Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) signing up to the Dip into Windows Azure Trial* will be able to test your existing on-premise applications in the cloud and investigate the suitability of Azure for your solutions and your customers.

Microsoft Partners are strategic to the success of the Windows Azure Platform. By offering services as building blocks to compose solutions, the Azure Services Platform helps provide ways for partners to meet the needs of their customers faster and in a more affordable manner. Azure is a comprehensive services platform that ISVs can use to take full advantage of the reach and scalability of the Internet without sacrificing their investments in existing applications. With Windows Azure, ISVs can:

• Give customers choice. Adopt cloud-based technologies in a way that makes sense for your applications and your customers. Add value to existing applications by using the services platform to create applications that run entirely in the cloud or hybrid solutions that combine the benefits of on-premises and cloud applications. Offer new user experiences via the Web, on connected devices, and through social experiences across a community of users. 
• Offer software as a service. Reduce the infrastructure necessary to deliver and run software and services to customers by using the infrastructure offered by the Windows Azure Platform. Reduce the hardware footprint necessary for customers to run applications, and provision new customers quickly by using the services platform. The reduced cost of deploying and maintaining applications and services on the Windows Azure Platform means that your products are more affordable. The lower cost reduces the risk associated with your application, expanding the potential market available to your business. 
• Continue building on what you have. Providing cloud capabilities doesn’t require rewriting existing on-premises applications built on years of investments. Augment those applications with services offered by the Windows Azure Platform by adding new features and a connected experience to the Internet.

Sign up for the Dip into Windows Azure limited free Trial here.

*The Dip into Windows Azure Trial is on the CTP version of Azure. Click here to find out more.