Free Windows Azure Platform Trial (some may find this useful)

[DainBramaged]

Compute:
750 hours of an Extra Small Compute Instance
25 hours of a Small Compute Instance
Storage:
500MB
10k Storage transactions
Data Transfers:
500MB in / 500MB out
Relational Database:
1G Web Edition SQLAzure database (for 90 days only)
Access Control transactions:
100k
Service Bus connections:
2


Building out an infrastructure that supports your web service or application can be expensive, complicated and time consuming. Forecasting the highest possible demand. Building out the network to support your peak times. Getting the right servers in place at the right time, managing and maintaining the systems.

Or you could look to the Microsoft cloud. The Windows Azure platform is a flexible cloud–computing platform that lets you focus on solving business problems and addressing customer needs. No need to invest upfront on expensive infrastructure. Pay only for what you use, scale up when you need capacity and pull it back when you don’t. We handle all the patches and maintenance — all in a secure environment with over 99.9% uptime.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9682907 White Paper in PDF)