by STB Blogger

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced HelpBridge, a new mobile app designed to help customers connect with the people that matter to them during a natural disaster. The app also enables customers to give money, time and resources to support relief and rebuilding efforts. HelpBridge is powered by Windows Azure, which is the back-end service that helps tie together all the different services – making it easy to use and reliable. Specifically, Windows Azure provides:

  • A quick and efficient way of hosting services in the cloud using Web and Worker Roles
  • Windows Azure Access Control Service (ACS) to authenticate users when they first open the app and log in via Facebook or Microsoft accounts
  • The ability to send messages using the Windows Azure Service Bus architecture
  • A great platform to store our diagnostic data, reporting data, and entered profile information within Windows Azure Storage
  • The flexibility and scalability allowing the app to grow and contract as needed to handle usage spikes during disasters

Windows Azure gives HelpBridge the flexibility, scalability and broad platform needed – it is a critical part of the solution.

Go to the Microsoft Citizenship blog post for more information.