Improving performance of web applications using cloud resources

Cloud computing has emerged as one of the enabling technologies that allows the business and IT world to use computer resource effectively and more efficiently. Microsoft Azure provides a Windows based environment for running applications and storing data on servers in data centers; SQL Azure provides data services in the cloud based on SQL Server; and .NET Services offer distributed infrastructure services to cloud-based and local applications. The main objective of the paper is to outline the steps involved in developing and deploying applications for Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform. It also includes the performance analysis of cloud hosting over traditional web hosting. The sample application is a website, designed using the Microsoft Visual Studio environment and utilizing open source .NET templates; in order to illustrate the services and features associated with Microsoft Azure Platform.