CCH, which provides software for business professionals, adapted its sales tax–calculation application to run on the Windows Azure™ platform. CCH expects its use of Windows Azure to result in greater choice for customers, the ability to scale on demand, and lower costs. The company found the learning curve for the migration experience to be smooth and easy for developers because of the familiar tool set and operating environment of the Windows Azure platform.

Kelley Blue Book is a premier provider of vehicle pricing information to consumers, automotive dealers, governments, and the finance and insurance industries. The company developed its information-rich, high-traffic Web site using the Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5 and supports it with two hosted data centers. In an effort to reduce hosting costs and ease management of its infrastructure, Kelley Blue Book decided to implement the Windows Azure™ platform—which proved to be a straightforward process. As a result, Kelley Blue Book is able to reduce capital expenditures for new hardware, increase its competitive advantage by focusing on delivering new features, save U.S.$100,000 annually in hosting costs, and use IT resources more strategically.

Invensys Operations Management is out to make it easier and less expensive for small electric utilities in the United States to participate in smart grid, an energy modernization program supported by the U.S. government. Utilities need a high-performance, low-cost way to distribute real-time pricing data to customers so that they can make smarter consumption decisions. Invensys responded by creating a smart grid communications platform using The Service Bus and Access Control Service, both part of the Windows Azure™ platform. The resulting platform enables utilities to immediately embrace smart grid services at affordable prices. Such services will help utility customers save money by using energy more wisely. Invensys developed its pilot solution in just three months as part of a plan to realize increased revenues from selling smart grid–compliant products and services.

Responding to high numbers of deaths at sea in the fishing industry, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution contracted Active Web Solutions (AWS) to create an automated sea-safety application. AWS developed a location-based service infrastructure, code-named GeoPoint, which transmits position data to a centralized tracking and alerting system. AWS used GeoPoint to build MOB Guardian, a search-and-rescue application for fishing vessels. To extend GeoPoint to more scenarios, AWS migrated it to the Windows Azure™ platform. By hosting GeoPoint in the “cloud,” in Microsoft® data centers, AWS attained massive scalability, richer functionality, and lower infrastructure costs. AWS was able to quickly convert its application to a hosted service and avoid the expense of building and managing a data center. AWS also has the flexibility and scalability to offer GeoPoint to many more markets.

Cast Iron Systems specializes in helping organizations connect Internet-hosted (cloud) applications with on-premises applications. When Microsoft announced the Windows Azure™ platform, Cast Iron set out to enhance its Cast Iron Integration Solution with Windows Azure platform connectivity. Using the Service Bus and Access Control Service, Cast Iron created the needed connectors in just one day. Faster time-to-market enabled Cast Iron to supply a timely solution to an urgent need. Its enhanced product can help customers host applications off-premises without concerns about interoperability with on-premises data. With the Cast Iron Integration Solution, companies can now use application data wherever it resides and scale workloads without worrying about overloading the communications infrastructure.

Two decades ago Quark changed the course of traditional publishing with its QuarkXPress® desktop publishing software. Today the company provides publishing solutions to customers around the world across multiple channels. To reach more customers in the huge but fragmented small-to-midsize business market Quark wanted to offer a service combining the flexibility of Web-based computing and the richness of PC-based software. It used the Windows® Azure™ platform and Microsoft® development tools to create Quark Promote, a service through which customers use professionally designed templates to create customized marketing materials that can be picked up at a neighborhood printer or received by mail. The service lets Quark tap into the Web-to-print market, helps business partners increase revenues, and provides customers with an easy, affordable way to create high-quality marketing materials.

ITNAmerica®, the first national non-profit transportation service for the aging population and the visually impaired, was founded with the goal of providing affordable, easy-to-access transportation in automobiles by matching seniors with paid and volunteer drivers in local communities. To make it work – and to grow the ITNAmerica service nationwide – required flexible and scalable technology that could be easily deployed and managed. The ITNAmerica development team turned to Microsoft® products and, with the help of Reliable Software, used a software-plus-services model to redesign its ITNRidesTM software. The result is a highly scalable, flexible software solution that can be easily deployed to new ITN® affiliates and is opening up a huge potential market for the company.

Crisis Call Center is a northern Nevada–based crisis-hotline service. For years, the nonprofit ran its entire operation on one aged server that was slow and unreliable, but there were no funds to upgrade it. Through a generous grant by local Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner IQ Systems, Crisis Call Center licensed the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, part of Microsoft Online Services, which gives employees access to the latest communications and collaboration software over the Internet. The strategy has trimmed technology management work by U.S.$20,000 annually and eliminated a recurring capital expense of $15,000. Online access to documents and modern communications tools gives employees more time to help individuals in crisis. And with data stored in Microsoft data centers, the nonprofit can provide uninterrupted service without fear of a server disaster.

Based in Portugal, Multivector is a professional services business that provides software for advertisers, publishers, and content providers. Since 1998, the company has specialised in real estate and car dealerships, helping these advertisers manage their businesses while reaching a large audience through dozens of Internet portals. Now it has launched AdClip, an online service where advertisers can post classified listings that have the potential to reach hundreds of publishers and many thousands of customers worldwide.

The Internet is a powerful tool for government agencies that wish to provide timely, accurate information to constituents. However, constraints such as costs, limited resources for IT administration, and connectivity issues sometimes hamper the ability of public organizations to use the Web to its fullest potential. Granicus, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, tackled the problem by creating a suite of solutions using a software-plus-services approach based on Microsoft technologies. The resulting products provide government agencies with the speed and flexibility of locally installed software and the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of hosted solutions.