Why run in the cloud?

So far we’ve said, “Isn’t Azure shiny and cool?” We’ve also said, “Wow, it’s so great I can take my existing IT app and put it in the cloud.” But what we haven’t asked is, “Why would I want to stick it in the cloud? Why would I want to host my applications with Microsoft rather than host them myself? What advantages do I get using this new platform?” The answers to these questions include the following:

» You can save lots of money.

» You won’t need to buy any infrastructure to run your application.

» You don’t need to manage the infrastructure to run your application.

» Your application runs on the same infrastructure that Microsoft uses to host its
services, not some box under a desk.

» You can scale out your application on demand to use whatever resources it needs to meet its demands.

» You pay only for the resources that you use, when you use them.

» You’re provided with a framework that allows you to develop scalable software that runs in the Windows Azure platform so your applications can run at internet scale.

» You can focus on what you’re good at: developing software.

» You can watch football and drink milkshakes without being disturbed because
someone pulled out the server power cable so they could do the vacuuming.

» You can save lots of money.

In case you think we’re repeating ourselves by saying “You can save lots of money” twice, well, it’s the key point: you can save a lot. We’re often involved in large-scale systems for which the infrastructure costs millions (and most of the time, the servers sit idle). That’s not including the cost of running these systems. The equivalent systems in Azure are about 10 percent of the cost. With that in mind, this section will show you a few of the ways the Windows Azure platform can help you out and save lots of money.

Source of Information : Manning Azure in Action 2010

Why run in the cloud?