At Ignite 2018 conference in Orlando, Microsoft has just announced a lot of news, services, programs and hardware related to Azure, AI, Security, IoT, Edge Computing, Office and much more.
The tech giant focuses on Security; AI and Data; and IoT and Edge Computing this year.
Highlights
- Azure Machine Learning service
- New Azure IoT Edge features and capabilities
- Launch “Open Data Initiative” with Adobe and SAP
- Confidential Computing for Azure
- Unified search across Microsoft 365
- Windows Virtual Desktop on Azure with multi-user Windows 10 experience
- Password free sign in capabilities for apps
- LinkedIn integration with Outlook and Office apps
- Powerful AI features into a simplified experience across Office 365
- Surface Hub 2 to ship in Q2 2019
- Cortana Skills Kit for Enterprise
- Azure Data Box family
- Office 2019 for windows and Mac
Moreover, Microsoft, Adobe and SAP introduced the “Open Data Initiative“, reimagining customer experience management by empowering companies to derive more value from their data and deliver world-class customer experiences in real-time. It’s said that customers can enable AI-driven business processes to derive insights and intelligence from unified behavioral and operational data and unlock and harmonize siloed data to create new value.
Announcing Open Data Initiative: A partnership with a new vision for renewable data and intelligent applications
Now we are going deeper of today’s announcements of Microsoft.
1) Security
- “Microsoft Threat Protection”, an integrated experience for detection, investigation, and remediation across endpoints, email, documents, identity, and infrastructure in the Microsoft 365 admin console.
- Delivering new support for password-less sign-in to Azure AD-connected apps via Microsoft Authenticator.
- “Microsoft Secure Score” to help IT professionals understand their all-up security position with additional controls from Microsoft Cloud App Security, Azure Active Directory and Azure Security Center to harden defenses even more to protect networks and information, secure against threats, and assist in overall systems management.
- “Azure confidential computing” public preview, the first solution for protecting data while it’s processed in the public cloud, will be coming in early October in public preview on new Azure virtual machine family called DC series.
- New enhancements in Microsoft 365 compliance solutions to support an organization’s compliance journey beyond the General Data Protection Regulation with more intelligent capabilities.
- The “Cybersecurity Tech Accord” is a public commitment among more than 60 global companies to protect and empower civilians online and to improve the security, stability and resilience of cyberspace.
2-1) Artificial Intelligence
- “AI for Humanitarian Action”, a new $40 million,five-year Microsoft program.
- Cortana Skills Kit for Enterprise, developed with the Microsoft Bot Framework and Azure Cognitive Services Language Understanding
service. - “Azure Machine Learning”, automated machine learning capability is being incorporated, includes a software development kit, or SDK, for the Python programming language, which is popular among data scientists (The SDK integrates the Azure Machine Learning service with Python development environments including Visual Studio Code, PyCharm, Azure Databricks notebooks and Jupyter notebooks)
- “Azure Cognitive Services” will update, new “Speech Service” which combines several AI speech capabilities into a single service.
- “Microsoft Bot Framework v4 SDK with rich, multilanguage tools for building and connecting intelligent bots using C#, Java, Python and JavaScript.
- Unified search across Microsoft 365, providing the way to search across all your organization’s data—both inside and outside of Microsoft 365.
- New AI-powered meeting features in Microsoft 365.
- Ideas in Office which create content that stands out with Microsoft 365
- Intelligent enhancements in Excel
2-2) Data
- SQL Server 2019 public preview
- Azure SQL Database Hyperscale and Managed Instance
- Azure Data Explorer public preview
- Azure Cosmos DB to help customers build mission-critical, globally distributed apps
- Azure Databricks Delta preview
- Azure SQL Database intelligent features
- New Azure SQL Data Warehouse pricing tier
3-1) Internet of things
- “Azure Digital Twins”, new IoT platform to build comprehensive digital models of any physical environment. Available in public preview on Oct. 15.
- “Azure IoT Central”, new solution for getting started quickly with IoT
- improved Map Control API in Azure Maps
- New Azure IoT Edge features and capabilities, third-party IoT Edge modules for certification and showcase in the Azure Marketplace
- New capabilities in the Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service
- Azure IoT Hub Message Routing, simplifies IoT solution development
- Azure IoT platform support for Android and Android Things
- Azure Sphere public preview
- New Dynamics 365 connected field service offering
3-2) Edge
- Azure Data Box family providing both offline and online solutions
- Azure Data Box Edge preview
- Azure Data Box Gateway preview
- Azure Data Box, a rugged, tamper to transport customer data to an Azure Data Center
- Azure Data Box Heavy preview
- Azure Event Hubs on Azure Stack in development
- Consistent blockchain deployment for Azure and Azure Stack preview
- Expanded capacity for Azure Stack
4-1) Azure infrastructure
- Windows Server 2019 will be generally available in October 2018, focusing on customers who want to innovate with containers and micro-services
- Azure Ultra SSD Managed Disks public preview
- Azure Standard SSD Managed Disks general availability
- Azure Premium Files public preview
- Larger Azure Managed Disks sizes
- New GPU-enabled Azure Virtual Machines
- Azure Serial Console general availability
- Azure Virtual WAN general availability
- Azure Front Door Service preview
- Azure Firewall general availability
- Azure ExpressRoute Direct public preview
- Azure ExpressRoute Global Reach public preview
- New Azure DDoS Protection Standard features
- H-series Virtual Machines for High-Performance Computing public preview
- Microsoft Learn and role-based Microsoft Certifications
4-2) Governance and management
- Azure Blueprints public preview
- Azure Resource Graph public preview
- Azure Policy for DevOps public preview
- Azure Cost Management within Azure Portal public preview
- Azure Monitor general availability
4-3 )Developer
- Azure SignalR Service general availability
- Intune MAM Wrappers for line of business apps
- Azure Functions 2.0 runtime, which brings the power of functions-based computing to more developers
- New features in Azure Event Grid
- Azure Container Registry
- Two new enhancements for Azure LogicApps
- New updates to Azure Service Fabric
- Kubernetes on Azure Stack public preview
4-4) Quantum
- Microsoft Quantum Development Kit will release an update this fall that adds a new chemical
simulation library in collaboration with computational chemistry leader Pacific Northwest National Labs
4-5) Migration
- Hyper-V assessments in Azure Migrate
- Azure VM Image Builder in private preview
5-1)
- Extend the power of Teams in Office 365 to empower workers in all roles and across industries
5-2)
- LinkedIn integration with Outlook and Office apps
5-3)
- Microsoft Stream mobile app
5-4)
- Microsoft Teams integrates new Yammer and SharePoint features
5-5)
- Bringing OneDrive innovation to Mac
5-6)
- Surface Hub 2 arrives in 2019
5-7)
- Windows Virtual Desktop
5-8)
- Integrated Microsoft 365 admin center
5-9)
- Windows Autopilot extends to existing devices
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Unveils New Tools and Technology in the keynote
