Azure Services Platform is Microsoft's PaaS offering that is part of the company's strategy of lessening its emphasis on the desktop and shifting more resources to web-based products. It provides an operating system called Windows Azure that serves as a runtime for the applications and provides a set of services that allows development, management, and hosting of managed applications at Microsoft data centers.

The platform includes the following services,

.NET Services

A set of developer-oriented services that provide basic pieces required by many cloud-based applications (access control, service bus, worklow, etc.).

SQL Services

A set of services that extend the capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server into the cloud as a web-based, distributed relational database. It provides web services that enable relational queries, search, and data synchronization with mobile users, remote offices, and business partners.

Live Services

A set of services that provide developers the ability to connect their applications to Windows Live users. In addition, Live Services let users log in using Live ID, access and share contacts, feed content into Windows Live, and so on.

In regard to pricing, the Azure Services Platform is based on a consumption model including compute time, storage, API calls, and so forth.

There are a number of potential use cases to consider when discussing the Azure Services platform, as outlined in below table.