Azure IoT’s industrial transformation strategy on display at Hannover Messe 2024

Running and transforming a successful enterprise is like being the coach of a championship-winning sports team. To win the trophy, you need a strategy, game plans, and the ability to bring all the players together. In the early days of training, coaches relied on basic drills, manual strategies, and simple equipment. But as technology advanced, so did the art of coaching. Today, coaches use data-driven training programs, performance tracking technology, and sophisticated game strategies to achieve unimaginable performance and secure victories.

We see a similar change happening in industrial production management and performance and we are excited to showcase how we are innovating with our products and services to help you succeed in the modern era. Microsoft recently launched two accelerators for industrial transformation:

◉ Azure’s adaptive cloud approach—a new strategy

◉ Azure IoT Operations (preview)—a new product

Our adaptive cloud approach connects teams, systems, and sites through consistent management tools, development patterns, and insight generation. Putting the adaptive cloud approach into practice, IoT Operations leverages open standards and works with Microsoft Fabric to create a common data foundation for IT and operational technology (OT) collaboration.

We will be demonstrating these accelerators in the Microsoft booth at Hannover Messe 2024, presenting the new approach on the Microsoft stage, and will be ready to share exciting partnership announcements that enable interoperability in the industry.  

Experience the future of automation with IoT Operations 

Using our adaptive cloud approach, we’ve built a robotic assembly line demonstration that puts together car battery parts for attendees of the event. This production line is partner-enabled and features a standard OT environment, including solutions from Rockwell Automation and PTC. IoT Operations was used to build a monitoring solution for the robots because it embraces industry standards, like Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA), and integrates with existing infrastructure to connect data from an array of OT devices and systems, and flow it to the right places and people. IoT Operations processes data at the edge for local use by multiple applications and sends insights to the cloud for use by multiple applications there too, reducing data fragmentation.  

For those attending Hannover Messe 2024, head to the center of the Microsoft booth and look for the station “Achieve industrial transformation across the value chain.”  

Consult with Azure experts on IT and OT collaboration tools 

Find out how Microsoft Azure’s open and standardized strategy, an adaptive cloud approach, can help you reach the next stage of industrial transformation. Our experts will help your team collect data from assets and systems on the shop floor, compute at the edge, integrate that data into multiple solutions, and create production analytics on a global scale. Whether you’re just starting to connect and digitize your operations, or you’re ready to analyze and reason with your data, make predictions, and apply AI, we’re here to assist.  

For those attending Hannover Messe 2024, these experts are located at the demonstration called “Scale solutions and interoperate with IoT, edge, and cloud innovation.” 

Check out Jumpstart to get your collaboration environment up and running. In May 2024, Jumpstart will have a comprehensive scenario designed for manufacturing.

Attend a presentation on modernizing the shop floor  

We will share the results of a survey on the latest trends, technologies, and priorities for manufacturing companies wanting to efficiently manage their data to prepare for AI and accelerate industrial transformation. 73% of manufacturers agreed that a scalable technology stack is an important paradigm for the future of factories. To make that a reality, manufacturers are making changes to modernize, such as adopting containerization, shifting to central management of devices, and emphasizing IT and OT collaboration tools. These modernization trends can maximize the ROI of existing infrastructure and solutions, enhance security, and apply AI at the edge. 

This presentation “How manufacturers prepare shopfloors for a future with AI,” will take place in the Microsoft theater at our booth, Hall 17, on Monday, April 22, 2024, at 2:00 PM CEST at Hannover Messe 2024.  

Learn about actions and initiatives driving interoperability  

Microsoft is strengthening and supporting the industrial ecosystem to enable at-scale transformation and interoperate solutions. Our adaptive cloud approach both incorporates existing investments in partner technology and builds a foundation for consistent deployment patterns and repeatability for scale.  

Our ecosystem of partners

Microsoft is building an ecosystem of connectivity partners to modernize industrial systems and devices. These partners provide data translation and normalization services across heterogeneous environments for a seamless and secure data flow on the shop floor, and from the shop floor to the cloud. We leverage open standards and provide consistent control and management capabilities for OT and IT assets. To date, we have established integrations with Advantech, Softing, and PTC. 

