The First Look series focusses on new products, recent announcements, previews or things I have not had the time to provide a first look at and serves as introduction to the subject. First look posts are fairly short and high level.
Azure Data Catalog is a service that is now in public preview that provides a one-stop access layer to data sources; it abstracts away specifics of accessing data that are dependent on where and how data is stored, such as server names, protocols, ports, etc. It includes easy to use search and publishing tools, so both business and IT can collaborate together on providing a general, easy to use data access layer to all employees.
For more info on Azure Data Catalog see: http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/data-catalog/