Excel Cloud Data Analytics

Excel Cloud Data Analytics is a Microsoft Excel add-in that enables users to execute a variety of data-centric tasks on Windows Azure through a custom Ribbon in Excel. This add-in can be used to connect to data stored in the Windows Azure cloud and can be extended to connect to a variety of other data sources. It also provides a general framework in which the user can create data-analytics methods and run them in Windows Azure. The current code base supports the execution in Windows Azure via built-in access to Daytona, an iterative MapReduce runtime for Windows Azure. Using Excel Cloud Data Analytics, users can upload data to Windows Azure, select and run registered data-analysis algorithms in the cloud through Windows Azure, monitor the execution of the data analysis, and retrieve results for display or further processing.