1. Worldwide Retail Industry Whitepaper
Scenarios for Windows Azure in the Retail Industry
Authored by:
Vic Miles – Microsoft Worldwide Retail Team
Published April 2011
Driving Revenue and Innovation in Retail
with Windows Azure™

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Contents
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4
MICROSOFT
®
CLOUD STRATEGY ................................................................................................................................................. 4
WINDOWS AZURE PLATFORM ................................................................................................................................................... 6
SQL AZURE™ ......................................................................................................................................................................... 6
WINDOWS AZURE APPFABRIC ................................................................................................................................................... 6
DATAMARKET AS PART OF WINDOWS AZURE MARKETPLACE.......................................................................................................... 7
WINDOWS AZURE, SQL AZURE, WINDOWS AZURE APPFABRIC ROADMAP ....................................................................................... 8
New Capabilities....................................................................................................................................................... 8
ARCHITECTING RETAIL SOLUTIONS FOR AZURE ............................................................................................................................. 9
AZURE SCENARIOS FOR ENTERPRISE RETAIL.................................................................................................................................. 9
Retail Demand Forecasting..................................................................................................................................... 10
Smart Client Retail Store Systems........................................................................................................................... 10
Supply Chain Trading Partner Collaboration .......................................................................................................... 11
Consumer Promotions at Internet Scale................................................................................................................. 11
Connecting Stores with Distributed Collaboration ................................................................................................. 12
Scalable E-Commerce ............................................................................................................................................. 12
SOLUTION SCENARIOS – AT A GLANCE....................................................................................................................................... 13
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................................ 14
RESOURCES .......................................................................................................................................................................... 15

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© 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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Introduction
Retail enterprises depend on a multitude of applications and systems that are integrated with
consumers, trading partners and external networks. Running these applications requires complex data
center and support structures that are expensive to operate. Cloud computing, and specifically Microsoft
Windows Azure™, enables retail enterprises to move from a capital intensive cost model to one which is
based on the consumption of technology. No longer do retailers need to acquire computing resources to
cover peak workloads or potentially over-purchase computing resources. The scale of the Windows
Azure Platform provides for high volume workloads such as end-of-day processing to be consumed on
demand.
Windows Azure also provides for immediate access to unlimited compute, storage and integration
services which previously could have taken months to procure. The availability of these resources on-
demand, unlocks new scenarios where agility and time-to-market are paramount. Retail enterprises are
not necessarily constrained by the capacity of their existing computing resources, but through Windows
Azure, they can quickly leverage additional computing resources or storage capabilities.
Windows Azure and our enterprise cloud computing expertise coupled with the leading solutions from
our retail industry partners, brings a unique value proposition to the global retail market. Through
strategic engineering alliances with industry leaders we are focused on delivering both the on-premise
and cloud-based solutions that our customers need to gain the benefits of cloud services on their own
terms. They are able to leverage and extend their existing IT investments to take advantage of Azure,
resulting in a reduction of cost and the ability to enhance operations through cloud-based improvements
and build transformative applications that create differentiated shopping experiences.
This paper describes some typical scenarios where the new opportunities and flexibility offered by the
Windows Azure Platform foster rethinking of how retail solutions are developed and delivered. The
focus of these scenarios is to maximize share of the consumer wallet and increase profitability for the
retail enterprise.
Microsoft®
Cloud Strategy
To understand the value of cloud computing for retail enterprises it is important to have a common
definition of cloud computing. The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) defined cloud in
their Cloud Computing for Retail Technical Report version 1.0. “Cloud computing is an emerging
computing model by which massively scalable IT-enabled computing capabilities and resources (servers,
storage, networks, applications, and services) are delivered as a service to external consumers using
Internet technologies.” Furthermore, ARTS identifies the following 6 characteristics of cloud computing:
1. Virtualization of Infrastructure and Services
2. Automated provisioning of infrastructure services
3. Elastic scaling
4. Increased accessibility and availability
5. Consumption-based model
6. Multi-tenancy

