Azure Decoded: Insider Tips for Optimal Performance

Understanding Azure Architecture

Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform, offers a plethora of services to businesses, ranging from virtual machines to AI-powered analytics. To unlock its full potential, one must grasp its architecture intricately. At its core, Azure operates on a global network of data centers, ensuring low-latency access worldwide. Understanding this architecture is paramount for optimizing performance.

Leveraging Azure's Scalability

Scalability is one of Azure's most compelling features. With Azure, businesses can effortlessly scale resources up or down based on demand. Utilizing Azure Autoscale, businesses can automate this process, ensuring optimal resource allocation at all times. By leveraging Azure's scalability, businesses can handle fluctuations in traffic seamlessly, without compromising performance.

Enhancing Security with Azure

Security is a top priority for businesses migrating to the cloud. Azure offers a robust set of security tools and features to safeguard data and applications. Azure Security Center provides advanced threat detection and security recommendations, ensuring comprehensive protection against cyber threats. Additionally, Azure Active Directory enables businesses to manage user identities and access effectively, enhancing overall security posture.

Optimizing Performance with Azure Monitoring

Monitoring is crucial for maintaining optimal performance in Azure. Azure Monitor provides comprehensive insights into the performance and health of applications and infrastructure. By leveraging metrics, logs, and alerts, businesses can identify performance bottlenecks and optimize resource utilization effectively. Coupled with Azure Application Insights, businesses gain deep visibility into application performance, enabling proactive optimization strategies.

Maximizing Efficiency with Azure Cost Management

Cost management is a key consideration for businesses operating in the cloud. Azure offers robust tools for optimizing costs and maximizing efficiency. Azure Cost Management + Billing provides detailed insights into resource usage and spending patterns, allowing businesses to identify cost-saving opportunities. By implementing budget alerts and resource tagging, businesses can effectively manage costs and allocate resources judiciously.

Accelerating Development with Azure DevOps

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, rapid software development is essential for staying ahead of the competition. Azure DevOps streamlines the development process, enabling teams to collaborate seamlessly and deliver high-quality software faster. With features like Azure Pipelines for continuous integration and deployment, businesses can automate the software delivery lifecycle, reducing manual overhead and accelerating time to market.

Conclusion

Azure offers a myriad of capabilities to businesses seeking to harness the power of the cloud. By understanding Azure's architecture, leveraging its scalability, enhancing security measures, optimizing performance monitoring, maximizing cost efficiency, and accelerating development with Azure DevOps, businesses can unlock unparalleled performance and agility in the cloud.

Continue reading

Microsoft supports cloud infrastructure demand in Europe

Demand for cloud infrastructure continues to grow, especially in Europe, as organizations focus on migrating to the cloud and building new solutions that take advantage of AI. Microsoft is expanding our cloud infrastructure to support this demand and power more AI capabilities for customers.

This includes additional infrastructure at new and existing datacenters, deploying the most advanced AI accelerators from NVIDIA and AMD, alongside our own custom AI accelerator capabilities, faster networking and storage solutions, and optimized computing infrastructure. We are also working to make Microsoft Azure the best home for any enterprise workload, whether migrating existing workloads to the cloud easier or bringing SAP or Oracle Database Services into Azure.

Expanding our datacenter regions in Europe

Microsoft has over 60 datacenter regions across the globe, more than any other cloud provider. Each Azure geography contains one or more regions and meets specific data residency and compliance requirements. This lets them keep their business-critical data and apps nearby on fault-tolerant, high-capacity networking infrastructure.

European businesses are enmeshed in the global economy, exporting goods and services around the world. So, it’s important they have access to a cloud footprint that is as global as their customer base, and which provides the same ability to seamlessly scale abroad as they can at home.

We are investing in a significant expansion in specific European regions, which will make them our largest datacenter regions on the continent.

• UK South: We recently announced a $3.2 billion investment in next generation AI datacenter infrastructure and have showcased how customers in the United Kingdom are using the cloud to produce products and services with a vision of excellence.
• Sweden Central: Our investments in Sweden help customers make the best use of their data while also meeting Microsoft’s sustainability goals with free air cooling, rainwater harvesting, use of renewable diesel for backup power, and partnering with Vattenfall to deliver a large-scale 24/7 renewable energy matching solution. 
• Germany West Central: We recently announced a doubling of our Azure capacity by early 2024, as well as additional AI-related infrastructure investments coming. This is a region where our datacenters are perfectly situated in the center of Europe, allowing all European companies to access the Microsoft Cloud in a fast and secure manner.

These regions are the best place for new customers to begin their cloud journey, and for existing customers to grow their cloud footprint in Europe—with some of the best cost efficiencies and most comprehensive set of services. They will play a pivotal role in our European AI strategy, while continuing to meet European data boundary requirements. We have begun similar investment expansions for Italy North, which recently launched, and for Spain Central, which will launch in the coming months. These regions will quickly grow to have similar size and capabilities as the three regions above, over the next year or two.

This infrastructure investment will help a need for efficient, scalable, and sustainable AI-specific compute power and the needs of the private and public sector waiting to take advantage of the latest cloud and AI breakthroughs. It is critical that this growth and innovation does not come at the expense of the planet. Microsoft’s datacenters are designed to be sustainable and support our goals of being carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste. We believe AI will play a key role in tackling the climate crisis, and capabilities like Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability can help customers quantify carbon impact and measure optimizations.

While these regions offer cost savings, broad availability of services, and the capability to achieve long-term business growth, we have many additional regions across Europe that offer a cloud solution for every customer need. From network latency requirements to disaster recovery, compliance and data residency—such as the European Union (EU) Data Boundary, within which Microsoft has empowered our commercial customers to store and process their data securely within the EU. This list will continue to grow with our next European datacenter regions on the horizon in Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Finland, and Greece.

Choosing the right cloud architecture for your organization

In designing a strategy to use Microsoft Azure, customers can choose from many Azure regions around the world. Region selection is a key part of the overall approach to cloud adoption. There are some important decisions our customers need to consider in choosing the region right for them.

Identify when you’re optimizing for cost

There are many variables that help us determine the price of services in a region, including cost of land, labor, and energy. You can realize cost savings whether you’re migrating your first workload or fine-tuning complex deployments. Use the pricing calculator to find the most cost-effective Azure region for your workloads.

Take a multi-region approach

With the additional investments we are making in Europe, customers now have additional options to scale while navigating market changes to their business. Our customers can consider a multi-region architecture to help optimize workloads, reduce costs, and help scale their business, while still meeting European data compliance and regulatory requirements.

