[This article was contributed by the AppFabric team.]

The Windows Azure June CTP has only been released a few days ago, and we already have great samples built by our customers that show how to use the CTP capabilities.

Alan Smith has created two webcasts on CloudCasts that show how easy it is to develop AppFabric applications using the June CTP capabilities:

• Introduction to AppFabric Applications – shows how to use various capabilities released in the June CTP.
• Using AppFabric Service Bus Queues – shows how easy it is to build an application that uses the capabilities in the June CTP along with Service Bus Queues in order to build an application that bridges between a web site running in the cloud, and an application running on-premises.

Watch these videos to learn more about these capabilities and how to use them. We hope you enjoy them as we did!

If you would also like to start using the June CTP here is what you need to do:

1. To request access to the Application Manager follow these steps:

• Sign in to the AppFabric Management Portal at .
• Choose the entry titled “Applications” under the “AppFabric” node on the left side of the screen.
• Click on the “Request Namespace” button on the toolbar on the top of the screen.
• You will be asked to answer a few questions before you can request the namespace.
• Your request will be in a “pending” state until it gets approved and you can start using the Application Manager capabilities.

2. In order to build applications you will need to install the Windows Azure AppFabric CTP SDK and the Windows Azure AppFabric Tools for Visual Studio. Even if you don’t have access to the Application Manager you can still install the tools and SDK to build and run applications locally in your development environment.

Please don’t forget to visit the Windows Azure AppFabric CTP Forum to ask questions and provide us with your feedback.

Itai Raz, Product Manager