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This Microsoft perspective of “The Cloud” is aligned through the following characteristics:
1. On-demand: Resources are virtualized and available when and as you need them; on demand.
The details of location and physical nature of the resources is abstracted away from the
consumer.
2. Broad network access: Resources are available anytime, anywhere via ubiquitous access from
the internet or a network.
3. Resource pooling: Some or all the resources are shared, to some degree. The consumer may no
longer need or want the expertise required to manage the actual resources.
4. Rapid elasticity: Demand-driven consumption and provisioning of resources in a rapid self-
service fashion. The ability to decommission resources as demand drops.
5. Metered Usage: Usage of resources is measured and you are charged only for the resources
that you consume.
At a broad level, the Cloud could be distinguished into the following categories or models:
 Software as a Service (SaaS): The SaaS model is one in which the resources consumed are
finished services or applications. This might include email, accounting, sales forecasting –
applications people rely on for business, personal use, etc. These applications are consumed via
the internet through devices such as PCs, TVs, Gaming consoles and phones. With SaaS, you
allow your vendor to manage the application, the hardware, the operating system, the storage
– all the Cloud resources, you are only a consumer.
 Platform as a Service (PaaS): In a PaaS model, the underlying hardware, operating environment,
middle-ware, networking, and related platform are abstracted from the consumer. In this
model, the focus is on creating the application functionality rather than managing and garnering
experience in the underlying infrastructure. You rely on your Cloud vendor to provide you a
platform on which you build and deploy applications.
 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): With IaaS, your Cloud vendor provides data centers with
access to a large capacity of on-demand servers, storage and networking. The Cloud resource
consumer then is responsible for managing and deploying the operating system, the middle-
ware, application runtimes and application.
Microsoft’s cloud strategy encompasses a range of dimensions of what the cloud should enable with
services and application offerings. Identifying the right workloads and scenarios is a key aspect of any
successful Cloud implementation. The Platform as a Service model is particularly interesting as it
provides excellent support of platform capabilities, but also a great deal of flexibility for application
development. Microsoft delivers three distinct services that provide the basis for Platform as a Service.
These three services are: Windows Azure, SQL Azure, and Windows Azure AppFabric. In this paper, we
will discuss these three services and most importantly outline some interesting scenarios for delivering
enterprise retail solutions.

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Windows Azure Platform
The Windows Azure Platform by itself can be viewed as a set of cloud computing services that form the
basis of a Cloud Operating System and computing environment. Windows Azure provides the basic
operating system capabilities only at massive scale. These capabilities include; a runtime environment
for executing applications, a storage system for persisting different data types, and the “fabric
controller” that manages and monitors the different sub-systems. Interestingly, each of these
capabilities can be used independently or together.
The Windows Azure runtime system provides an environment to execute almost any program that will
run on Microsoft Windows Server. The runtime easily supports web applications written in Microsoft
.Net along with many other development languages; such as PHP. Additionally, the runtime supports the
ability to host internet accessible services that can use used to build new applications or to enhance
existing applications. The storage system within Windows Azure, allows for the storing of non-relational
tables, queues, and Blobs. Most importantly, the underlying Cloud Operating System is abstracted away
from the developer. This abstraction allows developers to quickly and easily build and deploy
applications that can massively and dynamically scale without having to understand the requirements of
the platform. Developers focus on delivering business logic and functionality for applications rather than
worrying about the underlying infrastructure and operational obstacles of cloud applications.
Developers using Microsoft’s Visual Studio tools, benefit from having an integrated toolset and seamless
testing mechanisms through Visual Studio’s development environment. The Visual Studio tools have
been updated to support the ability to develop, test, and debug Windows Azure applications locally.
SQL Azure™
Many modern applications rely on relational databases for data storage and access. For Cloud-based
applications, this could be a significant challenge. As storage requirements increase or change,
deploying and managing databases grows more complex. SQL Azure™ provides core relational database
capabilities, while relieving the application developer from having to manage the server infrastructure
for Cloud-scale applications. Developers can use the familiar TSQL language and access SQL Azure
through a variety of access protocols, such as ADO.Net, ODBC, and JDBC.
Just as with Windows Azure, SQL Azure is a logical concept and does not correspond directly to physical
files and servers. This abstraction allows for flexible provisioning and allows developers to focus on the
logical vs. the physical design.
Microsoft also provides the Microsoft Sync Framework which provides the ability to synchronize on-
premise databases with SQL Azure databases or applications to synchronize as part of a data-hub. This
bi-directional data synchronization capability is currently available to developers through a community
technology preview (CTP) program.
Windows Azure AppFabric
Connecting different applications, particularly, across the internet can be challenging. With corporate
networks, firewalls, and various protocols – along with the related security and access concerns