Siemens and Microsoft have announced the convergence of the Digital Twin Definition Language (DTDL) with the W3C Web of Things standard. This convergence will help consolidate digital twin definitions for assets in the industry and enable new technology innovation like automatic asset onboarding with the help of generative AI technologies.

Microsoft embraces open standards and interoperability. Our adaptive cloud approach is based on those principles. We are thrilled to join project Margo, a new ecosystem-led initiative, that will help industrial customers achieve their digital transformation goals with greater speed and efficiency. Margo will define how edge applications, edge devices, and edge orchestration software interoperate with each other with increased flexibility.

Discover solutions with Microsoft

Visit our booth and speak with our experts to reach new heights of industrial transformation and prepare the shop floor for AI. Together, we will maximize your existing investments and drive scale in the industry. We look forward to working with you.

◉ Azure IoT Operations

◉ Azure IoT

◉ Hannover Messe 2024

Source: microsoft.com

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Azure OpenAI Service: 10 ways generative AI is transforming businesses

Technology is advancing at an unprecedented pace, and businesses are seeking innovative ways to maintain a competitive edge. Nowhere is this truer than in the realms of generative AI. From generating realistic images and videos to enhancing customer experiences, generative AI has proven to be a versatile tool across various industries. In this article, we explore 10 ways businesses are utilizing this game-changing technology to transform their operations and drive growth.

1. Content creation and design: Effective content creation and design are crucial for attracting and engaging customers.

Generative AI enables businesses to create visually appealing and impactful content quickly and efficiently, helping them stand out in a crowded marketplace. Generative AI has revolutionized content creation by generating high-quality images, videos, and graphics. From designing logos and product visuals to creating engaging social media content, businesses are using generative AI algorithms to automate the creative process—saving time and resources.

The company Typeface ingests information about the brand, including style guidelines, images, and product details. Then, with just a few clicks, customers can generate an assortment of suggested images and text—pre-defined in templates for different use cases—that employees can select and customize for use in an online campaign, marketing email, blog post, or anywhere the company wants to use it.

2. Accelerated automation: Automating IT tasks improves employee experiences, enhances customer interactions, and drives more efficiency within a company’s developer community.

Providing employees with reliable automated support leads to increased efficiency, improved work life, and reduced operational costs.

AT&T is using Azure OpenAI Service to enable IT professionals to request resources like additional virtual machines; migrate legacy code into modern code; and empower employees to complete common human resources tasks, such as changing withholdings, adding a dependent to an insurance plan, or requisitioning a computer for a new hire.

3. Personalized marketing: Personalization increases the chances of customer engagement and conversion and can significantly improve marketing ROI.

Generative AI enables businesses to deliver hyper-personalized marketing campaigns. By analyzing customer data, generative algorithms can create dynamic content tailored to an individual’s preferences—optimizing engagement and conversion rates.

Through the Take Blip platform and Azure OpenAI Service, brands can have one-on-one conversations that include an infinite flow of interactions with each customer. Interactions are digitized: customers’ requests, intentions, and desires can be recorded and used to tune the platform, making future interactions much more productive.

4. Chatbots and virtual assistants: Chatbots and virtual assistants powered by generative AI provide instant and accurate responses to customer queries.

These intelligent systems can understand and respond to customer queries, provide recommendations, and offer personalized support—enhancing customer service, reducing wait times, improving operational efficiency, and boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty.

By using a common chatbot framework along with the Azure Bot Services, Johnson & Johnson employees without technical training can now build their own bots to serve their teams and customers at a fraction of the time and cost it took to develop previous chatbot projects.

5. Product and service innovation: Staying innovative and meeting evolving customer demands is essential for business success.

Local reporters used to be specialists—they focused their time on investigation and writing. Today, they need to be generalists who can create both written and video content and who knows how to maximize viewership on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and potentially many other distribution channels.”

Nota has used Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to build two AI-assisted tools—SUM and VID. These tools do a lot of the heavy lifting needed to optimize stories for distribution and turn written pieces into engaging videos that can produce up to 10 times as much revenue as written pieces.

