[This article was contributed by the SQL Azure team.]

TechEd wound to a close last Friday.  Our engineering leaders put together some great demos and presentations that help developers take advantage of cloud data with SQL Azure, as well as preview what’s coming next on the roadmap. The blogosphere has been very active with articles from people who have been excited to share their insights and experiences from the conference.  Below are a few that deserve a closer look:

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Mary-Jo Foley wrote a great post that summarized the SQL Azure announcements at TechEd, especially our initiatives in event-processing by putting StreamInsight in the cloud: All About Microsoft: “Microsoft readies ‘Austin,’ an Azure-hosted event-processing service”

 

Summary: Microsoft’s making a progression to transfer SQL Server capabilities into the cloud, and transform them into service solutions. Foley’s article details one of Microsoft’s latest solutions: Codename “Austin”. In addition to providing technical insight on “Austin”, the article elaborates on some of the possible scenarios that the solution could be implemented, as well as highlighting other fascinating SQL Azure news features that are worth reading about.

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Robert Wahbe, Corporate Vice President of Server & Tools, authored a guest post on the The Official Microsoft Blog, titled “Charting your Course into the Cloud”

 

Summary: The article summarizes the keynote talk that he delivered to developers and other IT professionals at TechEd.  During the conference, Wahbe highlighted evolving trends in technologies like cloud computing, the changes in the device landscape, the economics of cloud computing and how Microsoft is helping partners manage this new environment. The article references to several Microsoft press releases, a whitepaper and a case study which makes this a valuable read.

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Author Paul Thurrott, who writes the blog, Windows IT Pro, wrote this post on TechEd: “What I’ve Learned (So Far) at TechEd 2011”

 

Summary: This article was written after Day 1 of TechEd, but it highlights some of the exciting technologies that were featured just in one day. Thurrott’s article highlights solutions such as MultiPoint Server 2011, and Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” He also has written an article here, which summarizes Microsoft’s case for cloud offerings during the TechEd keynote speech.

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Susan Inbach blogs in the Canadian Solution Developer and wrote this piece recently on TechEd: “Get Excited About  Your Job Again- TechEd”

 

Summary:  This article is more of an interesting lifestyle piece about what it’s like to be at a developer conference. Inbach highlights some of the networking tactics that she used at TechEd to make new contacts and get exposed to new ideas. It really got her engaged in the entire experience. I think that this is a fun piece that really highlights why, if you get the opportunity, you should go to a developer’s conference like TechEd.

There were so many things to write about TechEd this year. If you weren’t able to view the demonstrations and other presentations from TechEd 2011 that were reviewed in the articles above, take a look at them all here at Channel 9.

-Steve.