Understand your regulatory and compliance requirements

Organizations with specific data residency requirements, or other regulatory or compliance needs can choose the region(s) that help them meet those requirements. Microsoft’s commitment to our European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) customers, help them process and store customer data in their region.

Don’t reinvent the wheel

Leverage the Cloud Adoption Framework to achieve your cloud adoption goals. It provides best practices, documentation, and tools that help you create and implement business and technology strategies for the cloud.

Follow the Well Architected Framework to optimize an individual workload. It provides guidance for solution architects to build reliable, secure, and performant workloads that maximize the value of investment in Azure infrastructure.

Supporting our customers

As organizations and governments across the world are using the cloud to digitally transform and drive innovation, at Microsoft we remain committed to building a cloud infrastructure that supports the success of customers in the era of AI.

Source: microsoft.com

Continue reading

Tips & Tricks for Passing Microsoft AZ-800 Exam

A Windows server hybrid administrator is responsible for setting up, managing, and troubleshooting Windows Server 2022 systems. The AZ-800 certification can fulfill half of the qualifications needed for this role, as it is specialized and advanced. However, the initial step involves understanding the nature of the AZ-800 certification. This post aims to guide you in preparing for the Microsoft AZ-800 exam and highlights its role in successfully clearing the certification test.

The AZ-800 certification is an intermediate-level training program focused on Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure. To attain the Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate designation, you must complete two exams: AZ-800 (Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure) and AZ-801 (Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate).

Microsoft AZ-800 Exam Structure

The AZ-800 exam lasts 120 minutes, equivalent to 2 hours, and is conducted on a computer. The test comprises 40-60 questions, including various formats such as multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, case studies, and multiple-response questions.

Achieving a passing score on a scale of 1 to 1000 for the exam is set at 700. The certification remains valid for one year, and the associated cost is $165. While there is no prerequisite certification, it's essential to grasp the advanced skills necessary for managing Windows servers and operating systems, as elaborated above.

The AZ-800 exam is segmented into separate domains; each assigned a specific weightage. The domains for the AZ-800 exam are outlined below:

Deploy and manage Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) in on-premises and cloud environments (30-35%)

Manage Windows Servers and workloads in a hybrid environment (10-15%)

Manage virtual machines and containers (15-20%)

Implement and manage an on-premises and hybrid networking infrastructure (15-20%)

Manage storage and file services (15-20%)

AZ-800 Exam Preparation Tips: Navigating the Road to Success

With the groundwork laid, let's delve into actionable tips to optimize your AZ-800 exam preparation. These strategies are crafted to enhance your efficiency and boost your confidence on exam day.

1. Develop a Structured Study Plan

The vast scope of the AZ-800 exam demands a systematic approach to preparation. Create a detailed study plan that allocates time to each exam domain based on its weightage.

Dedicate specific time blocks to each domain, ensuring comprehensive coverage. This approach ensures that all crucial topics are covered and facilitates a balanced understanding of the exam objectives.

2. Embrace Practical Learning

The AZ-800 exam is not just about theoretical knowledge; it emphasizes practical application. Create a lab environment to simulate real-world scenarios and reinforce your understanding of hybrid solutions.

Craft practical scenarios that mirror the challenges presented in the exam. This hands-on approach enhances your problem-solving skills and boosts your confidence in tackling diverse hybrid infrastructure issues.

3. Leverage Community and Peer Support

Join forums, communities, or study groups dedicated to the AZ-800 exam. Engaging with peers allows you to gain insights from diverse perspectives and facilitates collaborative learning.

Discussing complex topics with peers often unveils alternative approaches and solutions. Embrace the community's collective knowledge to enhance your understanding of exam objectives.

4. Take AZ-800 Practice Test

Engaging in practice tests lets you acquaint yourself with the exam structure and develop effective questions-answering strategies. It also offers insights into your readiness for the exam, allowing you to identify areas where improvement is needed. Utilizing practice tests facilitates self-assessment, helping you pinpoint your weaknesses. You enhance your confidence for the actual exam through extensive practice with test questions.

Numerous online platforms offer a variety of practice test options. Edusum is an example of such a platform worth exploring.

The Final Push: Microsoft AZ-800 Exam Day Strategies

As the exam day approaches, it's essential to fine-tune your strategies to ensure optimal performance. Implement these final push tips to navigate through the AZ-800 exam confidently.

1. Review and Reinforce

In the days leading up to the exam, revisit critical concepts and practical scenarios. Use practice tests and quizzes to identify areas that may need additional reinforcement.

2. Stay Calm and Focused

On exam day, maintaining composure is paramount—practice mindfulness techniques to stay calm, focused, and attentive throughout the AZ-800 exam.

3. Deep Breathing Techniques

Incorporate deep breathing exercises to alleviate anxiety. A calm mind enhances cognitive function, allowing you to approach each question clearly and precisely.

Benefits of Earning the Microsoft Certified - Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate Certification

The Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification opens many opportunities. Let's delve into the compelling benefits that make this certification a game-changer for IT professionals.

1. Elevated Professional Credibility

Achieving the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification instantly elevates your professional credibility. Employers recognize Microsoft certifications as a stamp of expertise, indicating that you possess the skills to navigate complex hybrid environments seamlessly.

By mastering the AZ-800 exam, you showcase your ability to integrate Windows Server solutions with Azure – a critical skill in today's ever-evolving technological landscape.

2. Expanded Career Opportunities

The need for skilled professionals who can smoothly manage both on-premises and cloud-based solutions is skyrocketing. With the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification in your arsenal, you become a sought-after candidate for roles that require expertise in hybrid environments.

When highlighting your Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification on your resume, emphasize how your skills bridge the gap between traditional on-premises infrastructure and cutting-edge cloud solutions.

3. Enhanced Problem-Solving Skills

The AZ-800 exam isn't just a memorization test; it's a gauge of your problem-solving prowess. Navigating through intricate case studies and practical scenarios hones your ability to analyze complex issues and implement effective solutions.

The practical nature of the AZ-800 exam ensures that certified professionals possess the hands-on experience required to tackle challenges in real-world hybrid environments.

Conclusion: Triumph in the AZ-800 Realm

Becoming a Microsoft Certified Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate is a testament to your proficiency in managing the complexities of modern IT infrastructure. The AZ-800 exam is the gateway to this esteemed certification, challenging you to showcase your skills in hybrid environments.

By understanding the exam details, exploring the benefits of certification, and implementing effective preparation strategies, you pave the way for success. Remember, the AZ-800 exam is not just a test; it's an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and ascend to new heights in your IT career. Embrace the journey, conquer the challenges, and emerge victorious in the realm of the AZ-800 exam!