6. Language translation and natural language processing: In a globalized world, language barriers can hinder communication and business growth.

Generative AI has improved language translation and natural language processing capabilities. Businesses can use generative models to accurately translate content in real time, enabling seamless communication across borders and bridging language barriers.

Microsoft Azure AI services augment HelloTalk’s AI learning tools and technical capabilities, allowing users to connect with the world through language and culture exchange.

7. Fraud detection and cybersecurity: Businesses face constant threats from fraudsters and cyberattacks.

By analyzing patterns and anomalies in large datasets, businesses can leverage generative models to detect and prevent fraud, safeguard sensitive information, and protect their digital assets.

Using federated learning techniques along with Azure Machine Learning and Azure confidential computing, Swift and Microsoft are building an anomaly detection model for transactional data—all without copying or moving data from secure locations.

8. Predictive analytics and forecasting: Accurate predictions and forecasting are vital for effective decision-making and operational efficiency.

Generative AI models excel in predictive analytics and forecasting. By analyzing historical data and identifying patterns, businesses can leverage generative algorithms to make accurate predictions and informed decisions, optimizing supply chain management, inventory forecasting, and demand planning.

Azure IoT helps Husky meet their system performance needs and maintain service levels for their customers. It scales quickly as they onboard new Advantage+Elite customers and reduces the time and resources spent on infrastructure maintenance.

9. Creative writing and content generation: Content generation can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. Generative AI algorithms automate the content creation process, allowing businesses to generate articles, blog posts, and other written materials quickly. This technology assists content creators and ensures a consistent flow of fresh and engaging content for audiences.

Generative AI algorithms automate the content creation process, allowing businesses to generate articles, blog posts, and other written materials quickly. This technology assists content creators and ensures a consistent flow of fresh and engaging content for audiences. Businesses and content creators can use these models to generate articles, blog posts, advertising copy, and more—saving time for content creators and providing fresh content to engage audiences.

With Azure OpenAI Service, CarMax is creating content for its website much more efficiently, freeing up its editorial staff to focus on producing strategic, longer-form pieces that require more insight. Letting Azure OpenAI Service take care of data-heavy summarization tasks gives them time to be more creative and feel more fulfilled.

10. Medical research and diagnosis: The healthcare industry can benefit from quickly diagnosing diseases—potentially leading to faster and more accurate diagnoses—improving patient outcomes.

Researchers can utilize generative models to analyze medical images, detect abnormalities, and aid in the development of new treatments. Additionally, generative AI algorithms can assist in diagnosing diseases by analyzing patient symptoms and medical records, potentially leading to more accurate and timely diagnoses.

At Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, a single patient’s case notes could have up to 2,000 documents. In the past, if you needed information that was stored 1,600 documents ago, you weren’t going to find it. Now, using Azure Cognitive Search it takes as little as three seconds to search for a keyword across those 2,000 documents to find it.

Each of the 10 ways mentioned above addresses significant challenges and opportunities facing businesses today. Azure OpenAI Service empowers businesses to streamline processes, enhance customer experiences, drive innovation, and make data-driven decisions—resulting in improved efficiency, profitability, and competitiveness. In the case of generative AI, what’s good for business is also good for its customers. By leveraging the power of machine learning and generative algorithms, businesses can improve customer experiences while also gaining a competitive advantage in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Our commitment to responsible AI

Microsoft has a layered approach for generative models, guided by Microsoft’s responsible AI principles. In Azure OpenAI Service, an integrated safety system provides protection from undesirable inputs and outputs and monitors for misuse. In addition, Microsoft provides guidance and best practices for customers to responsibly build applications using these models and expects customers to comply with the Azure OpenAI code of conduct. With GPT-4, new research advances from OpenAI have enabled an additional layer of protection.

Source: microsoft.com

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How 5G and wireless edge infrastructure power digital operations with Microsoft

As enterprises continue to adopt the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and AI to analyze processes and data from their equipment, the need for high-speed, low-latency wireless connections are rapidly growing. Companies are already seeing benefits from deploying private 5G networks to enable their solutions, especially in the manufacturing, healthcare, and retail sectors.

