Data Backup Digest

Elastic cloud computing has been a hot topic as of late. Used as sort of a catch-all term, elastic cloud computing refers to a system's ability to adapt and cater to specific and changing workloads on the fly. A highly technical process that involves a high level of system autonomy, advanced resource management capabilities and the ability to keep up with evolving demands.

Microsoft has embraced elastic cloud computing as of late via their Azure SQL Data Warehouse service, which was only recently moved into general availability. A database-as-a-service solution, Microsoft hopes to bolster enterprise-level IT functionality and accessibility.

Joseph Sirosh, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Data Group, spoke about the accessibility of Azure SQL Data Warehouse in a blog post, where he stated: "With a few clicks in the Azure Portal, you can launch a data warehouse, and start analyzing or querying data at the scale of hundreds of terabytes. Our architecture separates compute and storage so that you can independently scale them, and use just the right amount of each at any given time. A very unique pause feature allows you to suspend compute in seconds and resume when needed while your data remains intact in Azure storage."

Ease-of-Use

One of the key selling points of Microsoft's new Azure SQL Data Warehouse is the program's ease-of-use. Additional selling points include simplified scalability, independent storage architectures, unparalleled security and the ability to suspend or resume operations as needed.

The sheer accessibility and user-friendliness of Azure SQL Data Warehouse, combined with the functionality of various integrated services that are also available through the Azure Marketplace, are already garnering new customers for Microsoft.

Bill Sabo, managing director of IT with Integral Analytics, spoke candidly about his company's transition to Microsoft Azure by stating: "When we learned about the pause and resume capabilities of SQL Data Warehouse and integrated services like Azure Machine Learning and Data Factory, we switched from AWS Redshift, migrating over 7TB of uncompressed data over a week for the simple reasons of saving money and enabling a more straight-forward implementation for advanced analytics. To meet our business intelligence requirements, we load data once or twice a month and then build reports for our customers. Not having the data warehouse service running all the time is key for our business and our bottom line."

Integral Analytics isn't the only company that's been able to utilize SQL Data Warehouse effectively. The team with PoundSand recently utilized the platform in order to accommodate a workload increase of 100 times their average. The team with Jet.com uses Azure SQL Data Warehouse in tandem with PolyBase to analyze tens of billions of records, or approximately 20 terabytes of data, on a daily basis.

About Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure was first introduced to the public in 2010, though it took some time for the concept to catch on to the mainstream public. To find out more information about the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, Azure SQL Data Warehouse or the Azure Marketplace, make sure to visit their official website at azure.microsoft.com.