1. Scenario: Bluehoo
For more information visit http://www.azure.com
Sentient is a UK based ideas
incubator that has developed a
social discovery and anonymous
messaging application called
Bluehoo.
Situation
Bluehoo has created and deployed
a social discovery and messaging
application that lets people use
their mobile phones to find other to learn new tools or service-oriented application. End
users around them with similar programming languages. users (called “Hoos”) use Bluehoo
interests. To ensure that they have to search for other “Hoos” in their
a reliable and scalable foundation  Vendor Trust: They wanted a
vicinity to discover and initiate a
for their business, Bluehoo built vendor and platform that they
conversation. For example, users
their application on the Azure were familiar with and that they
can arrive at a conference, see a list
Services Platform. could trust. They were not
of people with similar interests pop
willing to gamble on a partner
Problem up on a cell phone, and initiate a
whose primary business was not
dialog around shared topics of
To build their application, Bluehoo aligned with operating systems
interest.
faced several challenges: and software development.
Create
 Elastic Platform: Bluehoo could  Tight Budget: As a startup,
not predict the traffic their new Bluehoo needed to minimize The Bluehoo application has four
application would drive and capital expenditure. Costs were major components:
needed a platform that could all the more important since they
 Bluehoo Mobile: Written for
scale dynamically. did not want to rely on Venture
Windows Mobile or Java-
Capital funds.
 Shortest Time to Market: They compatible mobile phones, this
sought a toolset that would help  Performance Speed: The application uses Bluetooth
them take the shortest possible application and platform needed technology to scan for other
path between concept and to be fast to meet the demands “hoos” in the vicinity. When it
product launch with the highest of their end users. finds a “hoo”, it communicates
quality and lowest risk. this information to the Bluehoo
Solution
backend using REST API’s.
 Developer Skills: Bluehoo Bluehoo used the Windows Azure BlueHoo, matches profiles and
wanted to use their existing .NET Compute and Storage Services to facilitates communication
development skills and not have build a reliable and scalable between hoos.

2.  Bluehoo Gateway: This thin web Deploy Benefits
service runs on the Azure
Bluehoo developers tested &  Dynamic Scaling: The fabric
Services Platform. Its job is to
debugged their application in controller technology in the
facilitate efficient communication
Visual Studio 2008 using the local Windows Azure platform enabled
between the phone and the
Azure Services Platform container Bluehoo to scale or upgrade web
Bluehoo backend services. When
that emulated the cloud services seamlessly, as demand
it receives a message from the
environment. Once the testing and rises and falls.
mobile phone, it puts that
debugging was complete, the
message into a queue and  Streamlined Development &
application was deployed using
returns a response to the phone. Maintenance: Bluehoo
Visual Studio 2008.Bluehoo can
It uses asynchronous developers manage their services
now maintain their application
communication to make in one place, have access to
offering using the Azure Services
response times as fast possible. tracing and logging, and can
Platform web portal. There, they
deploy changes quickly. They
The Bluehoo Gateway also can view their services and
also do not have to deal with
queues up outbound messages. provision capacity depending on
patching the operating system.
When the phone connects, the demand. When the team needs to
As a result they spend less time
REST API pulls messages from fix a bug or deploy a new feature,
on maintenance and more time
the queue and routes them to they simply make the change on
writing code.
the appropriate receiving phone. their desktop, test it using the
To easily deploy as many Azure Services Platform container,  Developer Productivity to
instances of this Gateway as and deploy the application to the Focus on Logic: Bluehoo
needed, Bluehoo wrote it in Azure Services Platform. developers are more productive
ASP.net using Visual Studio 2008. because they can build and
Extend
debug everything – the mobile
 Bluehoo Services: These
To market their offering, Bluehoo application, the website, and
services are “always on” and run
created an interactive marketing services – right on their desktop
on Compute. Compute
website using Microsoft® Virtual within the familiar Visual Studio
implements the Bluehoo business
Earth™ and Microsoft® Silverlight. 2008 environment.
logic and communicates with
These services helped the team
clients using a message queue.  High Availability: The Azure
provide a rich experience for the
Bluehoo adds instances of these Services Platform and storage are
end user without having to develop
services as needed to increase highly available and redundant.
their own media streaming &
capacity. Bluehoo developers do not have
mapping technology.
to worry about infrastructure
 Bluehoo Website: The Bluehoo Bluehoo also chose to use
outages and could focus their
website provides a portal for Microsoft’s online tools for email
time on building their
marketing, software download and productivity. This eliminated
application.
and support for end users. It is the need to procure any servers
also implemented on the Azure and helped reduce capital  Cost Effective: The pay-as-you
Services Platform in ASP.net. expenditure. By not having to worry go model minimizes capital
about operational constraints, expenditures.
Bluehoo developers built their
Bluehoo could dedicate their
application using the Azure  Superior User Experience:
attention to addressing business
Services Platform. They also utilized Azure Services Platform supports
needs and building a rich service.
Silverlight and Virtual Earth. a topology which enables fast,
The Azure Services Platform also
Bluehoo built and debugged most asynchronous communication
makes it easy for Bluehoo to
of their application within the between the mobile application
provision capacity based on market
familiar Visual Studio 2008 and Bluehoo services, making the
demands, and pay for only what
development environment. This application fast and responsive.
they consume.
helped shorten their development
cycle to less than six months.
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