windows Azure Platform has been built from the ground up with interoperability in mind, offering various choices to architects.

It allows you to use multiple languages, runtimes (.NET, PHP, Ruby, Python or Java) and development tools (Visual Studio or Eclipse) to design and build applications that run on Windows Azure and/or consume any of the Windows Azure platform offerings from any other cloud or on-premise platform.

Are you ready to explore the interoperability choices offered by the Windows Azure Platform? Have a look at our website and discover a handpicked choice of articles, white papers and videos on the subject.

Speaker : Bart Vande Ghinste

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

- For IT Professionals : Virtualisation(Part 1), Desktop Deployment, Virtualisation (Part 2), Best of TechDays 2011

- For Independant Software Vendors (ISV) : Leveraging the Cloud, Unlocking your Data, Mobility Scenarios, Leveraging the Web

- For Developers : Windows Phone 7 Mango, Visual Studio 2010 ALM, HTML5, Windows Azure Platform

The holidays are just about to end, but there's still time to boost your knowledge or learn something totally new.

During these two weeks we'll be giving the fourth and final topic of these MSDN summer issues their place in the sun, namely the Windows Azure Platform. Click through and you'll find all the best material about the Windows Azure Platform, presented based on the amount of time you want to spend on it.

You'll see that you can learn a whole lot in even half an hour and that in half a day or more, you can have your first Cloud application up and running online.
Cloud Computing blows away the clouds surrounding application development, so
be sure to take a look at what's in it for you. We're already convinced!

Speaker : Katrien De Graeve

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

-For IT Professionals : Virtualisation(Part 1), Desktop Deployment,Virtualisation (Part 2), Best of TechDays 2011

-For Architects : Cloud Power, the Windows Azure Platform, Cloud Patterns and Practices, Windows Azure Interoperability

-For Independant Software Vendors : Leveraging the Cloud, Unlocking your Data, Mobility Scenarios, Leveraging the Web

The holidays are just about to end, but there's still time to boost your knowledge or learn something totally new.

Durint these 2 weeks we'll be giving the fourth and final topic of this summer issue their place in the sun, namely the Web and the web browser. Click through and you'll find all the best resources, presented based on the amount of time you want to spend on it.

Explore and dive into Web solutions

What is the most used application on a computer nowadays? Most likely it will be the web browser.  The Web and the web browser have quickly become a user's natural habitat, a familiar environment, and with Web 2.0, a place to work, interact and play.

You as an independent software vendor (ISV) can take advantage of this in many ways.  The Web provides you a marketing platform to reach out to millions of potential customers for your application.  In that case, you will want to fully show the beauty of the web on your website to stand out and attract these customers.

On the other hand, you can use the Web as your application platform to build web applications or to extend your desktop application with existing web services (e.g. mapping unctionality, social media integration, etc.) to augment your core application usiness value.

Have  look at our website and discover a handpicked choice of articles, white papers nd videos explaining what Microsoft web technologies can bring to you as an ISV.

Speaker : Nick Trogh

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

-For IT Professionals : Virtualisation(Part 1), Desktop Deployment,Virtualisation (Part 2), Best of TechDays 2011

-For Architects : Cloud Power, the Windows AzurePlatform, Cloud Patterns and Practices, Windows Azure Platform Interoperability

-For Developers : Windows Phone 7 Mango, Visual Studio 2010 ALM, HTML5, The Windows Azure Platform

Multi-touch Application Showcase 'The Story of Phebus'

Take advantage of this special about mobility scenarios to dive a little deeper into one of the hot topics of the moment during the summer months. We have information geared to fit in with your busy schedule. Only have 30 minutes or half a day to spare? Choose from the basics through to the best tools and resources for getting to know these important mobile scenarios like the back of your hand.

Mobility scenarios is the third topic that we're diving into this summer. You can expect one last topic by mid-August on leveraging the Web.

So keep an eye on your mailbox and dive in this summer with MSDN!