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developers are faced with many questions and often few answers. Windows Azure AppFabric provides
for secure interconnectivity for distributed applications.
Windows Azure AppFabric provides these major services:
 Service Bus: Provides the ability for applications to expose endpoints in secure way to other
applications. Once securely connections, applications can exchange messages via the Service
Bus. The Service Bus provides the capabilities for network address translation and dealing with
firewalls.
 Access Control: This service provides the ability for applications to authenticate themselves and
to provide identify information to other applications. Secure access to the Services Bus is
provided by the Access Control service.
 Caching: Caching provides a distributed, in-memory, application cache service for Windows Azure
and SQL Azure applications. It provides applications with high-speed access, scale, and high
availability, to application data.
DataMarket as part of Windows Azure Marketplace
Outside of the three core cloud capabilities provided by The Windows Azure Platform, an additional
service has recently been made commercially available. This service exposes rich datasets relevant to
retailers such as demographics, weather, parcel data and UPC data. DataMarket is an information marketplace
for ISVs and IWs that provides trusted, public domain and premium commercial data via integrated and secure
consumption experiences and easy data discovery.

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DataMarket allows users to discover, explore and consume information through a consistent, internet
standards-based approach. You can learn more about DataMarket by referencing the link in the
resources section of this document.
Windows Azure, SQL Azure, Windows Azure AppFabric Roadmap
Currently, Windows Azure, SQL Azure, and Windows Azure AppFabric are all available as commercial
services with the pricing and service level offerings accessible from a web-based portal. One of the
powerful aspects of the platform abstractions provided by these services is that they can be updated and
new features added without affecting the applications that rely on each service. Microsoft can
therefore, add new capabilities at a more rapid pace than might be possible with traditional server
products.
New Capabilities
The following are new features that are either currently in Community Technology Preview (CTP) stage,
or will be soon. This list in not exhaustive, but lists several of the key innovations.
 Microsoft SQL Azure Reporting: By providing features similar to SQL Server™ Reporting
Services; SQL Azure Reporting provides developers the ability to embed reports based on SQL
Azure databases directly within their applications or via the SQL Azure Portal.
 Windows Azure Elevated Privileges: Sometimes there are small configuration or installation
requirements that applications require and are not supported currently with the Windows
Azure capabilities. Windows Azure Admin Access will allow developers to have elevated access
to their environments for making these configuration changes, or perhaps installing an MSI.
The feature is currently in CTP.
 Windows Azure VM Role: Microsoft is adding another role to Windows Azure that will allow
easier migration of existing server applications to Windows Azure. The “VM Role” (virtual
machine role), allows your organization to create a Windows Server® 2008 R2 VHD image on-
premise and have it executed in Windows Azure. This capability is currently in CTP.
 AppFabric Integration: Provides common BizTalk® Server integration capabilities (e.g. pipeline,
transforms, adapters) on Windows Azure, using out-of-box integration patterns to accelerate
and simplify development. It also delivers higher level business user enablement capabilities
such as Business Activity Monitoring and Rules, as well as self-service trading partner
community portal and provisioning of business-to-business pipelines.
 AppFabric Composite App: Provides a multi-tenant, managed service which automates the
deployment and management of end to end applications. It allows many application
components to be managed as a single logical entity. Diagnostics and monitoring are also
provided to ease troubleshooting.
 Windows Azure Virtual Network: Microsoft will be bringing a range of services to Windows
Azure to provide more robust networking capabilities. The first of these is Windows Azure

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Connect. Windows Azure Connect will provide an easy way to setup an IP-based network for
establishing connectivity between Windows Azure and on-premise services. This service is in
CTP as of December 2010.
 Windows Azure Platform Appliance: Looking even further into the future, Microsoft plans to
bring a turnkey cloud platform to market targeted at large service providers, large enterprises,
and governments. The Windows Azure Platform Appliance will provide an integrated hardware
and platform environment to these organizations that they can host in their own data centers.
There is no defined timeline for the availability of the appliance offering.
Expanding retail solutions into cloud-based offerings requires vendors and customers to build highly scalable,
reliable services that can be used simultaneously by any number of users and devices - globally. To pursue this
approach independently, you would be required to build your own infrastructure to host and manage
solutions, develop a software paradigm and invest in the hardware and software to handle internet-scale
traffic and demand. Just as Windows Operating System allowed ISVs, customers, developers to focus on
building value-add on-premise applications instead of building OS specific features, components and drivers;
Windows Azure Platform enables the same foundation for cloud applications.
For a more detailed overview, see the resources section for information on a paper “Introducing the Windows
Azure Platform”, and other materials that will be helpful to get started.
Architecting Retail Solutions for Azure
Identifying common functionality and decoupling it from individual applications as a “shared service” not
only simplifies development and avoids duplication, but also enables the flexibility to deploy and
consume such functionality from other nodes and levels in the system, including the cloud. Cloud
computing in a retail environment has many benefits to all aspects of the retail operation. Many retailers
will find that a cloud computing strategy will help to improve their share of the consumer wallet by
enabling a constant dialogue that captures consumer mindshare and allows for the retailer to market
their unique value throughout the shopper purchase decision life cycle.
The ability to scale to an ongoing dialogue with all potential consumers requires that enterprise retailers
take advantage of the economies of scale offered by cloud computing.
An effective architecture does not have to immediately make use of all of the characteristics of cloud
computing. For instance, an initial implementation might be exposed to an existing set of consumers.
However, the platform that delivers the services must have the capability to scale to the superset of
potential customers that the retail organization aspires to. It is this flexibility to be able to deploy (and
possibly change over time) different services without major redesign of the entire system that is essential
for harnessing the new opportunities offered by the cloud.
Azure Scenarios for Enterprise Retail

