about @home with Windows Azure

We wanted to come up with a unique way to help teach folks about Windows Azure. When we thought about the types of computing you can do with a massive datacenter as your disposal, the distributed computing of Folding@home seemed a good match. What better way to teach cloud computing than while doing some good along the way!

We would like to thank Dr. Pande and Stanford University for their support in helping us include the Folding@home project in @home with Windows Azure.

Folding@home

Stanford University’s Folding@home distributed computing project was created to help scientists unravel the mysteries of protein folding in hopes of helping cure diseases. To learn more about the Folding@home project, visit Stanford University’s Folding@home website.

What Is Protein Folding?

Proteins carry out some of the body’s most critical biological processes, but first, they must assemble themselves, or “fold.” Scientists still don’t fully understand this fundamental process, but they do know that mis-folding proteins are related to devastating diseases including Alzheimer’s, ALS, Cystic Fibrosis, Huntington’s, Mad Cow (BSE) Parkinson’s disease, and many cancers.

Stanford’s Folding@home distributed computing project is working to help scientists unlock the mysteries of folding proteins. By dividing time-consuming folding experiments among multiple computer processors, scientists can dramatically speed up the simulation process and gain critical knowledge much faster. There is truly power in numbers.

Who Are We?

The @home with Windows Azure project was created by the US East Region Technology Evangelism team at Microsoft, including:

Brian Hitney, Jim O'Neil, & Peter Laudati

Developer Evangelists @ Microsoft

US Cloud Connection

If you haven’t visited it yet, US Cloud Connection is a site where you can keep up with all things related to the cloud and Windows Azure that Brian, Jim, and Peter post about.

US Cloud Connection is also the location for where you can find the content for all of our Azure-related events in the US. This includes past Firestarter & Tech Jam events, as well as the Rock Paper Azure Challenge.

Webcast Recordings

Date	Topic
3/15/2012	@home with Azure Overview
3/22/2012	Windows Azure Roles
3/29/2012	Azure Storage Options
4/05/2012	Debugging in the Cloud
4/12/2012	Async Cloud Patterns

Resources

Ready for more? Dig into these resources to continue your quest to learn the cloud!