The potential of 5G and multi-access edge computing (MEC) has evolved substantially. As they are fully ready to enable the next-generation of digital operations, it is important to highlight some recent successful deployments that provide high speeds and ultra-low latency.

These findings have been included in the latest Digital Operations Signals report. Where our previous industry trends report, IoT Signals, gave insight for audiences into IoT, we thought it was important for this latest report to go beyond IoT and into the world of digital operations. The report now encompasses the business outcomes that organizations are pursuing to unlock the next level of improvements in efficiency, agility, and sustainability in their physical operations utilizing AI, machine learning, digital twins, 5G, and more.

As 5G connections and mobile edge computing continue to advance, so does the demand for its adoption. Interestingly, the Digital Operations Signals report found that cloud radio access networks (C-RAN), private Wi-Fi networks, and MEC technologies are not just continuing to develop, but they are also likely to converge. This means we could see more unified on-site network architectures with faster, more powerful computing.

What can 5G infrastructure deliver?

Traditionally, local connectivity in business sites—such as hospitals, clinics, warehouses, and factories—was provided by Ethernet and Wi-Fi. While Wi-Fi is still in common use for enterprise on-premises connections, it doesn’t always offer the bandwidth, latency, security, and reliability needed for demanding IoT solutions, particularly for rugged operational environments. The wider availability of 5G connectivity is spurring growth in new edge solutions and an increasing number of IoT device connections. It is now possible to have higher throughput and latency as low as 100 milliseconds or less for a device to respond to a hosting server’s request.

But the adoption of 5G is more than just a network upgrade. Instead, it’s ushering in a new category of network-intelligent applications that can solve problems that were once out of reach. With 5G, you can deploy edge applications based on cloud-native distributed architecture for solutions that demand low latency and dedicated quality of service. By using 5G and leveraging APIs to interact with networks, these applications can deliver high-performing, optimized experiences.

How is 5G being used by enterprises today?

In factory settings, for example, AI requires low latency to improve control processes and robotic systems, recognize objects through advanced computer vision, and effectively manage warehouse and supply chain operations. In this scenario, 5G and MEC can help power computer vision-assisted product packing and gather near-real-time data on any mistakes. This opens the potential to improve on-site quality assurance for logistics and supply chain companies and reduce processing times.

In healthcare, 5G connections support AI’s use in medical diagnoses, health monitoring, predictive maintenance and monitoring of medical systems, and telemedicine applications. In retail operations, low-latency connections allow AI to help with real-time inventory management, in-store video traffic, and in-store real-time offers.

The 5G architecture consists of three different network tiers—low band, midband, and millimeter wave (mmWave) high band—that offer different advantages and disadvantages in coverage distances and speed. Additionally, key 5G services specialize in providing different features:

◉ Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB): By defining a minimum level of data transfer rate, eMBB can provide ultra-high wireless bandwidth capabilities, handling virtual reality, computer vision, and large-scale video streaming.

◉ Massive machine-type communications (mMTC): Designed for industrial scenarios and other environments requiring numerous devices to be connected to each other, mMTC could be used with IoT solutions or large spaces with a variety of devices that would need to communicate together.

◉ Ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC): This is designed for use cases that require extremely low latency and high reliability. This would benefit situations where responsiveness is critical, such as public safety and emergency response uses, remote healthcare, industrial automation, smart energy grids, and controlling autonomous vehicles.

Using these services to achieve high speeds and performance, however, requires businesses to upgrade network technology and update their older wireless and edge architectures. To help overcome these challenges, enterprises are turning to the right combination of hardware, software, and cloud services that can optimize 5G at the edge.

How are Microsoft and Intel empowering 5G solutions?

Microsoft and Intel understand the many challenges that enterprises face. By working with telecom hyper scalers, independent solution providers, and other partners, we are providing 5G infrastructure and network services that are easily adaptable for use cases in many sectors. Azure private multi-access edge compute (MEC) helps operators and system integrators simplify the delivery of ultra-low-latency solutions over 4G and 5G netwworks. By reducing integration complexity, enterprises can innovate new solutions and generate new revenue streams.