Explore and dive into mobility solutions

Over the last couple of years, demand for mobile and remote work solutions has been growing.  This demand is being accelerated by various factors: on one hand, the technology for allowing this is commoditizing (e.g. smartphones, tablet PCs, ubiquitous Wi-Fi access); on the other hand, people are growing more and more accustomed to mobile applications, allowing them to be 'online' any time, anywhere (e.g. social media applications such as Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, etc.); finally, as traffic density and the associated economic and social impact are continuously growing, telecommuting is becoming the norm in many organizations.

As an independent software vendor (ISV), how easy is it for your customers to accommodate remote and mobile work scenarios using your application?  Does it require significant network or hardware investments (e.g. VPN  infrastructure)?  Does the application need a network connection all the time or do you support offline scenarios?  Can you take advantage of new device form factors and user experiences, such as smartphones, tables PCs and multi-touch?

Have a look at our website and discover a handpicked choice of articles, white papers and videos explaining how you can add support for mobile work scenarios and make them a competitive advantage for you as an ISV.

Speaker : Nick Trogh

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

- For Developers : Windows Phone 7 Mango, Visual Studio 2010 ALM, HTML5

- For IT Professionals : Virtualisation(Part 1), Desktop Deployment, Virtualisation (Part 2)

- For Architects : Cloud Power, the Windows Azure Platform, Cloud Patterns and Practices

Take advantage of this special about Cloud Patterns and Practices to dive a little deeper into one of the hot topics of the moment during the summer months. We have information geared to fit in with your busy schedule. Only have 30 minutes or half a day to spare? Choose from the basics through to the best tools and resources for getting to know these important patterns and practices like the back of your hand.

Cloud Patterns and Practices is the third topic that we're diving into this summer. You can expect one last topic by mid-August on the Windows Azure Platform Interoperability.

So keep an eye on your mailbox and dive in this summer with MSDN!

Explore and dive into Cloud Patterns and Practices

When designing and building architectures, architects need to be able to rely on a repository filled with commonly used patterns and best practices. Not only for avoiding pitfalls made by their predecessors, but also for saving time in building the solution and delivering value to their customers.

Building cloud-oriented solutions is not different as such. The paradigm is different and the patterns and practices used might be different as well, but the objectives are still the same: avoiding mistakes, maximizing the potential
of the architecture and delivering cost-effective value to customers.

Are you ready to explore the different Cloud Patterns and Practices? Have alook at our website and discover a handpicked choice of articles, whitepapers and videos on the subject.


Speaker : Bart Vande Ghinste

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

- For IT Professionals : Virtualisation(Part 1), Desktop Deployment,Virtualisation (Part 2)

- For Independant Software Vendors : Leveraging the Cloud, Unlocking your Data, Mobility Scenarios

- For Developers : Windows Phone 7 Mango, Visual Studio 2010 ALM, HTML5

HTML5 has become quite a buzzword lately. You might be asking yourself, should you care? Should you learn it? If you are involved with front-end applications and websites, we absolutely think you should.

Take advantage of this special about HTML5 to dive a little deeper into one of the hot topics of the moment during the summer months. We have information geared to fit in with your busy schedule. Only have 30 minutes or half a day to
spare? Choose from the basics through to the best tools and resources for getting to know this important front-end technology like the back of your hand.

HTML5 is the third topic that we're diving into this summer. You can expect one last topic by mid-August on the Windows Azure Platform.

So keep an eye on your mailbox and dive in this summer with MSDN!

Speaker : Katrien De Graeve

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

- For IT Professionals : Virtualisation (Part 1), Desktop Deployment, Virtualisation (Part 2)

- For Architects : Cloud Power, the Windows Azure Platform, Cloud Patterns and Practices

- For Independant Software Vendors : Leveraging the Cloud, Unlocking your Data, Mobility Scenarios

Multi-touch application showcase : 'Altra Interactive Media'

User Experience Design Patterns for multi-touch devices

Speaker : Sigrid Vandeweghe - Human Interface Group

Keynote : Natural User Interfaces - a perspective

Speaker : Luc Van de Velde

Summer's here and for the most of us this is the time we take that well-deserved rest and stand back a little from
the daily grind. It's also a time for some reflection, a time to think about the things that we would like to do during the next couple of months. 
This is why we will be serving you up with such a refreshing cocktail of new things to enjoy in 4 special issues of the Architect newsletter.