Continue reading

Azure Elastic SAN efficiently migrates SAN to the cloud—now generally available

We are excited to announce the general availability (GA) of Azure Elastic SAN, the industry’s first fully-managed and cloud-native storage area network (SAN) offering that simplifies deploying, scaling, managing, and configuring a SAN in the cloud. Azure Elastic SAN responds to the vital need for seamless migration of extensive SAN environments to the cloud, bringing a new level of efficiency and ease. This enterprise-class offering stands out by adopting a SAN-like resource hierarchy, provisioning resources at the appliance level, and dynamically distributing these resources to meet the demands of diverse workloads across databases, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDIs), and business applications. Beyond that, it delivers cloud native benefits with scale on demand, policy-based service management, and cloud native security enforcements across encryption and network access. It’s a thoughtful innovation combining the efficiency at scale of on-premises SAN systems and the flexibility of cloud storage.

Since initially announcing the preview of Elastic SAN, we have added a robust suite of features to truly make this an enterprise class solution:

• Get even more out of your Elastic SAN performance with multi-session connectivity and increased performance and scale up to 80,000 IOPS and 1,280 MBps on single volume, even higher on the entire SAN.
• Easily migrate a clustered application (like SQL Failover Cluster Instances) to Elastic SAN volumes with shared volume support.
• Control which applications can consume your data, and which clients can access your volumes with Server-Side Encryption with Customer Managed Keys and private endpoint support.
• Confidently run even your most critical workloads with the addition of snapshot support.

The Elastic SAN GA release will be available in more regions, while adding a few new features as well:

• Investigate performance and capacity metrics with Azure Monitor Metrics.
• Prevent incidents due to misconfigurations with the help of Azure Policy.

This release also marks the removal of the sign-up process for the snapshot export feature, making it publicly available.

When to use Azure Elastic SAN

Get the most out of throughput and IOPS intensive workloads—Elastic SAN allows you to drive higher storage throughput over compute network bandwidth with the iSCSI protocol. This helps you optimize various database workloads, like SQL Servers. SQL Server deployments on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) occasionally require overprovisioning a VM to reach the target VM-level disk throughput. You can avoid this with Elastic SAN, as noticed by one of our preview customers, de Goudse verzekeringen:

“Our SQL Server data warehouse workloads required a solution that could eliminate input/output (IO) bottlenecks on both the VM and managed data disks. The Azure Elastic SAN solution provides this benefit by removing the VM bandwidth bottleneck and enabling higher IO throughput. The Elastic SAN performance allowed us to reduce the VM size and implement constrained cores to save substantial costs on SQL server core licensing.”

—Peter van Noort, Cloud Engineer, de Goudse verzekeringen and

Michiel Kuip, SQL Server DBA, de Goudse verzekeringen.

Migrate your on-premises SAN to the Cloud—Not only does Elastic SAN use a familiar resource hierarchy to on-premises SANs; it also allows provisioning of input/output operations per second (IOPS) and throughput at the Elastic SAN resource level, dynamically sharing the provisioned performance across your workloads, and managing security policies at the workload level as you would on SAN appliances. This makes migrating from on-premises SANs to the cloud a lot more straight-forward than trying to right-size hundreds or thousands of individual disks to serve the many workloads running on your SAN(s).

To further simplify the migration process, you can plan and execute your data migration using the Azure-Sponsored migration tool by Cirrus Data Solutions, which you can find in the Azure Marketplace. Cirrus Migrate Cloud now makes it even easier to migrate and save with their cost optimization wizard:

“We are excited for the launch of Azure Elastic SAN and see a real opportunity for companies to lower their storage total cost of ownership (TCO). Over the last 18 months, we have worked closely with the Azure team to develop enhanced functionality in Cirrus Migrate Cloud that enables enterprises to move their live workloads to Azure Elastic SAN with just a click. Offering Cirrus Migrate Cloud to not only accelerate Elastic SAN adoption, but to analyze the enterprise’s storage performance and accurately recommend the best Azure storage is an exciting expansion of our partnership with Microsoft and extends our vision of real-time block data mobility to Azure and Elastic SAN,”

—Wayne Lam, Chairman and CEO, Cirrus Data Solutions.

We have partnered with Cirrus Data Solutions to ensure their recommendations cover all Azure Block Storage offerings (Disks and Elastic SAN) and accounts for your specific storage needs. For example, if you are looking to run single queue depth workloads that are extremely latency sensitive (such as an online transaction processing (OLTP)-type workload), the wizard will recommend Ultra Disk—with the lowest sub-ms latency on Azure.

Consolidate storage and achieve cost efficiency at scale—Since Elastic SAN lets you dynamically share the provisioned performance across volumes, you can easily achieve high performance at an efficient rate. With a shared performance pool to handle IO spikes, you can avoid overprovisioning just to handle the peak traffic levels of your individual workloads. Similarly, because Elastic SAN allows scaling of capacity independently from performance, you can right-size to efficiently meet your storage requirements. For example, if your workloads’ performance requirements are met but you need more storage capacity, you can purchase just that—at a 25% lower cost than if you had to add more performance as well.

Get the lowest per GiB storage cost for Azure VMware Solution—With this recently announced preview integration, you can expand your Azure VMware Solution (AVS) storage capacity without having to add more vSAN storage nodes, by exposing an Elastic SAN volume as an external datastore to your AVS cluster. With Elastic SAN, you can provision additional storage in 1 TiB increments for as little as 6 to 8 cents per GiB per month, the lowest per GiB cost available for AVS storage. As a first party service, it provides a native Azure Storage experience, so you can deploy and connect an Elastic SAN datastore through the Azure Portal in a matter of minutes.

Utilize fast attach and detach for Azure Container Storage—Azure Container Storage is the industry’s first platform-managed container native storage service in the public cloud providing highly scalable, cost-effective persistent volumes, built natively for containers. You can use Elastic SAN as the backing storage for Azure Container Storage, and benefit from the fast attach and detach made possible by the iSCSI protocol. Using Elastic SAN also lets you take advantage of the dynamic resource sharing it offers to lower your storage costs—and because your data will persist on the volumes, you could even spin down your cluster for further savings. This makes it a great choice as storage for containerized applications running general purpose database workloads, streaming and messaging services, or continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) environments.

Price and performance of Azure Elastic SAN

Elastic SAN is a good fit for most throughput and IOPS intensive workloads, like various databases. We recently raised several performance limits to be able to serve even more demanding use cases:

An example of a database solution where we have seen great results during our Preview is SQL Servers. SQL Server deployments on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) occasionally require overprovisioning a VM to reach the target VM-level disk throughput. You can avoid this with Elastic SAN, since you can drive higher storage throughput over compute network bandwidth with the iSCSI protocol.

