Earlier this year, we announced the Windows Azure Platform Appliance, which will allow customers to run the Windows Azure environment in their own data centers or via a third-party hosting provider. Look for more announcements about the Platform Appliance in 2011.

At PDC 2010, we announced a number of enhancements to the operator experience on Azure. These include a completely redesigned portal, access to new diagnostic information, a vastly simplified sign-up process, and scenario-based forums to help answer questions and facilitate knowledge sharing.

These Windows Azure enhancements will be generally available by the end of 2010.

Please continue to let us know how we can improve the deployment experience on Windows Azure for you.

This work is in progress

At PDC 2010, we announced Windows Azure AppFabric Caching – a distributed, in-memory cache for applications running in Windows Azure.

Based on Windows Server AppFabric Caching capabilities, it’s intended to significantly speed up access to data for your Windows Azure applications.

This feature is in CTP now, and should be generally available in 2011. You can find more details here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazureappfabric/archive/2010/10/22/windows-azure-appfabric-ctp-october-release.aspx