Windows Azure appFabric Caching Released

Microsoft announced today that the Caching service has been released as a production service.

The Caching service is a distributed, in-memory, application cache service that accelerates the performance of Windows Azure and SQL Azure applications by allowing you to keep data in-memory and saving you the need to retrieve that data from storage or database.

There are going to be 6 different cache size options for you to choose from, varying from 128MB to 4GB.

The prices of the different cache sizes are the following:

· 128 MB cache for $45.00/month

· 256 MB cache for $55.00/month

· 512 MB cache for $75.00/month

· 1 GB cache for $110.00month

· 2 GB cache for $180.00/month

· 4 GB cache for $325.00/month

In order for you to be able to start using the service and evaluate your needs though, there is a promotional period in which you will not be charged for the service for billing periods prior to August 1, 2011.

The service is billed on a monthly basis, based on the cache size you sign up for. You can also sign up for more than one cache and use these multiple caches in order to get a total cache size that is different or bigger than the standard cache sizes we provide.

To learn more about the Caching service please use the following resources:

· Windows Azure AppFabric Caching availability announced!! blog post

· Video: Introduction to the Windows Azure AppFabric Cache

· Video: Windows Azure AppFabric Caching – How to Set-up and Deploy a Simple Cache

· Windows Azure AppFabric FAQ on MSDN

· MSDN Documentation

You can access the service at: http://appfabric.azure.com.