Windows Azure Marketplace

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Data

The internet is a source of vast quantities of data, both public domain and commercial content. Many organizations publish datasets in a wide variety of disparate formats, to which customers can subscribe. However, it can be difficult for customers to locate and subscribe to these datasets. Furthermore, it can be challenging to use these datasets in ways that add value.

Consider a business that has identified a need for a specific type of data, whether it is customers and their buying habits, products from suppliers, geographical information, population statistics, scientific research, political statistics, or entertainment information. An internet search will

locate several competing data suppliers. But how does the customer make a fair and direct comparison of the dataset features to select the one most suitable? (ЗИНА)

And this is just the beginning. After the company has located and chosen a suitable dataset, how do they integrate it into their business? The fact is, data is often available in a wide variety of formats. For example, many publishers use XML, but define their own schema, and may use SOAP, REST, or JSON to exchange information. As a result, the business must devote development time to integrate the dataset into its desktop applications, web sites, cloud applications, and other data-consuming software. This issue is multiplied across every single dataset that the company acquires from different sources.

After the dataset has been integrated into the company, users get their hands on it for the first time. Poor quality data only becomes obvious at this point—and if it is, in fact, not useful, the purchase and development costs have been for naught. And although many dataset suppliers promise a certain level of availability through their Service Level Agreements (SLAs), some suppliers are over-ambitious and may not meet their obligations. (Я)

Figure 1: The Windows Azure Marketplace Catalog

Extending the Reach and Scale of Your Data and Applications

One challenge for publishers with rich, high-quality information and applications has been how to publicize those assets to the global market. Bear in mind that even localized assets may have a global appeal; for example, a database of United States customer addresses may be of interest to any company selling into the United States from other countries. When you become a partner, you automatically obtain the global reach that the Windows Azure Marketplace enjoys.

Furthermore, because the Windows Azure Marketplace is built on Microsoft Azure® and runs in industry-leading data centers, it integrates seamlessly with your Windows Azure application or component and won’t require additional heavy investments in hardware when publishing data. The service provides almost unlimited scalability and can guarantee high availability. And when you need to increase the size of your dataset, the Windows Azure Marketplace will scale smoothly with your requirements. (МАША)

Naturally, in addition to the data available on the Marketplace, the ability for developers to create, publish and distribute Applications that help end users get the full benefits of the information they are looking for, makes the Windows Azure Marketplace the premier destination for finding data driven solutions on the Windows Azure platform. Data, even if valuable and relevant, still needs to be made available to users in a presentable format that can be integrated into existing user experiences. The ability to bundle application with premium data from any of the many authoritative sources published at the Marketplace provides application developers with a great advantage and an innovative opportunity to provide customers with the information they crave in a solution that works for them, and to add value to existing applications with additional data that was not previously available. (ДАША)

Benefits of unified billing

The Windows Azure Marketplace functions as an information marketplace and brokerage business. That is, it provides all the facilities a publisher needs to monetize the value of premium data and applications. You no longer need to provide e-commerce functionality such as shopping baskets, check-out tools, and invoicing. In addition, subscribers trust the data and applications found in the Windows Azure Marketplace, because they know they will get high-quality

products and excellent service, allowing you to simply benefit from the security and availability that is built in.

Diverse Content Types

The Windows Azure Marketplace is a marketplace for information and Windows Azure applications of all types. For example, you could use it to power business—like publicizing your product, product catalogs, market research, or other web services. However, the Windows Azure Marketplace is not exclusively a resource for business data and applications, and in fact already includes datasets well beyond the traditional concerns of business organizations.

The information and applications available in the Windows Azure Marketplace continues to grow and diversify, including both commercial and free options, such as public domain data from federal and state governments and free trials to many pieces of commercial content. (ТАНЯ)