Azure, AI, Enterprise Updates: Some of Microsoft Ignite 2023’s Big News
Look for announcements around Azure cloud computing and artificial intelligence, and a lot more.
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Expect a preview of Microsoft’s unified AI platform, Azure AI Studio.
The platform serves as a one-stop shop for exploring, building, testing and deploying AI solutions. Developers may craft generative AI applications, including Copilot experiences, with Microsoft’s out-of-the-box tools and models.
Some of those resources include Microsoft’s commitment to protecting copyrights. The company on Nov. 15 expanded that ethos to include customers using Azure OpenAI Service.
Meanwhile, there’s also Azure AI Content Safety in general availability. This capability detects and mitigates harmful content, per Microsoft.
Find out what else is new, this time for Kubernetes, Nvidia and Amazon S3, on the next slide.
We’ll cover three pieces of news here.
First, look for confidential containers on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) in preview. Microsoft bills this cloud service as the first to offer pod-level isolation and memory encryption in a managed Kubernetes service. In other words, your customers (likely with your help) will be able to migrate their most sensitive container workloads to the cloud without any code changes, while protecting data in memory from external and internal threats. Confidential containers on AKS is now in preview.
Second, Microsoft is releasing NCCv5 series confidential virtual machines with NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs in preview. This will allow AI developers to deploy their GPU-powered applications confidentially.
Third, Amazon S3 shortcuts are now also generally available. This capability unifies data in Amazon S3 with data in OneLake. As such, data engineers will be able to create a single virtualized data lake for the organization across Amazon S3 buckets and OneLake. In doing so, they will not have to deal with the latency of copying data from S3 or changing overall data ownership, Microsoft said.
On the next slide, we examine some AI infrastructure updates.
Microsoft is talking up how it has strengthened its AI infrastructure. Here are three key takeaways:
First, Azure Boost now is generally available. Azure Boost offers more network and storage performance, improves security, and moves virtualization processes traditionally performed by the host servers onto hardware and software built for those workloads. Microsoft says this lets it provide the fastest remote and local storage performances on the market.
Plus, there are now ND MI300 v5 virtual machines with AMD chips optimized for generative AI workloads. The machines accelerate the processing of AI workloads for high-range AI model training and generative inferencing. They will feature AMD’s latest GPU, the AMD Instinct MI300X.
Finally, Microsoft has the new NC H100 v5 Virtual Machine (VM) Series in preview. It’s built on the latest NVL variant of the NVIDIA Hopper 100, intended to offer greater memory per GPU. Microsoft says the new VM series will give users better performance, reliability and efficiency for mid-range AI training and generative AI inferencing.
If you’re interested in the internet of things, go to the next slide.
Heads up: Microsoft has added Azure IoT Operations to the Azure IoT portfolio. The offering, now in preview, supports Microsoft’s efforts to standardize cloud-to-edge architecture for digital solutions in physical operations, using industry standards and open-source approaches.
In other words, expect fewer technical hurdles and more collaboration across IT and operational technology.
Microsoft intends to achieve this in several ways:
With its single control plane for managing workloads with Azure Arc;
With application development;
With integration at the data level from asset to cloud and back again; and
With common infrastructure.
On the next slide, we have updates regarding Oracle.
Cloud providers team up frequently, and Microsoft and Oracle have a joint update this week.
The companies are announcing the general availability of Oracle Database@Azure, available in the U.S. East Azure region in December. The capability will go live in more regions starting in the first quarter of 2024.
Customers will have direct access to Oracle database services running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure deployed in Microsoft Azure data centers. It will all start with the Oracle Exadata Database Service combined with Microsoft Azure.
For more Azure news, go to the next slide.
If you’re playing around with AI, Azure Chaos Studio could offer a helpful proving ground.
In general availability, Azure Chaos Studio provides a fully managed experimentation platform. Users get to discover challenging issues through experiment templates, dynamic targets and a more guided user interface, Microsoft says.
Chaos Studio lets users intentionally disrupt their applications so they can figure out how to deal with them should they crop up in the real world. Scenarios include disruptions such as network delays, storage failures, expired secrets or even complete data center outages.
Speaking of Azure, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point to the new Microsoft Copilot for Azure. In preview, the tool serves as an AI companion that will simplify how users design, operate, optimize and troubleshoot applications and infrastructure from cloud to edge. Microsoft has been talking up its Copilot AI resource throughout 2023; it’s infusing Copilot into many of its platforms from here on out.
But all this talk of AI raises the question — who’s qualified to work with it? Microsoft has an answer.
If you’re looking to beef up your Microsoft credibility, you may want to get in on Microsoft’s new Applied Skills credentials for AI. The idea is to give users the power to:
Develop generative AI with Azure OpenAI Service;
Create an intelligent document processing solution with Azure AI Document Intelligence;
Build a natural language processing solution with Azure AI Language; and
Build an Azure AI Vision solution.
With this addition, Microsoft now offers 15 Applied Skills credentials. Expect five more by the end of December. The new credentials align to projects such as development of generative AI solutions or configuring secure access using Azure networking as organizations adopt cloud and AI technologies.
The process to earn a Microsoft Applied Skills credential includes self-paced learning and lab-based assessments.
Next up, a look at some news tied to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
If your customers rely on SharePoint, they’ll probably want to know about the new SharePoint Premium.
In essence, it’s Microsoft’s AI-powered version of content management that incorporates, you guessed it, Copilot tools. Microsoft says users will gain more value from their data.