The second topic of this summer edition lets you dive into the Windows Azure Platform.

Explore and dive into  the Windows Azure Platform: Focus on the application, not the infrastructure.

The Windows Azure platform is an Internet-scale cloud computing services platform hosted in Microsoft data centres.

The Windows Azure platform provides architects with an Internet-scale hosting environment with a runtime execution environment for managed and unmanaged code. With geographically distributed data centres, Windows Azure compute provides architects with the functionality to build, host and manage complete and compelling applications across the world.

Are you ready to explore the Windows Azure Platform? Take a look at our website and browse through a handpicked choice of articles, white papers and videos explaining what the Windows Azure Platform has to offer.

Speaker : Bart Vande Ghinste

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

- For Developers : Windows Phone 7 Mango, Visuals Studio 2010 ALM

- For IT Professionals : Virtualization, Desktop Deployment

- For Independant Software Vendors (ISV) : Leveraging the Cloud, Unlocking your data

Fancy learning all about a new platform during the summer months? We're giving our MSDN newsletters a holiday feeling with four different topics in a bite-size format.

The second newsletter in our summer edition lets you dive into the new features in Visual Studio 2010 Application Lifecycle Management.

Your main goal is building quality applications that meet business requirements. ALM is designed to help you manage the entire lifespan of your application within the organization, using a set of proven processes supported by tools that integrate team members and activities.

Discover how we have pre-packaged both process and tooling content in bit-size formats. And of course: enjoy your holiday!

Speaker : Katrien De Graeve

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

- For IT Professionals : Virtualization, Desktop Deployment

- For Architects : Cloud Power, Windows Azure Platform

- For Independant Software Vendors (ISV) : Leveraging the Cloud, Unlocking your Data 

Summer's here and for the most of us this is the time we take that well-deserved rest and stand back a little from
the daily grind. It's also a time for some reflection, a time to think about the things that we would like to do during the next couple of months.

This is why we will be serving you up with such a refreshing cocktail of new things to enjoy in 4 special issues of the MSDN newsletter. The second topic of this summer edition lets you dive into Business Intelligence.

Explore and dive into Business Intelligence

As you build line-of-business (LOB) applications, information workers need to have proper insights into their business data and ask for an appropriate analytics solution. Building these solutions is often a complex and time-consuming business, resulting in solutions that don't correspond precisely to the user's requirements and expectations. As an ISV, building applications on top of Microsoft SQL Server, you have the platform for business intelligence at your fingertips to help users unlock their business data through reporting, and self-service BI using Excel 2010 and PowerPivot.

Have a look at our website and discover a handpicked choice of articles, white papers and videos explaining what Microsoft BI has to offer for you as an ISV.

Speaker : Nick Trogh

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

- For Developers : Windows Phone 7 Mango, Visual Studio 2010 ALM

- For Architects : Cloud Power, Windows Azure Platform

- For IT Professionals : Virtualization, Desktop Deployment

​In this fast paced and ever changing world, insight in your company's data becomes more and more crucial to stay ahead. Power users need this insight in data now, not in the next week or month. Due to this trend, BI has to evolve
into a more mobile, quick and personal approach. Microsoft addresses this need for self-service BI for Power Users with Report Builder 3.0 and PowerPivot.
This session gives you a quick overview of the SQL Server BI stack and introduces you to the concepts of self-service BI.

Speaker : Luc Lemaire & Koen Verbeeck

Luc Lemaire is a Senior Architect at Ordina Belgium .During his 20 year career in IT he advised and assisted many companies with the introduction and optimization of new technology. As an MCT, MCSE and certified MCDBA since SQL Server 6.5 Luc knows the ins and outs of IT infrastructure and IT projects. He currently focuses on the Microsoft SQL Server stack and managing the life cycle of reporting and BI projects.   