Combined with the benefit you can get from dynamic performance sharing, you can save significantly on your monthly bill. For example, another customer during preview was writing data to multiple different databases. In the simplified graphic below, you can see these databases require a total of 100,000 IOPS for peak performance if you provision for the max IOPS required per database. However, from what we observe in real life scenarios not all database instances will spike at the same time where some are more active during business hours for inquiries, and others off business hours for reporting. If you measure the peak IOPS aggregated across these workloads, it was only 50,000 at any given time. Since Elastic SAN allows its volumes to share the total performance provisioned at the SAN level, it lets you account for the combined maximum performance required by your workloads, rather than the sum of the individual requirements—which frequently means you can provision (and pay for) less performance to serve your needs. In the example provided, you would provision 50% less IOPS at 50,000 IOPS than if you were to cater to the individual workloads, significantly lowering your costs.

Source: microsoft.com

Continue reading

Continued innovation with Azure VMware Solution

Over the past three years, Microsoft and VMware have worked together closely to deliver our Azure VMware Solution (AVS) to customers in more than 30 Azure regions around the globe. It is a fully managed Microsoft service, based on VMware Cloud Foundation technologies, running on VMware validated Azure infrastructure. Azure VMware Solution enables customers to migrate or extend VMware workloads to the cloud seamlessly. Organizations can maintain existing VMware skills and operational processes and leverage Azure cloud services to modernize their applications, including innovation with AI.

Supporting customers on their cloud journey

Customers like Hastings Direct have migrated to Azure VMware Solution to serve their four million customers. They boosted application performance by 1.6 times with Azure, adjusting customer quotes four to five times faster and gaining a market edge. According to Hastings, “We wouldn’t have been able to move our business without Azure VMware Solution. I don’t think enough companies realize that they can use it to take a legacy environment and bring it directly to the cloud.” Now they are primed for further innovation using cloud services from the Azure AI portfolio.

I am excited to continue this partnership with VMware by Broadcom. Our shared commitment to delivering Azure VMware Solution to customers is as strong as ever. We are actively working together to continue supporting our common customers, regardless of where they are on their cloud journey. Over the past year, we have delivered an abundance of Azure VMware Solution innovations, and we will continue to deliver innovation and enhancements. Some examples in the coming months include availability in new regions (Italy North and United Arab Emirates) and new features like Azure Elastic Storage Area Network (SAN) for Azure VMware Solution.

Azure continues to be the best cloud for customers to run their Windows Server and SQL Server workloads and that includes Azure VMware Solution. VMware customers facing end-of-support for Windows Server 2012 or SQL Server 2012 get extended security updates for free when they migrate their VMware workload to Azure VMware Solution. Additionally, customers can enjoy significant savings when they apply Azure Hybrid Benefit to their existing Windows Server and SQL Server licenses running on Azure VMware Solution. As always, customers have the option to use multi-year Reserved Instances to secure their Azure VMware Solution pricing with Microsoft.

Source: microsoft.com

Continue reading

Achieving sustainable growth with Azure and FinOps best practices

Companies worldwide are committed to reducing their IT carbon footprint, championing a more sustainable future through initiatives focused on efficiency and cost optimization. Cloud sustainability is not only about reducing the environmental impact of cloud usage, but also about making smart business decisions that align to corporate values, adhere to regulatory requirements, and enable the pursuit of long-term business goals. To understand the impact of cloud computing on carbon emissions, precise measurement, trustworthy data, and robust tools are essential.

That’s why we’re excited to announce two new capabilities to optimize your Microsoft Azure emissions:  

• Azure Carbon Optimization (preview) is a free, cutting-edge capability that empowers Azure developers and IT professionals to understand and optimize emissions stemming from Azure usage. By providing insights into carbon emissions and offering recommendations for enhancing cloud efficiency, this tool aligns with the Microsoft commitment to environmental responsibility and supports you in achieving your cloud sustainability goals. 
• Microsoft Azure emissions insights (preview) in sustainability data solutions in Microsoft Fabric enables you to unify and analyze emissions data for Azure usage. By having access to your Azure emissions data in Microsoft Fabric, you can query and drill down into Azure resource level emissions for advanced reporting and analysis.

Both tools offer a holistic solution for organizations aiming to reduce their carbon footprint by optimizing specific resources or workloads within Azure.  

With Azure Carbon Optimization (preview), engineering and IT teams can use ready-to-consume insights and recommendations for optimizing their carbon emissions, all within the Azure portal. Microsoft Azure emissions insights (preview) enable data analysts and engineers to dive deeper into emissions data, allowing them to slice and dice the data and perform deeper analytics using Microsoft Fabric. 

Once your organization can access insights into the carbon emissions generated at the resource or workload level, reduction efforts can begin. This involves optimizing cloud systems for efficiency to benefit the environment and enhance overall performance. Azure administrators can already see a company-wide view of cloud emissions in the Emissions Impact Dashboard. To optimize your carbon footprint, you can take advantage of more granular insights into carbon emissions originating from specific resources or workloads. 

Like any major organizational shift, reducing carbon emissions requires contributions from every corner of your company. In this blog, we will not only explore the benefits of Azure Carbon Optimization and Microsoft Azure emissions insights, but also how the FinOps framework can guide your business through the complexities of carbon emission reduction to help achieve both your environmental and financial goals.  

Align IT sustainability with ESG regulations

Organizations around the world are setting carbon neutrality goals for themselves, which are furthered by new environmental regulations and standards introduced by global government and regulatory bodies, with a significant driver being environmental, social, and governance (ESG) regulations. These governmental standards dictate ESG-related actions, reporting, and disclosures.

Microsoft provides offerings to help customers with their ESG reporting needs with tools and products available with Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability to help your organization collect and manage more ESG data and get fuller visibility into your environmental impact. Our goal is to help prepare you for any new reporting requirements by compiling a comprehensive ESG data estate. 

IT sustainability plays a pivotal role in a company’s ESG management strategy because it serves as a cornerstone for mitigating environmental impact, ensuring responsible cloud usage, and reinforcing the overall commitment to sustainable development practices. There are also direct economic benefits for reducing carbon emissions, such as long-term operational cost savings.  

Above all, organizations that proactively address environmental issues and reduce their carbon footprint will be better positioned for long-term success, especially in a business landscape where sustainability is increasingly important.  

Measure and reduce your emissions with Azure Carbon Optimization

Our free Azure Carbon Optimization tool, now in public preview and accessible through your Azure portal, is a window into your cloud resources emissions, ultimately leading to recommendations on how to cut back. It empowers Azure users to closely monitor and optimize their carbon footprint. 