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This section describes some typical scenarios where the Windows Azure Platform can open up new
approaches to delivering innovative services and improving efficiency for enterprise retailers.
Retail Demand Forecasting
Retailers face a difficult trade-off when planning their inventory: Too much inventory ties up capital,
increases supply chain cost and results in stock obsolescence; too little inventory causes customer
frustration and lost sales due to stock-outs. The goal is to forecast the demand, or sales, to the degree
that sales are maximized and carrying cost is reduced.
Sales forecasting has long been a critical part of the supply chain planning activities of retailers. Real-
time collaboration that considers inputs from all trading partners including manufacturers, distribution
and retailers is required to achieve an accurate sales forecast. The forecasts, which are produced by
statistical models that are applied to historic sales data, allow the optimization of inventory levels in the
warehouse and in the store. Increasing the planning accuracy is a highly effective lever to achieve
significant and quantifiable reductions of cost, working capital and the carbon footprint of a retail
organization. There is also the very real benefit of increased consumer satisfaction.
Unfortunately, sales forecasting in the retail industry is particularly challenging due to the often very
large number of products, dynamic product catalogues and frequent events such as promotions and
product launches. Many retailers find that on-premise forecasting solutions are expensive to buy,
maintain and operate and can be limited in performance.
A Microsoft partner, Lokad, has eliminated these restraints by fully automating the complex forecasting
problems and delivering a software-as-a-service that provides a step change in terms of scalability,
performance and cost. The underlying multi-time series forecasting approach analyzes multiple, often
overlapping patterns between discrete products across an entire range of product sales information. The
Lokad solution, built on Windows Azure, is able to provide fully automated support for day, week, month
and year seasonality, sales promotions, cannibalization and correlations between product sales.
This approach requires the processing of massive amounts of data, the application of very complex
statistical models and analysis of millions of correlations between products. This is only possible with
Windows Azure’s cloud platform, which gives Lokad access to thousands of servers, within minutes at
low cost. Lokad’s forecasting engine scales to deliver forecasts for retailers with tremendous scale. This
requires the calculation of millions of forecasts within minutes – which is possible due to the massive
scale achievable with the Windows Azure Platform.
Smart Client Retail Store Systems
As distinguished from Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), an advanced Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) such as
the Windows Azure Platform, allows ISVs to take advantage of a wide range of complex system tasks
including instant scalability, load balancing, fault tolerance, disaster recovery and software upgrades
without any service interruption. These capabilities are critical to bringing cloud computing to the core
of the retail revenue engine – Store Systems. The Microsoft store systems architecture guidance
identifies three distinct categories of systems within a store (POS, Front Office and Back office). An
effective implementation of a cloud based store system requires a rich and responsive user interface, the