Koen Verbeeck is a Microsoft Business Intelligence consultant at Ordina, where he is an active member of the
"Business Data Optimization" competence center. Koen has a comprehensive knowledge of the SQL Server BI stack, with a particular love for Integration Services. You can find him answering questions at the MSDN SSIS forum and at
SQLServerCentral.com

Summer's here and for the most of us this is the time we take that well-deserved rest and stand back a little from the daily grind. It's also a time for some reflection, a time to think about the things that we would like to do during the next couple of months.

For this very reason, MSDN is highlighting a number of topics that might be of interest to you. Topics that allow you as independent software vendor (ISV) to build great software once the summer months are but a distant memory and the
pressure is back on, pushing you to be even more effective in what you are doing.

How does it work? There's a short introductory video, after which you have the chance to learn more about the topic at hand, depending on the time you have available or want to spend on it: half an hour, half a day or a full day. That
way you can explore the presentation content to suit your personal timetable.

Explore and dive into Cloud Computing

As an independent software vendor (ISV), why should you care about cloud computing? The answer is simple: using the cloud has the potential to increase your revenue and/or decrease your costs. Running code and storing data on
computers in large Internet-accessible data centers owned by somebody else can offer compelling advantages. Think about your agility to scale computing resources up and down in a matter of minutes, or speed up your time to market,
or expand your reach globally – and all within a managed, secured and high-availability environment.

Have a look at our website and discover a handpicked choice of articles, white papers and videos explaining what the cloud has to offer for you as an ISV.

Speaker : Nick Trogh

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

- For IT Professionals : Virtualization

- For Architects : Cloud Power

- For Developers : Windows Phone 7 Mango

Summer's here and for the most of us this is the time we take that well-deserved rest and stand back a little from the daily grind. It's also a time for some reflection, a time to think about the things that we would like to do during the next couple of months.
 
For this very reason, MSDN is highlighting a number of topics that might be of interest to you. Topics that allow you as architects to build great solutions once the summer months are but a distant memory and the pressure is back on,
pushing you to be even more effective in what you are doing.

How does it work? There's a short introductory video, after which you have the chance to learn more about the topic at hand, depending on the time you have available or want to spend on it: half an hour, half a day or a full day. That way you can explore the presentation content to suit your personal timetable.

Explore and dive into Microsoft's Cloud Power

Microsoft is committed in leading the cloud story by having all its products aimed at the same cloud vision, effectively creating a whole spectrum of cloud solutions, aligned and integrated into a larger 'cloud continuum'.

Cloud Power is the key name in driving the Microsoft cloud vision across our solutions towards our partners and customers, It's the vision that sparks innovation with tools and solutions that lets you develop and deliver applications while using the tools, languages and products people already know. It gives your IT organization the power to focus on business instead of worrying about the plumbing behind it, saving you money, resources and enabling time to be spent elsewhere.

Are you ready to explore Microsoft's Cloud Power? Take a look at our site and browse through a handpicked choice of articles, white papers and videos explaining what 'cloud' means from a Microsoft perspective.

Speaker : Bart Vande Ghinste

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

- For IT Professionals : Virtualization

- For Developers : Windows Phone 7 Mango

- For Independant Software Vendors (ISV) : Leveraging the Cloud

During the summer we all have a little more time to immerse ourselves in something new and enjoyable. This is why we will be serving you up with such a refreshing cocktail of new things to enjoy in 4 special issues of the MSDN newsletter, that you won't be able to resist and dive straight in.

How does it work? There's a short introductory video, after which you have the chance to learn more about the topic at hand, depending on the time you have available or want to spend on it: half an hour, half a day or a full day. That way you can explore the presentation content to suit your personal timetable.

Topic number one for this summer is Windows Phone 7 Mango update.

One year and more than 17,000 applications later, the first update for Windows Phone 7 is now here. Codenamed Mango, this SDK update offers developers more than 1500 new APIs and features for creating innovative applications.