Intel has designed a range of hardware to power 5G edge network activities and improve content transmission and processing. By providing foundational technology to run 5G, they are working to help standardize and simplify its use and create more unified edge applications and services. By helping customers securely and efficiently deploy 5G across industries, they can reap the benefits of 5G without complicated or extended timelines.

Source: microsoft.com

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Secure your application traffic with Application Gateway mTLS

I am happy to share that Azure Application Gateway now supports mutual transport layer security (mTLS) and online certificate status protocol (OCSP). This was one of the key questions from our customers as they were looking for more secure communication options for the cloud workloads. Here, I cover what mTLS is, how it works, when to consider it, and how to verify it in Application Gateway.

What is mTLS?

Mutual transport layer security (TLS) is a communication process where both parties verify and authenticate each other’s digital certificates prior to setting up an encrypted TLS connection. mTLS is an extension of the standard TLS protocol, and it provides an additional layer of security over TLS. With traditional TLS, the server is authenticated, but the client is not. This means that anyone can connect to the server and initiate a secure connection, even if the client or user is not authorized to do so. By using mTLS you can make sure that both the client and the server must authenticate each other prior to establishing the secure connection, this will make sure there is no unauthorized access possible on either side. mTLS works on the framework of zero trust—never trust, always verify. This framework ensures that no connection should be trusted automatically.

How does mTLS work?

mTLS works by using a combination of secure digital certificates and private keys to authenticate both the client and the server. The client and the server each have their own digital certificate and private key, which are used to establish trust and a secure connection. The client verifies the server's certificate, and the server verifies the client's certificate—this ensures that both parties are who they claim to be.

How are TLS and mTLS different?

TLS and mTLS protocols are used to encrypt network communication betweenclient and server. In TLS protocol only the client verifies the validity of the server prior to establishing the encrypted communication. The server does not validate the client during the TLS handshake. mTLS, on other hand, is a variation of TLS that adds an additional layer of security by requiring mutual authentication between client and server. This means that both the client and server must present a valid certificate before the encrypted connection can be established. This makes mTLS more secure than TLS as it adds an added layer of security by validating authenticity of client and server.

TLS call flow:

mTLS call flow:

When to consider mTLS

◉ mTLS is useful where organizations follow a zero-trust approach. This way a server must ensure of the validity of the specific client or device that wants to use server information. For example, an organization may have a web application that employees or clients can use to access very sensitive information, such as financial data, medical records, or personal information. By using mTLS, the organization can ensure that only authorized employees, clients, or devices are able to access the web application and the sensitive information it contains.

◉ Internet of Things (IoT) devices talk to each other with mTLS. Each IoT device presents its own certificate to each other to get authenticated.

◉ Most new applications are working on microservices-based architecture. Microservices communicate with each other via application programming interfaces (APIs), by using mTLS you can make sure that API communication is secure. Also, by using mTLS you can make sure malicious APIs are not communicating with your APIs

◉ To prevent various attacks, such as brute force or credential stuffing. If an attacker can get a leaked password or a BOT tries to force its way in with random passwords, it will be of no use—without a valid TLS certificate the attacker will not be able to pass the TLS handshake.

At high level now you understand what is mTLS and how it offers more secure communication by following zero trust security model. If you are new to Application Gateway and have never setup TLS in Application Gateway, follow the link to create APPGW and Backend Servers. This tutorial uses self-signed certificates for demonstration purposes. For a production environment, use publicly trusted CA-signed certificates. Once end-to-end TLS is set up, you can follow this link for setting up mTLS. To test this setup the prerequisite is to have OpenSSL and curl tool installed on your machine. You should have access to the client certificate and client private key.

Let’s dive into how to test mTLS Application Gateway. In the command below, the client's private key is used to create a signature for the Certificate Verify message. The private key does not leave the client device during the mTLS handshake.

