Microsoft has introduced an image into the Windows Azure Virtual Machine Gallery that is pre-optimized for a Fast Track Data Warehouse (FTDW) workload.  FTDW is a reference configuration optimized for data warehousing.  Not only is there an image for SQL Server 2012 SP1 (rated for 400GB database warehousing workloads), but also for SQL Server 2014 CTP2 (rated for 1TB database warehousing workloads).  View the details at Cloud.

So now users can provision a highly tuned data warehouse image within minutes without any knowledge of Azure storage configurations nor needing expertise on how to optimize SQL Server for data warehousing workloads.  This is an ideal solution for customers who want a data warehouse quickly without managing a hardware infrastructure.

More info:

Windows Azure Data Series: SQL Server Fast-Track Data Warehouse (FTDW)

SQL Server Data Warehousing in Windows Azure Virtual Machines

Fast Track Data Warehouse Reference Guide for SQL Server 2012

Cloud Data Warehousing – The Fastest Time To Value

Deploy a SQL Server Data Warehouse in Windows Azure Virtual Machines

Deep-dive on New Azure FastTrack VM image (FTDW)

New Azure FastTrack VM image for SQL Server 2014 CTP2 (FTDW)