With new features such as SQL local database, Fast application switching, Tile enhancements and much more, the quieter summer months are the perfect time to dive in and immerse yourself.

As ever, all of the tools, including Visual Studio and Blend, are totally free of charge and easy to install.

We know you'll have the best time ever developing new applications!

Speaker : Katrien De Graeve

Other interesting Summer Campaigns :

- For IT Professionals : Virtualization

- For Architects : Cloud Power

- For Independant Software Vendors (ISV) : Leveraging the Cloud

What happens if you combine 2 of the hottest technologies for your applications? Find out in this very session! If we combine the capabilities of Windows Azure with the rich UX of Silverlight, we are capable of building great... what am I saying: exceptional web applications. We'll look at building an app in Silverlight running from Azure and we'll look at the topics of interest that you'll encounter when hosting services in the cloud to be consumed from Silverlight, considerations for Windows Azure Storage if used from Silverlight etc.

>> Download the slides

Speaker : Gill Cleeren

Gill Cleeren is Microsoft Regional Director (www.theregion.com), Silverlight MVP (former ASP.NET MVP), INETA speaker bureau member and Silverlight Insider. He lives in Belgium where he works as .NET architect at Ordina. Passionate about .NET, he's always playing with the newest bits. In his role as Regional Director, Gill has given many sessions, webcasts and trainings on new as well as existing technologies, such as Silverlight, ASP.NET and WPF
at conferences including TechEd Berlin 2010, TechDays Belgium, DevDays NL, NDC Oslo Norway, SQL Server Saturday Switserland, Spring Conference UK, Silverlight Roadshow in Sweden... He's also the author of many articles in various developer magazines and for SilverlightShow.net. He organizes the yearly Community Day event in Belgium.

He also leads Visug (www.visug.be), the largest .NET user group in Belgium. Gill recently published his first book:
"Silverlight 4 Data and Services Cookbook" (Packt Publishing). You can find his blog at www.snowball.be.

Twitter: @gillcleeren

There are plenty of business drivers for enterprises to consider a move the
cloud, but at the same time there are plenty of reasons as well why these
enterprises will not be able to move their entire stack in the short term. At
least for the next ten years hybrid systems will be the defacto standard way of
implementing cloud based systems in the corporate world. In this session I will
show you around the different services, offered by the Windows Azure Platform,
that ensure a seamless integration between cloud and on-premises resources.

>> Download the PPT here.

Speaker : Yves Goeleven

Yves Goeleven is a Windows Azure MVP and Solution Architect for Capgemini
Belgium. His main focus is on the implementation of enterprise grade solutions
on the Microsoft's platform in corporate environments, based on both custom
software development practices as well as platform services offered by
Microsoft, including for example the Windows Azure Platform and xRM.

Extra resources :

Windows Azure SDK and Windows

Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio

Windows Azure Platform Training Kit

Speaker : Christophe De Baene

Speaker : Christophe De Baene

Speaker : Christophe De Baene, RealDolmen

Session : What makes a great touch experience?

Speaker : Sigrid Vandenweghe, Human Interface Group

Speaker : Christophe De Baene, RealDolmen

Lunchbox - Developing a Windows Phone 7 Application at Microsoft leveraging Windows Azure

​The Lunchbox Windows Phone 7 application was developed by a group of enthusiast people within Microsoft to showcase the Microsoft application platform. We have found that in developing an application that requires some server-based components, a level of complexity gets added to your design. In this session, we will focus on the complexities that come with developing an application with client and server components. Specifically, we’ll talk about using the Windows Azure Platform to host the server components, implementing asynchronous server logic and how to perform authentication and authorization to protect your data.

Speaker : Nick Trogh

Nick Trogh is an ISV Developer Evangelist for Microsoft Belgium & Luxembourg and responsible for helping Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to be successful by building software on the Microsoft Platform. Before that he has been an application development consultant for over 10 years, of which 5 years at Microsoft Consulting Services. It’s within MCS that he’s been involved in developing the Lunchbox Windows Phone 7 application.
Nick blogs at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nicktrog/