Azure Carbon Optimization is designed to provide everyone in your organization, from developers, to architects, to IT professionals, with a resource-level view of emissions data. This empowers your engineers to take proactive measures to mitigate emissions and track progress right from the Azure portal.  

Azure Carbon Optimization uses the same carbon accounting methodology as the Emissions Impact Dashboard. Developers can work towards maximizing resource utilization while minimizing carbon emissions from the cloud, helping ensure that every deployed resource serves a purpose, eliminates waste, and reduces environmental impact. The tool also presents carbon emission reduction in equivalent terms that are easy for anyone to understand. 

Subsequently, it provides developers with carbon savings recommendations that are based on analyzing resource utilization. Suggestions include deleting or resizing underutilized resources. With these ready-to-consume recommendations, you can optimize your Azure usage, avoid carbon emissions, and promote sustainable development practices. This way, you not only enhance your environmental performance, but also achieve cost savings and efficiency.

Perform even deeper Azure emissions analysis with Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft Azure emissions insights, now in public preview, is a part of the sustainability data solutions in Microsoft Fabric. It helps unify, process, query, and perform deeper analysis of Azure emissions data. In addition to emissions data and related pipelines, Power BI dashboards are provided with Microsoft Azure emissions insights to drill-down and compare emissions data across subscriptions and resources. This helps IT administrators identify patterns in Azure emissions that evolve with time and change with Azure resource usage. 

Unified Azure emissions data empowers data analysts to enrich the emissions data with custom information such as department using subscriptions and resources. They can then query the data and build analytic models for interesting insights such as Azure emissions by departments and seasonality of emissions by usage.  

Leverage FinOps best practices to help optimize carbon emissions

Fostering a culture of accountability, efficiency, and governance across an organization stands as a key objective within the FinOps framework, which aims to help organizations optimize their cloud to maximize business value.  

Efficiency has a positive impact on innovation by freeing up resources and allowing organizations to invest more in modernization, research, and development. FinOps supports the customer journey by establishing a cross-functional team that includes finance, IT, engineers, and business leaders to create a culture of accountability where everyone takes ownership of their cloud usage.  

As ESG regulations compel adherence to complex emissions reporting requirements, integrating FinOps best practices can help teams to better manage and optimize carbon emissions. When viewed through the lens of environmental awareness, FinOps can assist with best practices that foster accountability, efficiency, and governance to enable data-driven decisions.  

Leveraging these best practices in tandem with Azure Carbon Optimization and Microsoft Azure emissions insights empowers your organization to be a catalyst for change, transforming cloud practices into a force for sustainability by helping track, analyze, and optimize emissions towards a greener, more responsible cloud ecosystem.  

Reach your sustainability goals with data-driven Azure insights

By employing these capabilities and adhering to FinOps practices, your organization can actively track, assess, and mitigate your carbon emissions. You’ll not only gain a detailed understanding of the emissions impact associated with your Azure resources, but also valuable insight into your compliance posture for any coming ESG regulations.

Source: microsoft.com

Continue reading

Dynatrace and the Microsoft commercial marketplace: AI-powered cloud transformation

In today’s digital landscape, the cloud has become a cornerstone for over 90% of organizations. This widespread adoption brings a growing complexity to cloud portfolios as companies navigate the challenges of migrating on-premises environments, managing hybrid workloads, and modernizing their cloud estate—all while operating under current business imperatives of speed and scale. To overcome this, organizations need to arm themselves with advanced tools that streamline manual processes as well as offer insightful analytics.

Microsoft Azure is the world’s most trusted cloud, allowing customers to build intelligent apps and solutions while seamlessly unifying technology to simplify platform management and deliver innovations efficiently and securely. To support customers in getting the most from their cloud portfolio, Microsoft works with partners such as Dynatrace. Dynatrace, an analytics and automation platform powered by causal AI, was recognized as a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Application Performance Monitoring and Observability.

Azure and Dynatrace, better together

With Dynatrace, customers can simplify their IT ecosystems at scale to adjust to market conditions more quickly. The Azure Native Dynatrace Service simplifies the process for businesses to migrate and optimize their cloud estate, and because the solution is available through the Microsoft commercial marketplace, customers can click-to-deploy and adjust investments based on usage.

Dynatrace recently unveiled its latest advancement in cloud management: the Dynatrace Grail Data Lakehouse. This innovative technology is part of the Azure Native Dynatrace Service, designed to adeptly manage vast amounts and types of data across cloud-native, hybrid, and multicloud environments. Grail unifies observability, security, and business data while maintaining crucial context, delivering precise and efficient analytics instantly and cost-effectively.

One of Grail’s standout features is its capability to process various logs and events without the traditional burdens of indexing, re-indexing, or schema management. This removes the preliminary requirements of creating custom scripts, tags, and indexes before data ingestion, streamlining the process significantly.

The Dynatrace platform is fully compatible with all Azure services, including Azure Spring Cloud, Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Linux, and Azure Functions. This compatibility enhances its functionality and provides near real-time monitoring capabilities.

AI-centric innovation with Dynatrace

AI is at the core of the Dynatrace platform, using predictive, causal, and generative AI together to provide root-cause analysis and deliver precise answers, intelligent automation, accurate predictions, and increased productivity. The ability to leverage AI and AIOps ensures customers can accelerate innovation and maximize automation as IT environments continue to evolve.

“Thriving in the digital era requires a unified approach to observability, security, and business data analytics. Bringing our latest platform technologies to Microsoft Azure enables more customers and teams within organizations to harness our industry-leading AI, analytics, and automation capabilities to modernize cloud operations, expedite releases of high-quality and secure software, and ensure flawless digital experiences for their users.”

—Steve Tack, SVP of Product Management, Dynatrace.

Reducing time-to-value through the Microsoft commercial marketplace

Dynatrace offerings are readily accessible through the Microsoft commercial marketplace, streamlining the process from acquisition to implementation. Marketplace simplifies the journey for businesses seeking the right cloud solutions, offering a user-friendly platform for discovery, purchase, trial, and deployment. It’s a one-stop shop where customers can explore and select from a variety of vetted solutions, like Dynatrace, that seamlessly integrate with existing technology stacks.

As IT budgets grow with increased reliance on the cloud, customers are seeking better value from their investments. Microsoft helps its customers achieve more by automatically counting eligible marketplace purchases towards their Azure consumption commitment—a contract that empowers customers to get discounts on their cloud infrastructure after agreed upon spending thresholds are achieved.

“Many of our customers have cloud commits, and we’ve identified the [Microsoft] commercial marketplace as a significant opportunity for them to become more efficient with their IT budgets and increase growth by using those commits to purchase Dynatrace.” 