Verify your mTLS setup by using curl/openssl

◉ curl -vk https://<yourdomain.com> --key client.key --cert client.crt

<Yourdomain.com> -> Your domain address

client.key -> Client’s private key

client.crt -> Client certificate

In the above output, we are verifying if mTLS is correctly set up. If it is set up correctly, during the TSL handshake server will request the client certificate. Next, in the handshake, you need to verify if the client has presented a client certificate along with the Certificate Verify message. Since the client certificate was valid, the handshake was successful, and the application has responded with an HTTP "200" response.

If the client certificate is not signed by the root CA file that was uploaded as per the link in step 8, the handshake will fail. Below is the response we will get if the client certificate is not valid.

Alternatively, you can verify the mTLS connectivity with an OpenSSL command.

◉ openssl s_client -connect <IPaddress> :443 -key client.key -cert client.crt

Once the SSL connection is established type as written below:

GET / HTTP/1.1

Host: <IP of host>

You should get the Response code—200. This validates that mutual authentication is successful.

Source: microsoft.com

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Azure high-performance computing powers energy industry innovation

The rising demand for energy

Global energy demand has rapidly increased over the last few years and looks set to continue accelerating at such a pace. With a booming middle class, economic growth, digitization, urbanization, and increased mobility of populations, energy suppliers are in a race to leverage the development of new technologies that can more optimally and sustainably generate, store, and transport energy to consumers.

With the impact of climate change adding urgency to minimizing energy waste, in addition to optimizing power production leaders in the renewable energy as well as oil and gas industries are accelerating sector-wide innovation initiatives that can drive differentiated impact and outcomes at scale.

As the population of developing countries continues to expand, the energy needs of billions of additional people in rural and especially urban areas will need to be catered to. McKinsey estimates that global energy consumption will triple by 2050, with oil and gas accounting for 65 percent of power consumption by then.

In addition, supplies of conventional oil and gas are also expected to decline in the not-too-distant future, shrinking in concentration to mostly the Middle East (oil) and countries like Russia, Iran, and Qatar (gas). As a result, the transition to more sustainable sources of power is leading global energy producers to leverage next-generation technologies to transform their solutions while simultaneously optimizing their operations.

New innovators in the renewable energy industry are also adopting next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, 3-D imaging, and the internet of things (IoT), supported by high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities, to maximize energy production and ensure a smoother transition to a more sustainable path.

Optimizing operational excellence in the energy industry

Instead of investing in complex, costly, and time-intensive on-premises resources, global energy leaders are leveraging the power of cloud capabilities such as Azure HPC + AI, to simulate highly complex, large-scale models and visualize seismic imaging and modeling, resulting in huge economic gains.

One of the key innovations enabling this strategic advantage is the dynamic scaling capability of Azure HPC + AI, powered by GPUs, which are ideal for running remote visualization, optimized virtual machines, and can be augmented with deep learning and predictive analytics, allowing customers to have on-demand intelligent computing to solve complex problems and drive tangible business outcomes.

Energy multinational bp, for example, believes technology innovation is the key to making a successful transition to net zero. The company chose to create digital twins to find opportunities for optimization and carbon reduction.

Drawing on over 250 billion data signals from an IoT network spanning bp's global operating assets, the company identified various opportunities to scale the digital twin solution to its entire operating base and reduce emissions by as much as 500,000 tons of CO2 equivalent every year.

Going green—Energy industry innovation abounds

The green energy sector is also grabbing hold of the opportunity presented by these exponential technologies to speed up the journey toward a more sustainable energy ecosystem.

Italian energy infrastructure operator Snam is harnessing Azure AI and a full stack of Azure IoT services to reduce carbon emissions and help meet its net-zero targets. Energy efficiency is top of the company's agenda. Snam aims to cut methane emissions by 55 percent by 2025, reach net zero by 2040, and exclusively transport decarbonized gas by 2050.

With any leakage in its operations posing a threat to field workers, maintenance staff, and people living near their network—not to mention the environment—Snam deployed an IoT network for real-time monitoring and to enhance its data collection and processing capabilities.

For wind energy solutions provider Vestas Wind Systems, a combination of Azure HPC and partner Minds.ai's machine learning platform, DeepSim, helped its wind farms mitigate the wake effect, generate more energy, and build a sustainable energy future.