SharePoint Premium remains in preview and will launch early next year.
Speaking of smoother data flow, the new Microsoft Planner will let users across lines of business combine to-dos, tasks, plans and projects. Microsoft is combining its aforementioned, associated platforms for the web into one interface that it’s calling Planner. Look for the app to become available next spring and for the web experience to launch later next year.
We’ll move on to a quick look at some Windows news for commercial users and enterprises, then cover some security developments.
If you’ve been waiting for new Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop features, Microsoft aims to please.
Here’s the rundown of the most compelling of the new additions:
Windows App, in preview, will serve as the place to connect to any devices or applications across Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, Remote Desktop, Remote Desktop Services, Microsoft Dev Box and more.
Windows 365 GPU support, in preview, will accommodate workloads including graphic design, image and video rendering, 3D modeling, data processing and visualization applications.
Windows 365 AI capabilities will help cut costs, increase efficiency, and simplify security and management of Windows 365 Cloud PCs.
Single-sign on (SSO) and passwordless authentication support for both Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop is now generally available for Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365. There’s also third-party identity provider support.
Windows 365 Customer Lockbox, in preview, will ensure that Microsoft support engineers can't access content to do service operations without explicit approval.
Windows 365 Custom Managed Keys will allow organizations to encrypt their Windows 365 Cloud PC disks using their own encryption keys. Expect the preview for this feature to come “soon,” Microsoft says.
Watermarking, screen capture protection and tamper protection support for both Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop are now generally available. These capabilities are meant to deter unauthorized access and data manipulation.
Finally, we end with a look at new developments on the security front.
Now on to some (not all) Microsoft Ignite security updates. These announcements target security operations center (SOC) experts.
First up, Microsoft Defender 365 is now Microsoft Defender XDR. It’s a name change intended to reflect Microsoft’s extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities that go beyond 365 products. Now, the solutions protect devices across Windows, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS, as well as multicloud environments spanning Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. This update is generally available.
On a similar note, Microsoft has combined Defender XDR with Sentinel. This delivers a single user experience and adds Security Copilot generative AI capabilities. This update is in private preview.
Speaking of Security Copilot, Microsoft says this tool will help analysts to level up their security information and event management (SIEM) and XDR skills. That’s because the Ai uses natural language to write keyword query language queries. It also understands malicious scripts, creates incident summaries and helps with the investigation and remediation processes. This update is in early access.
And here’s a final security update: Microsoft has unveiled Defender for Cloud Apps for Defender and Purview. The capabilities accommodate AI while keeping data and other assets safe, Microsoft says. Defender for Cloud Apps will support more than 400 large language model apps. In addition, Purview Data Loss Prevention will help organizations create policies that prevent users from pasting sensitive data to specific websites. This update is in preview.
Now on to some (not all) Microsoft Ignite security updates. These announcements target security operations center (SOC) experts.
First up, Microsoft Defender 365 is now Microsoft Defender XDR. It’s a name change intended to reflect Microsoft’s extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities that go beyond 365 products. Now, the solutions protect devices across Windows, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS, as well as multicloud environments spanning Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. This update is generally available.
On a similar note, Microsoft has combined Defender XDR with Sentinel. This delivers a single user experience and adds Security Copilot generative AI capabilities. This update is in private preview.
Speaking of Security Copilot, Microsoft says this tool will help analysts to level up their security information and event management (SIEM) and XDR skills. That’s because the Ai uses natural language to write keyword query language queries. It also understands malicious scripts, creates incident summaries and helps with the investigation and remediation processes. This update is in early access.
And here’s a final security update: Microsoft has unveiled Defender for Cloud Apps for Defender and Purview. The capabilities accommodate AI while keeping data and other assets safe, Microsoft says. Defender for Cloud Apps will support more than 400 large language model apps. In addition, Purview Data Loss Prevention will help organizations create policies that prevent users from pasting sensitive data to specific websites. This update is in preview.
Microsoft Ignite 2023 is taking place this week in Seattle and online.
And the event is teeming with news.
Frankly, Microsoft Ignite features too many releases to cover in detail. So, we’ve waded through the onslaught you to bring you a compilation of what we think comprises the most relevant announcements for the channel. You can find the entire newsfeed at the Microsoft blog.
If you want a quick preview, here you go.
Look for a lot of announcements around Copilot, Microsoft’s AI tool that costs $30 per user per month. We don’t have the capacity to review each piece of news around this. If it’s of particular interest to you given the ties to sales and contact center users, as well as users of industry clouds, Dynamics 365, Viva, the Edge browser and more, definitely visit the Microsoft website for more insight.
There’s also a ton of news around Azure and artificial intelligence, though we have strived to spotlight the most channel-centric takeaways in this slideshow.
We also have peeks into news around Windows and security.
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Microsoft's Frank X. Shaw
In fact, here's how Frank X. Shaw, chief communications officer at Microsoft, positioned the sum of this year's happenings: "The overarching theme for this year's Ignite is how we are working to empower our customers, partners and developers to thrive in the era of AI," he said. "In 2023, we witnessed entirely new ways of working via technological advances. Organizations count on their partners to provide innovative, efficient and safe solutions that lead to meaningful business outcomes, and we at Microsoft are proud to deliver those results."
Let’s kick off this week’s Microsoft Ignite coverage with a look of what’s coming from cloud computing group Azure, especially as it concerns AI.
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