—Ayla Anderson, Microsoft Alliance Manager, Dynatrace.

Many Microsoft customers are turning to the marketplace as their go-to resource for managing their cloud portfolios efficiently and confidently while empowering customers to buy how they want. The marketplace supports many buying scenarios, whether it’s a digital purchase, a private offer from a solution provider, like Dynatrace, or a deal procured by their channel partner with a multiparty private offer.

Recently, IT strategy firm Trace3 procured Dynatrace’s solution on their customer’s behalf with a multiparty private offer sold through the marketplace. Because Dynatrace’s solution is Azure benefit eligible, the purchase counted towards the customer’s Azure consumption commitment, and they received the benefits of simplified purchasing while getting more value from their cloud dollars.

Source: microsoft.com

Continue reading

The Total Economic Impact™ of the Microsoft commercial marketplace

In today’s fast-paced, AI-fueled business environment, organizations require a growing number of cloud solutions. In trying to meet this demand, software as a service (SaaS) sprawl can lead to wasted investments and cost overruns. Research by Forrester found that cloud marketplaces can minimize this challenge by helping organizations balance speed and agility. The Microsoft commercial marketplace allows customers to centralize their cloud portfolio, taking complexity out of the purchasing process. In a 2023 Total Economic Impact™ study commissioned by Microsoft, Forrester Consulting found the Microsoft commercial marketplace delivered customers a 587% return on investment (ROI) with a payback period of less than six months.

By connecting customers to our ecosystem of more than 400,000 partners through one trusted source, the marketplace simplifies and accelerates business-to-business (B2B) tech commerce. Forrester Consulting interviewed 10 customers that actively use the Microsoft commercial marketplace to quantify the opportunity. The research found that for a composite organization based on the interviewed customers the marketplace:

• Reduced employee time for onboarding new vendors by 75%.
• Reduced employee effort required for each procurement engagement by 50%.
• Optimized Azure cloud budget by recapturing up to 50% of at-risk spend.

“I can actually do procurement faster. I can make sure that my products get released faster, bringing benefits faster to the company.”

Director of IT, Financial Services

Simplify procurement processes

Enterprise buying is complex, especially in tech and with rapid advancements in AI. Procurement teams must navigate a multitude of choices, manage vendor relationships, and continuously adapt to emerging trends while ensuring investments meet immediate needs, as well as align with long-term business strategy in a cost-efficient manner.

Ultimately, organizations find the most success with the marketplace when the procurement team, or buying office, becomes involved at an organizational level. As a single destination to discover, try, and purchase certified solutions, the marketplace helps customers “make informed procurement decisions without having to devote significant employee time to researching, evaluating, and selecting a vendor,” according to interviewees in the Forrester Consulting study. Using the marketplace reduced employee effort required for each procurement engagement by 50%.

“We have readily available options for our suppliers that are already vetted and available. [Our teams] can adopt without having to go through elongated procurement processes, additional orders, and administrative processes.”

Director of Global Supply Chain, Telecommunications

For finance teams, interviewees reported in the Forrester Consulting study that leveraging features of the marketplace such as automated invoicing and billing systems “reduced manual data entry, eliminated billing errors, and expedited overall invoice processing and billing cycles.” Adopting the marketplace improved time savings for the payments and finance purchasing team by 30%.

“Once I buy a solution from the marketplace, I don’t have the nightmare of managing invoices and checking for accuracy.”

Executive Director, Government

Onboarding new vendors can be slow and cumbersome, at times delaying a customer from deploying new technology solutions. Using the marketplace reduced time required to onboard new vendors by 75%. Vendors can submit required documentation and access guidance and tools directly in the marketplace, reducing the administrative burden of reviewing paperwork and walking vendors through new processes.

“The Microsoft commercial marketplace has been really useful for fulfilling my day-to-day activities and facilitating my vendor relationships. …The contract and red tape is handled by Microsoft. I don’t have to go deep into my NDAs (non-disclosure agreements), legal documents, or contract redlining, and all those kinds of things.”

Director of IT, Financial Services

Maximize cloud investments

As cloud investments grow, customers are looking to maximize value. Many of the customers interviewed by Forrester Consulting for the study had consumption commitments with Microsoft Azure—contracts providing discounts on infrastructure once a customer meets a certain spending threshold.

The Microsoft commercial marketplace is unique in that it automatically counts 100% of eligible purchases towards a customer’s commitment, ensuring more value for the investment. Customers can quickly search Azure benefit-eligible solutions directly in the Azure portal.

Because of this benefit, Forrester Consulting found the marketplace helped customers optimize their Azure commitments, recapturing up to 50% of at-risk spend. Those interviewed by Forrester Consulting are in good company. According to Microsoft data, more than 85% of customers with consumption commitments are already buying partner solutions via the marketplace to maximize their investments.

“It’s dollar for dollar. Whatever we spend, 100% of it goes to our spend commitment, and that was a huge deal. For some of [Microsoft’s] competitors, [that’s] not the case.”

IT Sourcing Specialist, Manufacturing

Marketplace customers also got more out of their cloud budgets by avoiding costly proof of concept fees. Prior to using the marketplace, customers interviewed by Forrester Consulting said they often had to pay up-front fees for a proof of concept to vet new solutions. The marketplace makes it simple to access trial options, including free trials ranging from 30 days to six months, so customers can feel confident before they buy.

Source: microsoft.com

Continue reading

Reflecting on 2023—Azure Storage

The beginning of a new year often prompts reflection along with planning for the future. At the forefront of our priorities lies the commitment to enhance the Azure platform and its ecosystem, fuel groundbreaking AI solutions, and facilitate seamless migrations to the cloud. We achieve this through purpose-built storage solutions tailored to meet the unique demands of your workloads.

2023 was an emblematic year of growth for storage and data services with AI at the top of mind for many customers. Azure customers’ overall data estate continued to grow, powered by the emergence of new workloads and access patterns. Notable Azure Storage figures include:

• The storage platform now processes more than 1 quadrillion (that’s 1000 trillion!) transactions a month with over 100 exabytes of data read and written each month. Both numbers were sharply higher compared to the beginning of 2023.
• Premium SSD v2 disks, our new general-purpose block storage tailored for SQL, NoSQL databases, and SAP grew capacity by 100 times.
• The total transactions of Premium Files, our file offering for Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) and SAP, grew by more than 100% year over year (YoY).

In 2023, advancements and investments were made in five strategic areas aligning with customer workload patterns, cloud computing trends, and the evolution of AI.