Drawing on the Azure HBv3 virtual machines using third-generation AMD EPYCTM processors, Vestas can scale up and run millions of complex simulations that inform how controllers adjust turbines to optimize energy production.

The computing power offered by the AMD-based Azure HBv3 nodes allows Vestas to drive efficiencies that have the potential to unlock significantly more power and higher profits for wind farm operators by minimizing the estimated 10 percent of wind energy that is lost to wake effects.

Key takeaways

As the energy industry eyes a period of unprecedented growth and change, the role of technology will become ever more profound.

Leveraging powerful Microsoft Cloud capabilities such as HPC, AI, advanced analytics, big data, and IoT, the integrated advanced technology capabilities that have previously been the reserve of only a handful of the largest companies are now truly available to anyone.

Supported by these powerful next-generation technologies, energy companies can unlock greater efficiency, innovation, and growth to achieve gains across their operations and drive the world towards a brighter energy future.

Source: microsoft.com

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How IoT, AI, and Digital Twins are helping achieve sustainability goals

Organizations striving to improve their sustainability can make progress toward those goals by using the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI technology that monitors and analyzes their use of resources and resulting emissions. However, businesses adopting IoT for other reasons often improve their sustainability as a side benefit as well.

Nearly three-fourths of IoT adopters with near-term sustainability goals view IoT solutions as “very important” for reaching those goals. The combination of sensor devices, edge and cloud computing, and AI and machine learning can provide data and analytical insights into how resources are being used, where leaks or faults are occurring and affecting consumption, and where efficiency can be improved. Additionally, Digital Twins technology can create digital models of real-world equipment, buildings, or even smart cities for more detailed insights into how they can be run more sustainably.

Our recently published e-book, “Improving sustainability and smarter resource use with IoT technology” goes further in-depth on the following insights and case studies about IoT and AI solutions and sustainability.

How digital technology can aid sustainability efforts

With greater awareness of climate change and increasing regulation around activities related to emissions and resource usage, sustainability efforts are becoming an urgent priority at many organizations. Microsoft has established transparent goals and tracking of its progress toward carbon-neutral operations and offers a software solution to help others record and report their environmental impact.

We're also using Microsoft Azure IoT platform tools, to help power solutions in the following sustainability categories:

◉ Efficient energy production and distribution: Digital tools are being applied to help electricity production plants—a significant source of air emissions—operate as efficiently and cleanly as possible. Utilities are using IoT solutions to monitor and manage electricity transmission and distribution grids to achieve maximum efficiency, route additional power as demand fluctuates, and detect outages faster. They’re also helping to remotely control renewable energy facilities such as wind farms. Our customer smartPulse offers a solution designed to manage electricity distribution and trading to give utilities the ability to manage imbalances in a financially favorable way.

◉ Creating smarter, carbon-neutral buildings: The construction and operation of buildings create 38 percent of total energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide around the world, creating an enormous opportunity for smart building solutions to make a notable impact on the carbon footprint of buildings. IoT technology, Digital Twins modeling, and AI have proven especially useful in managing buildings by automating lighting and climate-control systems, as well as modeling the environmental effects of any design or operational changes. Vasakronan, a global leader in sustainability, has adopted IoT and Azure Digital Twins solutions for its commercial and office properties across Sweden, leading to notable energy cost savings.

◉ Improving public infrastructure: Updating infrastructure with IoT technology can make it more sustainable and create other livability improvements, such as increasing safety and reducing excess light pollution. The city of Valencia in Spain saw this when city officials launched a public lighting upgrade. The project included replacing lighting in a national park, where too much light can disrupt wildlife and plants. Light solution provider Schréder and Codit, a cloud integration solutions provider, teamed to upgrade more than 100,000 lighting fixtures and tie in Azure IoT technologies. The city reduced its electricity consumption, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent and saving millions of euros annually.

◉ Agriculture and food production: Data-gathering and analytical technology informs decisions that lead to better environmental practices involving planting, watering, and pesticide use. Computer Vision can detect when weeds or pests are threatening a growing area. Related technology is contributing to the development of more automation at a time when farm labor shortages are becoming more common. The N.C. State Plant Sciences Initiative, for example, is using faster and more efficient data management to tackle agriculture’s biggest challenges, with the aim of creating better predictive food analytics, increasing food safety, and making more productive crops.

