The meaning and characteristics of Associated Press

Associated Press (AP) is one of the oldest news and information organizations, providing the latest and most real-time news information for newspapers, radio, television and the Internet almost daily. The AP provides the latest and most complete service for 1700 newspapers, 5,000 broadcast media and 550 international broadcasts across the United States. Such a large institution, which is naturally global, has 243 offices in 97 countries and is the world's largest with 4,100 employees worldwide. But the AP is not a profitable co-op, it is shared by members of the American daily. It maintains a digital image archive of over 10 million images.

In order to keep its position constant, AP began to plan to implement a highly scalable API to allow itself to have more customers and beneficiaries, and in this performance, developers around the world can integrate AP news content into their applications. But there is also the problem that the AP team is eager to understand what developers are willing to do with their new jobs. (It is called the Associated Press breaking News API)

"Part of the task of the project is to see what news people are interested in." "said Alan Wintroub, AP Enterprise Application services development director. "We want to use the developer's ecosystem, and its dynamism and creativity." We see that this will be a winning situation. "

Scale planning is the best place to highlight the advantages of the Microsoft cloud model, and the Windows Azure platform frees us from those annoyances, while other platforms cannot do it--jonathan Malek, Associated Press chief architect and research director

By using APIs to deliver content, the AP initially considered a non cloud solution. But IT staff are more focused on upfront investments in hardware and software, as well as the potential impact on existing services and systems. So the agency starts looking for alternatives to the project.

Solution:
After considering several "cloud computing" platforms, AP chose to place its solution on top of Windows Azuretm from Microsoft.  The Windows Azure platform provides an operating system, as well as a set of developer services that can be used independently or jointly. "With Windows Azure platform, we can easily expand it without worrying about scale planning," said Jonathan Malek, chief architect and research director of Associated Press. "These infrastructures allow us to quickly expand the relevant parts of the solution without worrying about the rest of the operating system." Microsoft's technology also fits our internal standards. "

AP developers ' existing skills can quickly adapt to Windows Azure platform, "That's where the Wndows Azure platform stands out," Malek said. "The quality of the tools, the simplicity of development, and the simplicity of management are all fascinating. "The development of the breaking News API began late in 2008, and the AP has plans to release several small batches of public beta versions later in 2009," the company said. Login developer.ap.org has access to tools, forums, and support for developing applications that connect AP content.

In the background, Microsoft ®sql Azuretm database to store news metadata. The easily retrieved document ID is stored in the information queue and is monitored and processed by Windows Azure. Finally, the document is stored in Windows Azure Blob Storage.

One key requirement is that it is easy and safe to make large amounts of internal data available externally, so the team uses service bus in Windows Azure. Service bus helps provide secure connections across firewalls and network boundaries before services and applications. "Service bus makes it easy to build and provide them before the firewall." We can't do those things without service bus. Pramod Anchuparayil explains, Associated Press architect.

Advantages：
With a flexible, cloud-based platform to provide APIs, Associated Press can streamline project scenarios, develop quickly, create new opportunities for the business, and product innovation.

Simplified solution
By selecting a managed development platform, the AP eliminates the need for solutions and high hardware investments when creating a traditional, highly scalable product. "Scale planning is the best place to highlight the advantages of Microsoft's cloud model," Malek said. "Windows Azure platform frees us from all the distractions that other platforms can't." "

Direct development and fast time to market
AP developers have found that past experience around the UN development tool can quickly be translated into Windows Azure platform. "We are almost a Microsoft store, focused on C #, Microsoft SQL server®[database management software, and Microsoft Visual studio®[development system," Malek said. "Our developers can develop quickly." Development tools and environment are excellent. "Because the cloud architecture provides a simplification of development and solutions, the AP can quickly develop prototypes and its API system." The Windows Azure platform will continue to bring new products to market.

New Growth Opportunities
Although the development of breaking News API system is still ongoing, AP is satisfied with its progress. "In many ways, we have succeeded. Wintroub says the Breaking News API program allows us to explore possibilities we never imagined. It also creates ideas for our own development institutions and offers business opportunities. Now, without the support of Windows Azure, it is hard to imagine how our business will be carried out. "

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