Note: This post is for PHP and Ruby Developers based in or near Dublin, Ireland.
There’s no denying that Cloud Computing has been a particularly hot space for the last year. I’m sure many of you have given Amazon Web Services (Infrastructure as a Service) and Google App Engine (Platform as a Service) a go by now, if not actually using them to run software of your own making.
In the last year the buzz from Microsoft on their Azure offering has been gradually getting louder, to the point where they are now rolling it out. Microsoft’s proposition is interesting as, in simple terms, it’s a like a mix between the IaaS and PaaS models that are pursued by Amazon and Google. As part of their drive to let developers know about Azure, Microsoft have been reaching out to development communities that would traditionally be non-Microsoft centric — in particular PHP and Ruby.
For example, in late 2009 both David and Helgi were invited by Microsoft to their head office in Redmond for a summit of 25 PHP developers from around the world. Over the course of a few days they were given an insight into Microsoft’s plans for Azure and PHP, amongst other things. You can read more about what they learned in Helgi’s blog post on the summit.
Overall, I think reaching out and engaging with different development communities is a smart move by Microsoft, as PHP and Ruby communities make up a large proportion of the international web app development workforce. I think it also lends Microsoft a bit more credibility in Open Source circles.
All that aside, Azure has a beefy infrastructure behind it. In the last two years Microsoft have built a number of half-billion dollar data centres around the world. I was lucky enough to see their Irish one up close. The place is HUGE, everything seemed to be designed with scale, sustainability and security in mind.
So, this month echolibre and Microsoft are bringing Josh Holmes to Dublin to talk directly to Irish developers about building and deploying web apps on the Azure platform. This free event takes place on Sunday 21st February at 19:30, in the Radisson Hotel on Golden Lane. You can book your place here.
This event is a good opportunity for anyone looking to get up and running with a cloud based development project. I’m sure the mix of Ruby and PHP people will probably lead to some interesting conversations afterwards 🙂