Focused innovations for new workloads

We’ve made advancements in offering end-to-end solutions with unique storage capabilities, tailored to help customers bring new workloads to Azure, without the need to retrofit them.

As customers modernize applications with Kubernetes, we have observed customers’ workloads moving from “stateless” to “stateful” workloads. Azure Container Storage is custom designed to meet the needs of hosting stateful workloads where storage is tightly integrated with containers and offers outstanding data management, lifecycle management, price-performance, and scale. Azure Container Storage is the industry’s first platform-managed container-native storage service in the public cloud. It offers a path to manage persistent volumes and the backend storage options completely via the Kubernetes native experience.

Microsoft’s Azure Elastic SAN is a fully managed storage area network (SAN) service that simplifies deploying, scaling, managing, and configuring a SAN in the cloud. It is designed to address customers’ challenges in service management when it comes to migrating a large-scale SAN appliance to cloud. We are the first in the market in providing a fully managed SAN offering on cloud, with built-in cloud scale and high availability options. It adopts a SAN-like hierarchy, provisioning resources at the top-level resource, dynamically sharing resources across the workloads, managing security policies at the workload level. In addition, it enables customers to bring new data intensive workloads to Azure VMware Solution using Elastic SAN to serve the storage needs. Elastic SAN and Azure Container Storage, in public preview, showcase a paradigm shift by simplifying service management, purpose built for cloud native storage scenarios. General availability is planned for the upcoming months.

AI is leading a fresh wave of innovation powered by data. Azure Blob Storage stands at the forefront of this data explosion, providing excellent performance and high bandwidth access for all AI training needs. Azure Premium Block Blob, generally available since 2019, provides extremely low latency at competitive pricing for AI and machine learning (ML), IoT and streaming analytics, and interactive workloads. We also released Azure Managed Lustre in July which offers a fully managed distributed parallel file system tailored for high performance computing (HPC) and AI training workloads.

OneLake (which is the storage layer for Microsoft Fabric) is powered by the scale, performance, and rich capabilities of Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS). ADLS has been a game changer for analytics with differentiated storage features including native file system capabilities that enable atomic meta data operations, resulting in a significant performance boost, especially when used with Azure Premium Block Blob. Multi-protocol access is another unique capability that allows customers to work with their data using a variety of access protocols (including REST, SFTP and NFS v3) eliminating data silos, costly data movement, and duplication.

Optimizations for mission critical workloads

We continue to add differentiated capabilities to enable enterprises to optimize their mission critical workloads hosted on Azure.  

With the general availability of Premium SSD v2, we have been actively onboarding solutions focused on mission critical data. Gigaom highlighted the superior performance and reduced total cost of ownership of SQL Server 2019 running on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) with Premium SSD v2. Similar benefits apply to other database workloads like PostgreSQL. We will continue enhancing Premium SSD v2 capabilities and expand regional coverage in the upcoming year.

Azure Blob Storage powers data-intensive mission critical workloads globally, including some of the largest AI model training and inferencing. Cloud-native companies host exabytes of consumer-generated data and rely on the platform’s scale-out capabilities. Major retailers store trillions of user activities to power recommendation engines and inventory systems. The Cold storage tier, released in 2023, enables cost-efficient retention of this data.

Enterprises migrate Windows Server workloads to the cloud for modernization, supported by enhanced Azure Files and Azure File Sync capabilities. The preview of Microsoft Entra ID (previously named as Azure Active Directory support for Azure Files REST API) enables modern applications to use identity-based authentication and authorization for accessing SMB file shares. Azure Files offers comprehensive authentication support, including on-premises AD and Microsoft Entra ID for both Kerberos and REST. Unique to Azure, we also offer Microsoft Entra ID Kerberos authentication enabling seamless migration from on-premises Windows servers to Azure which keeps your data and permissions intact while eliminating complex domain join setups in the cloud. Enterprises migrating mission-critical applications such as SAP and Oracle rely on Azure NetApp Files (ANF) to meet their performance and data protection requirements.  In strategic partnership with NetApp, we introduced the public preview of ANF large volumes up to 500 TiB, addressing the needs of workloads that require larger capacity under a single namespace, such as HPC in Electronic Design Automation and Oil and Gas related applications, and the public preview of Cool Access, improving the TCO for infrequently accessed data.

Efficient data migration at scale is critical for successful cloud workload migration. We offer a comprehensive suite of migration solutions. Azure Storage Mover, a fully managed data migration service, improves the overall migration experience of large data sets. Azure File Sync allows hybrid synchronization between on-premises Windows Servers and Azure Files. AzCopy, a command-line utility, enables quick script-based migration jobs, while Azure Databox facilitates offline data transfer.

Expanding partner ecosystem

We transition customer workloads to Azure in collaboration with our partners, who complement our platform capabilities with innovative solutions. We have fostered numerous successful strategic partnerships and are delighted to see the partner community investing in exclusive Azure solutions.

Qumulo announced the next version of Azure Native Qumulo Scalable File Service, exclusive to Azure and built to leverage Azure Blob Storage’s scale and cost efficiency. This service supports exabytes of data under a single namespace, surpassing other public cloud file solutions, and facilitates high-scale enterprise network attached storage (NAS) data migration to Azure.

Commvault unveiled a purpose-built cyber resilience solution, exclusively on Azure. It empowers users to predict threats faster, achieve clean recoveries, and accelerate response times. It integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.

Since the launch of Pure Storage Cloud Block Storage offering on Azure in 2021, we have partnered closely with Pure Storage. They use unique Azure Storage features such as shared disks and were early adopters of Ultra and Premium SSD v2 disk storage. Our collaboration has expanded to containers through Portworx and the Azure VMware Solution.

Besides storage and backup partners, we collaborate with Atempo, Data Dynamics, Komprise, and Cirrus Data to deliver storage migration solutions, providing access to industry-leading file and block solutions to migrate petabytes of NAS and storage area network (SAN) data to Azure at no additional charge.

Industry contributions

We actively participate in industry organizations such as Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and the Open Compute Platform (OCP), collaborating with industry leaders to share insights, influence standards, and contribute to the development of innovative solutions and best practices.

At the 2023 Storage Developer Conference, we presented Massively Scalable Storage for Stateful Containers on Azure, emphasizing the synergy between Azure Container Storage and Elastic SAN. This combination offers unified volume management across diverse storage backends and delivers a highly available block storage solution designed to scale to millions of input/output operations per second (IOPS) with fast pod attach and detach experience.

At Flash Memory Summit (FMS) conference we chartered the course for the future of flash as a HDD displacement technology in alignment with Azure Storage long-range plans.