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ability to work offline, and a way to take advantage of local hardware and software resources. This
approach is generally referred to as “Smart Client” architecture. Smart client applications are a powerful
alternative to thin client applications. They can provide retailers with the fault tolerance needed for POS
environment as well as the agility deploy enhancements.
BEDIN Shop Systems, a Microsoft certified partner, has developed a system built on the concept of smart
clients, that are delivered to in-store devices (POS, Manager Office, Receiving) as light Internet-centric
desktop applications, deployed and automatically updated from Retail Web Services®. Windows Azure is
the foundation of the intelligent ”hub in the cloud” which is designed as a Service-Oriented Architecture
(SOA) for straightforward collaboration throughout the retail enterprise. At the center of the solution,
Retail Web Services® fully leverages SQL Azure, as a relational database offered as a service within the
Windows Azure Platform. POS.net® is the front-of-store smart client that allows connected and
disconnected operations. The back-office clients are enabled through the SHOP.net® application which
includes stock and supplier management when appropriate based on the operational guidelines of the
retailer. This solution represents the future of omni-channel retailing. It has the effect of opening retail
operations to all channels of retailing including in-store, web-store, mobile employee, self-serve
consumer as well as any emerging channels in the new always connected world of retailing.
Supply Chain Trading Partner Collaboration
Effective collaboration with trading partners is often the hallmark of world class retailers. The impact on
cost of goods sold can be significant if the basic trading relationship requires processing overhead. GSX is
a leading provider of business-to-business e-commerce services serving retailers worldwide. The
company processes over eight billion transactions annually. The visibility into those transactions is a
necessity for all of their customers. GXS turned to a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner MindTree to deliver
a solution that would enhance the historical reporting capabilities of its global messaging services. This
visibility allows customers to use the cloud based Windows Live ID for authorization and authentication.
Through the use of cloud computing GXS gained the ability to offer over 6 million customers the ability to
see trading partner volumes (purchase orders, shipment status, etc.) and make real-time supply chain
decisions based on that insight.
GXS expects that using Windows Azure will help the company dramatically reduce the amount of time
needed to develop and deploy new applications. The company expects to go from concept to market
trial much more rapidly with Windows Azure. Their implementation allows them to eliminate the
hardware acquisition cycle, which in turn can bring solutions to market faster.
Consumer Promotions at Internet Scale
Consumer promotional expense can be a significant percentage of revenue in the retail and hospitality
industries. Many companies are taking advantage of the always connected consumer when developing
new product promotions. The redemption of digital promotions differs from broadcast media (print,
television) promotions due to the ease of use and social sharing aspects. Marketers must to consider the
implications of a promotion going “viral” which will drive consumption of the promotion. Retail IT
organizations must also consider how the promotion will impact traffic to related properties such as the
corporate website or loyalty systems.

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Outback Steakhouse, a favorite dinning spot for innovative dishes in a casual atmosphere, partnered with
Thuzi, a Microsoft Partner, to develop a promotional response system that would offer a coupon for the
first 500,000 customers that consumed the promotion. Outback needed a cost effective infrastructure
that could quickly scale to meet potential spikes in demand for this offer. It took less than two months to
develop a cloud-aware application. Developers built it as a Web application, establishing worker roles
with caches and an asynchronous architecture to improve performance and scalability. They used
Microsoft SQL Azure and the Table service in Windows Azure Storage Services for background processing.
The application’s integration with its own cloud-based database makes it possible for Outback to run
queries and produce reports. Outback hoped to achieve its goal of 500,000 fans within 30 days. It
reached that goal without any issues in just 18 days.
This example shows the ease of development and the agility that can be achieved with a cloud platform.
There is also tremendous business value in having the option to de-commission a portion of the
infrastructure while not in use.
Connecting Stores with Distributed Collaboration
Retail and hospitality organizations worldwide are looking for a cost effective means to connect stores to
the vast resources that exist within the enterprise. These resources include intranet reference material,
colleague collaboration as well as the value of sharing feedback with a community of responsible
individuals within the organization. Microsoft offers a cloud based business productivity solution as the
Office 365 product. Office 365 combines the familiar Microsoft Office desktop suite with online versions
of the next-generation communications and collaboration services: Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft
SharePoint Online, and Microsoft Lync Online.
Companies with distributed locations have a strong need to open the lines of communication between
headquarters, trading partners and stores. There are several challenges related to offering productivity
solutions in a distributed environment with mobile or deskless workers. Retail enterprises are seeing the
value of a cloud based productivity solution to enable constant communication among the various
Scalable E-Commerce
With the rise of the always connected consumer, the retail and hospitality industry has been driving
innovations that expose real-time information directly to consumers. Supporting this unpredictable
traffic from an on-premise web infrastructure can create the need to vastly over purchase processing
power. Cloud computing is a perfect fit for several types of workload patterns. Applying Windows Azure
to any of these patterns of processing can result in increased performance and cost savings over time.
1. On and Off – batch-type processing with wasted capacity during off hours.
2. Fast Growing / Broad Usage – viral usage that is planned to grow exponentially over time
3. Unpredictable Bursting – sudden spikes in demand which impact overall performance.
4. Predictable Bursting – periodic demand increases which require over provisioning to support.
Domino’s Pizza wanted capability to allow their stores to handle demand for their single largest selling
day in a year, Super Bowl Sunday, without creating an infrastructure that would largely be idle for the
other 364 days. They needed a solution that would support their “pizza builder” ordering application as

