Bangalore: Microsoft has released the community technology preview of SQL Azure database along with the preview of an SQL server driver for building PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) applications for the Azure platform.

The Azure Services Platform is seen as Microsoft's move into the growing cloud computing market, reports CNET News. SQL Azure database, which is a relational database, is a rival to Amazon.com's SimpleDB.

"With SQL Azure, developers building Web 2.0, ASP.Net and PHP applications can use familiar tools and data models to develop on a pay-as-you-grow, secure, scalable and highly available database service at minimal infrastructure cost," Microsoft Senior Program Manager, David Robinson wrote in a blog post Tuesday. He added, "There are really no comparable solutions available today."

SQL Azure's relational data model supports Microsoft and Sybase's proprietary extension to the SQL database language, Transact-SQL. There is a high degree of compatibility with SQL Server, allowing for easy migration of business and Web applications to the cloud.

The free trial will last until November, when the service is fully launched. There will be two editions, a Web Edition that stores up to 1GB of data for $9.99 per month, and a Business Edition that stores up to 10GB at $99.99 per month.