Microsoft released their latest version of Azure, which features a lot of improvements including Hadoop integration,

The new Azure now offers developers 150GB of free storage instead of the previous version’s 50GB, and access to free libraries for .NET, Java, and Node.js hosted on GitHub. The platform also features a full-featured Node.js SDK . A lot of integration has been thrown into the mix as well, with open-source offerings in particular.

“Microsoft is bolstering its open source credentials with an update to its plug-in for Eclipse with Java, adding tools such as startup scripts for popular Java servers and remote Java debugging. MongoDB, Apache Solr and Lucene, and Memcached developers will also find a few new additional toys, as well.”

The final and perhaps most significant function added to Azure is Hadoop integration. Select developers will be able to access the preview, which contains some of the features that Microsoft and Hadoop promised to deliver via their collaboration.  Among the things currently included are JavaScript libraries, and an ODBC drive used to connect to Hive. An Excel add-on for the warehousing system is also available.

Back in October Microsoft and Hortonworks revealed a big portion of their plans. These included a set of monitoring tools that will be available for the Azure as well as the Hadoop end, among other things.

Data transfer rates have been trimmed by 20 percent in the U.S and Europe, and five percent in Asia.

{Editors Note: I’ve toned down the original title which implied Microsoft’s reliance on Hortonworks — there’s nothing about the announced commitment to the project that depends on Hortonworks except for Registers reference to Microsoft doing some work with them. If you read the original release carefully, Microsoft will do all the work, and Hortonworks will watch. There’s no product or services collaboration with Hortonworks included in the Microsoft announcement. – John Furrier}