Freato R. - Microsoft Azure Development Cookbook

Roberto Freato has been an independent IT consultant since he started working. He worked for several small software firms while he was studying. After completing his MSc in Computer Science and Engineering, where he worked on a thesis on Consumer Cloud Computing, he specialized in cloud and Azure. Today, he works as a freelance consultant for important companies in Italy, helping clients design and kick-off their distributed software solutions. He trains for the developer community in his free time, addressing many conferences. He is a Microsoft MVP since 2010.

Thanks to Simona, Mom, and Dad.

Neil Mackenzie has worked with computers for nearly 3 decades. He started his computer career doing large-scale numerical simulations for scientific research and business planning. Since then, he has primarily been involved in healthcare software and developing electronic medical record systems. He has been using Microsoft Azure since PDC 2008 and has used nearly all parts of the Microsoft Azure platform, including those parts that no longer exist. Neil is very active in the online Microsoft Azure community, contributing to the MSDN Microsoft Azure forums in particular. He is a Microsoft MVP for Microsoft Azure.

I would like to thank all the people from whom I've learned Microsoft Azure. I would also like to thank the staff at Packt Publishing for nursing the project along and Brent Stineman for first suggesting my name to them. I have found the comments from the technical reviewers invaluable, which immeasurably improved the book. Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife, Claire, and my children for suffering through all the late nights and lost weekends that went into the writing of the book.

Michael S. Collier serves as a principal cloud architect for Aditi Technologies, a Microsoft NSI partner that focuses on cloud computing. He is a four-time Azure MVP and was the 2012 Azure MVP of the Year for his extraordinary community contributions. Michael has had a successful 12-year career at various consulting and technology firms, where he was instrumental in leading and developing solutions for a wide range of clients. He has many years of experience in helping companies determine the best strategy to adopt cloud computing and providing insight and hands-on experience to ensure that they're successful. He is also a respected technology community leader, and can often be found sharing his Azure insights and experiences at regional and national conferences. You can follow Michael's experiences with Azure on his blog at www.michaelscollier.com and on Twitter at @MichaelCollier.

Peter Kirchner has been working as a technical evangelist at Microsoft, Germany, since 2008. In this role, he addresses conferences and writes articles that focus on cloud computing, with the goal to inspire new technologies and support developers and administrators in developing for and using the Microsoft platform. Before working with Microsoft, Peter gained experience working in the area of SharePoint development and consulting. While studying, he showed interest in network technologies, security, and distributed systems, and graduated with a Diploma in Computer Science.

Sarang Kulkarni lives in Pune, India, with his wife and daughter. He has been coding for food for the last 14 years, and also talking and writing about it for the last 6 years. He has mostly been around the Microsoft stack, with an occasional adventure in SAP ABAP and Amazon AWS. Sarang has been building SaaS products and services on the Azure stack since the "Red Dog" days. He worked with big consulting firms such as Accenture, Avanade, and Cognizant before settling in Zevenseas, a SharePoint company, building and growing its Azure business.

Sarang has previously worked on a collaborative book, Windows Azure Platform: Articles from the Trenches , as a co-author.

Thanks to Packt Publishing for approaching me with this interesting opportunity. I would also thank my family and my colleagues at Zevenseas for being supportive of everything I keep on doing.

Sachin Prakash Sancheti hails from a small town in western India called Washim. He has 15 years' experience, much of which was focused on Microsoft-oriented technologies. In the last 4 years, he developed an expertise in cloud computing across both Windows Azure and AWS. An innovative architect with solid technology acumen, Sachin is also an avid blogger and speaker. He calls himself "a whiteboard as well as a keyboard guy." Being proud of his modest origins, Sachin would like to bring recognition in some form to his hometown, Washim.

Currently, Sachin is working with Symphony Teleca, Pune, as a principal architect. Earlier in his career, he was with Infosys and Microsoft, both in India. Immediately prior to Symphony Teleca, he spent a couple of years with a startup called Cumulux, which was acquired by Aditi Technologies for its expertise in Windows Azure.

I would like to thank Packt Publishing for this opportunity to review the book. A special thanks to my wife, Vaidehi, who is my pillar when it comes to clearing the clutter in my mind. Clearly, she is the secret to my ability to focus on the task at hand.