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well as allowing their customers to connect to the pizza making process using their innovative “Pizza
Tracker” application. The existing web application had historically been developed with Java and run on
a Tomcat application environment.
Dominos had several options for hosting this application in a virtualized, pay-as-you-go environment.
The Windows Azure solution gave them the ability to deploy their existing non-Microsoft based solution
to Windows Azure. Dominos was able to take advantage of the cloud interoperability with a typical on-
premise Windows Server. This offered the ability to handle peak traffic and then turn off the computing
capacity when it is no longer needed. They were able to achieve pay-as-you-go and still maintain the
choice to execute their application on premise or in the cloud.
Solution Scenarios – at a Glance
Solution Scenario Workload
Patterns
Description Industry
Examples
Retail Demand Forecasting On/Off Sales forecasting, based on raw POS data, delivered as
a service for mass scale.
Lokad
Smart Client - Store System Broad usage Full store system application which provides a rich user
interface and offline capability. Allows retailers to
quickly deploy a store system solution with no
application software to manage on the client.
Bedin Systems
Supply Chain Trading
Partner Collaboration
Broad usage B2B e-commerce collaboration that enables visibility to
electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions. This
system allows for insight into the trading partner
relationship.
GXS
Consumer Promotions at
Internet Scale
Growing fast Promotional engine built to accept request and deliver
email coupon promotions to consumers.
Outback
Steakhouse
Connecting Stores with
Distributed Collaboration
N/A Microsoft cloud based productivity suite solution to
connect distributed users in stores with the enterprise
for collaboration features delivered as a service.
McDonald’s
using Office
365
Scalable E-Commerce Predictable
Bursting
On-premise application augmented with cloud
computing for tremendous scale without the cost.
Ease of application portability using Windows server
interoperability features of Windows Azure.
Dominos

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Conclusion
Cloud computing is fast becoming a transformational force in delivery and consumption of applications.
This computing paradigm offers new opportunities for independent software developers, enterprises
and consumers to take advantage of cloud-based or cloud-enhanced applications. The software industry
has been through major changes - from mainframe computing, to desktops, to web, and now we are
standing at the next phase of innovation.
Momentum is building around cloud scenarios applicable to retailing by enabling business agility at
lower cost. Microsoft has made a strong commitment to cloud computing to help retailers connect with
consumers whenever and wherever they choose. Windows Azure provides a platform and a set of
services that can be used individually or together. It is a flexible and interoperable platform that is used
to build new applications to run from the cloud or enhance existing applications with cloud-based
service-oriented capabilities.
There are business-enabling benefits for retail enterprises, including the ability to extend services related
to products and retail offerings directly to consumers. The global reach that can be achieved will enable
retailers to deliver products through vastly extended supply chains and product-sourcing approaches. A
cloud computing strategy that is integrated with existing business plans will have the effect of reducing
cost and increasing services to customers throughout the world.

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Resources
Windows Azure
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure
Microsoft for the Retail Industry
http://www.microsoft.com/retail
Microsoft Architecture Guidance for the Enterprise Retail Store
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=E9CEC4E9-
029A-4E8C-A885-8E9F58373226&displaylang=en
Introducing the Windows Azure Platform
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=158011
Getting Started with Windows Azure
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/getstarted
Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/marketplace
Office 365
http://office365.microsoft.com
Microsoft Case Studies
Outback Steakhouse - http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Windows-
Azure/Outback-Steakhouse/Restaurant-Chain-Outback-Steakhouse-Boosts-
Guest-Loyalty-with-Social-Networking-and-Cloud-Computing/4000005861
GXS - http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Microsoft-Visual-Studio-2008-
Professional-Edition/GXS/Electronic-Services-Firm-Reaches-Out-to-New-
Markets-with-Cloud-Based-Solution/4000007786
Bedin Systems - http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Windows-
Azure/BEDIN-Shop-Systems/Luxury-Goods-Retailer-Gains-Point-of-Sale-
Solution-in-Minutes-with-Cloud-Based-System/4000008195