Written for IT and business professionals, this book provides the technical and business insight needed to plan, deploy and manage the services provided by the Microsoft Azure cloud. Find out how to integrate the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) models with your existing business infrastructure while maximizing availability, ensuring continuity and safety of your data, and keeping costs to a minimum. The book starts with an introduction to Microsoft Azure and how it differs from Office 365--Microsoft's 'other' cloud. You'll also get a useful overview of the services available. Part II then takes you through setting up your Azure account, and gets you up-and-running on some of the core Azure services, including creating web sites and virtual machines, and choosing between fully cloud-based and hybrid storage solutions, depending on your needs. Part III now takes an in-depth look at how to integrate Azure with your existing infrastructure. The authors, Anthony Puca, Mike Manning, Brent Rush, Marshall Copeland and Julian Soh, bring their depth of experience in cloud technology and customer support to guide you through the whole process, through each layer of your infrastructure from networking to operations. High availability and disaster recovery are the topics on everyone's minds when considering a move to the cloud, and this book provides key insights and step-by-step guidance to help you set up and manage your resources correctly to optimize for these scenarios. You'll also get expert advice on migrating your existing VMs to Azure using InMage, mail-in and the best 3rd party tools available, helping you ensure continuity of service with minimum disruption to the business. In the book's final chapters, you'll find cutting edge examples of cloud technology in action, from machine l earning to business intelligence, for a taste of some exciting ways your business could benefit from your new Microsoft Azure deployment.