AIS & Microsoft Present: An Introduction to Windows Azure IaaS

August 9, 2012
If you have found yourself thinking…

“Changing our existing apps to run on PaaS is going to require a lot of refactoring. We want to run our applications in the Cloud as-is.”

“We cannot migrate to Azure SQL Database because our database relies on SQL CLR-based stored procedures. We want to use a full version of SQL Server.”

“We want the Cloud to be a seamless extension of our data center, not a walled garden. We want to use our existing IT setup and tools (AD, SCOM etc.) to manage the on-premises and Cloud-based applications.”

…then our upcoming Introduction to Windows Azure IaaS session is for you.

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Microsoft’s Vision for Cloud-Based Federated Authentication

July 30, 2012
As a Microsoft partner with several gold competencies and cloud memberships, we are entitled to an extensive suite of internal use licenses for many of Microsoft’s on-premise and cloud products.  During our recent rollout of Office 365, the elegance of Microsoft’s long-term vision of federating authentication (which has been evolving since the release of Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) 1.0 in 2005) really stood out.

Once an ADFS 2.0 infrastructure is in place, federating authentication with our hosted Office 365 environment was relatively easy.  Our users now have access to hosted versions of Lync, Exchange and SharePoint using their familiar domain credentials.  Up next for us is migrating our current Dynamics CRM Online deployment into the Microsoft online services portal environment where our Office 365 environment is managed.  Once this change is complete, CRM will leverage the same ADFS-based federated authentication platform.  Read More…

Microsoft Honors AIS With Two ‘Partner of the Year’ Awards at WPC 2012

July 17, 2012
At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2012 in Toronto last week, 20 regional Microsoft partners were honored at the Microsoft WPC 2012 Awards. Honorees were selected from more than 200 organizations across the East Region, and AIS was recognized as the 2012 East Region Azure Circle Partner of the Year for our innovative cloud applications at Pandora Jewelry, Bondi Publishing and PSI International. AIS architected, designed and developed solutions that leveraged Azure as a key part of the systems.

AIS was also recognized as the 2012 Cloud Practice Partner of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic district based on the projects we’ve delivered, as well as our ability to support the Microsoft field account teams as they work to educate their customers on the features and value Azure provides.

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