We are committed to sustainability, striving for net carbon-zero goals in the next decade. Through the OCP Sustainability Project, we provide an open framework for the datacenter industry to adopt best practices for reusability and circularity and lead in the steering committee to drive progress.

Unparalleled commitment to quality

Our primary focus is on delivering a robust foundation for our storage services, adapting to evolving workloads like the emergence of AI and ML. This ongoing commitment covers reliability, durability, scalability, and performance, for our storage solutions while maintaining a low total cost of ownership (TCO) for Azure customers.

We assure customers of high data durability, backed by substantial investments in infrastructure, hardware, software, and streamlined processes. Our Zone-redundant Storage (ZRS) ensures data durability of at least 99.9999999999% (12 9’s) over a given year—the highest standard among the major cloud service providers (CSPs). Notably, we are the sole cloud provider among the major CSPs maintaining a 0% Annual Failure Rate (AFR) with our block storage offerings since launch.

Our unique ZRS offering provides a simple way to establish highly available solutions across three zones at a fraction of the costs. You can deploy a cross-zonal AKS cluster with persistent volumes hosted on ZRS disks to ensure data durability and availability during zonal outages. Clustered applications like SQL failover cluster instances (FCI) leveraging Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC) can also benefit from ZRS with high resiliency provided out of the box.

In a concerted effort to elevate customer support experience, we’ve integrated with Azure Copilot, empowering support engineers to troubleshoot more efficiently while delivering quality responses quickly. This has resulted in a noteworthy increase in customer satisfaction scores.

In closing, 2023 has been a year of profound learning and substantial progress. Explore our feature releases in Azure Updates. Our commitment is to empower you with Azure Storage innovations and enable the seamless execution of a diverse range of workloads. We invite you to continue trusting us as we anticipate exciting developments in 2024!

Source: microsoft.com

Continue reading

Elevate Azure expertise with new AI and optimization video episodes

The Azure Enablement Show is a library of fun, bite-sized videos that highlight valuable resources for anyone looking to learn more about cloud computing and related Azure tools. In this blog we announce two new video series: Azure Optimization Skilling, which explores best practices and resources to maximize the value of your cloud investment, and Develop Your AI Coding Skills, which discusses how AI-enabled applications have become crucial to meet the evolving demands of users.

Organizations of all sizes are embracing cloud computing to enhance their operations, optimize resource utilization, and gain a competitive edge. However, navigating the complexities of cloud adoption and ensuring optimal performance can be a daunting task. This is where the Azure Enablement Show steps in, providing valuable resources for businesses seeking to unlock the full potential of cloud computing.

These short videos, featuring industry experts from Microsoft and the broader Azure community, give a snapshot of new resources and programs to help guide you in your Azure journey. In this blog, we’ll introduce two new Azure Enablement Shows to further enhance your Azure expertise.

Learn to optimize and secure your Azure investment with new skilling programs

The benefits of cloud computing—improved scalability, growth prospects, innovation potential, and more—are widely acknowledged as valuable assets for businesses. The path to confident cloud operations includes cost efficiency, reliability, security, and sustainability. Azure Optimization aims to address this by fostering the ongoing advancement of our customers’ cloud investment.

To maximize the value of your Azure cloud investment through optimization, you need to reduce unnecessary expenses and enhance your ROI. We understand the importance of improving workload reliability, security, and cloud cost optimization for accelerating business innovation without concerns about vulnerabilities or escalating costs. Our goal is to support the continual improvement of your Microsoft Azure workloads, allowing you to consistently extract maximum value from your cloud investment once key optimization elements are in place.

Whether you’re a seasoned cloud architect, an aspiring developer, or a business decision-maker eager to explore the possibilities of cloud computing, optimization should be at the forefront of your cloud strategy. We help prepare you for your cloud optimization journey with training resources and guidance across all stages and levels of maturity.

In the Azure Enablement Show on Optimization Skilling, you’ll watch a quick video overview about our curated learning opportunities, such as our instructor-led Virtual Training Days, a 30 Days to Learn It Optimization Challenge, and self-guided online learning paths and modules. You’ll also discover how optimizing workloads and architecture can lead to growth and innovation and hear from experts about the best practices and tools they recommend from years of experience.

We aim to boost your confidence and efficiency in achieving your cloud goals by providing diverse learning paths and skilling opportunities, offering resources such as the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and the Well-Architected Framework (WAF). These tools empower you to transform operations, securely manage cloud-hosted applications, and achieve business goals cost-effectively.

Raise the bar in app development with AI coding skills

App development is a highly competitive field, and today’s most dynamic apps combine personalization with a user-friendly experience that makes them more engaging. Intelligent apps integrate AI and machine learning capabilities to understand user preferences and behavior, tailoring content, recommendations, and user interfaces accordingly. Such personalization enhances the overall user experience, making apps more engaging. 

AI has transformed how we work and interact with technology, and developers with the skills to enable AI in their apps will have a distinct advantage in the marketplace. With our three-part Azure Enablement Show series, Develop Your AI Coding Skills, you’ll discover how adding AI skills to your developer toolbox will help both you and your organization.

Enabling AI in app development offers benefits that significantly enhance the landscape of modern applications. By allowing developers to create intelligent, responsive applications that stand out in a crowded market, AI-driven features not only attract users but also elevate the overall user experience.

The integration of AI also enables performance optimization, ensuring applications operate seamlessly, adapt to user behavior, and continuously improve functionality. This results in faster, more efficient applications that meet the evolving demands of users. In addition, AI opens new and exciting opportunities for innovation. Developers can explore novel features, personalized experiences, and predictive capabilities that go beyond conventional app functionalities, thereby unlocking untapped potential and reshaping the possibilities within the realm of app development.

Microsoft Azure delivers on the potential of intelligent apps with an innovative suite of AI and machine learning tools, designed to streamline development and enhance user experiences. In this video series we’ll explore how developers can take advantage of our comprehensive learning resources on Microsoft Learn to harness the full capabilities of Azure and drive innovation in their applications.

Check out the full lineup of Azure Enablement Shows

Azure Enablement Shows are a treasure trove of knowledge and insights designed to empower businesses of all sizes to maximize their cloud investments and achieve their strategic objectives. By tuning in to these informative sessions, you’ll gain the knowledge and guidance you need to navigate the complexities of cloud adoption, build robust and scalable cloud applications, and optimize your cloud solutions for peak performance and cost-effectiveness. Join a community of cloud enthusiasts, engage with experts from Microsoft and the broader Azure community, and immerse yourself in a world of technical guidance, tips, and best practices. Azure Enablement Shows are not just about learning; they’re about unlocking the full potential of cloud computing to transform your business. 

Source: microsoft.com

Continue reading