Microsoft Also Endorses the Hybrid Cloud Model

In November 2009, Bob Muglia, president of Microsoft�s Server and Tools business, unveiled Windows Server AppFabric and Windows Azure platform AppFabric, a technology that bridges on-premise and cloud deployment and management scenarios for the Microsoft development environment.

Windows Server AppFabric delivers a set of capabilities for hosting services (RESTful or SOAP-based), workflows, and application-level monitoring (based upon efforts formerly code-named �Dublin�). This technology provides developers with a prebuilt infrastructure that improves the scalability and manageability of composite applications. As a result, much of the complexity related to infrastructure is already taken care of.

AppFabric is complemented by Windows Azure, which will help developers build composite applications that span both on-premise and cloud environments. The Service Bus and Access Control services (previously called .NET Services) provide capabilities for secure connectivity between loosely coupled services and applications, enabling them to navigate firewalls or network boundaries.

Source of Information :  Implementing and Developing Cloud Computing Applications 2011