Improving business performance at the same time

Beyond the benefits of reducing consumption of natural resources and reining in emissions, sustainability efforts can generate business value. Forty percent of survey respondents in a recent survey said they expect their company’s sustainability programs to generate modest or significant value in the next five years. That value primarily comes from saving energy costs, cutting back on needed materials, and improving operational efficiency.

Get started with sustainable IoT solutions

By combining sustainability goals with innovative solutions, businesses and people can limit their everyday impact on the planet’s resources. Azure IoT can help transform businesses to be more efficient, manage renewable energy production, reduce waste, or accelerate the development and launch of sustainably oriented apps. A range of end-to-end solutions from our ecosystem of partners addresses sustainability in a variety of ways as well.

Source: microsoft.com

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Azure API for FHIR and Microsoft’s Power Platform help universities tackle COVID-19

When summer 2021 ended, many organizations faced the formidable challenge of how to return to their places of work and school safely. Tuskegee University (Tuskegee) was one of them—not only was the safe return of students and faculty to school a priority but since Tuskegee is in a community with no hospital, controlling exposure was essential.

At the time, Tuskegee encountered many challenges, including but not limited to a statewide shortage of testing kits, inability to handle the broadscale logistics of testing, contact tracing, and figuring out a simplified way to report on status and schedule tests.

With the help of industry partners like Microsoft and Enabling Technologies, Tuskegee was able to build and execute a successful strategy to allow students to return to school safely amidst COVID-19.

Public health specialist, Crystal James stepped up to address the challenge that Tuskegee faced. "We realized that to get back to face to face, we needed to have a strategy to protect the learning environment," she recalled. She expanded her responsibilities as Department Chair in the College of Veterinary Medicine to include a new position: the Special Assistant to the President for COVID-19 Response.

Lack of testing kits

The first hurdle faced was the lack of test kits. According to Crystal, the COVID-19 Recovery Management Center (CRMC) studied the test kits and decided to make their own kits. The Tuskegee CRMC is composed of laboratory scientists, policy specialists, nurses, and public health professionals. They made test kits for the faculty, staff, students, and the surrounding Black Belt Counties who lacked access to tests.

Handling the logistics of testing

With their campus laboratories ready to make the kits, the industry came to Tuskegee’s aid. Thermo Fisher Scientific generously offered the instrumentation for Tuskegee to do PCR testing on campus. In February 2021, Tuskegee University opened its own Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certified reference laboratory and began PCR testing for COVID-19. They tied their testing systems to Thermo Fisher’s for processing.

An easy-to-use app

With test kits and the ability to provide results on campus, Tuskegee University Health Disparities Diagnostic Center addressed the next step—developing a mechanism to deliver the test results back to individuals promptly and contact tracing on campus.

Tuskegee found Microsoft’s offerings and solutions to be the right fit—using Microsoft Power Platform, Dataverse & Azure API for FHIR, the institution had tools to schedule tests, send test results back, and attest to health status while on campus.

Building an app that was simple to use was paramount. The features in the app that was built using Microsoft’s Power Platform allowed students and faculty to:

◉ Report and screen for symptoms—keeping track of symptoms and questionnaire responses by completing daily self-attestations from a smartphone or desktop.

◉ Create daily passes—after completing the daily self-attestation, the application generates a unique daily QR code. That barcode is scanned to gain access to campus facilities.

◉ Manage testing—designated personnel can manage student appointments, questionnaire responses, and test result notifications.

You can find the information about the implementation at Golden Tiger Health Check | Tuskegee University.

Integration assistance from Enabling Technologies

Microsoft Gold Partner, Enabling Technologies (Enabling), led the coordinated development efforts on behalf of Tuskegee. Enabling also rolled out the Return to School app at Lake Washington School District, Kent School District, and Howard University.

"Enabling Technologies provided the technical expertise to create a new system that would talk to the two existing systems," stated Crystal, "including CareEvolve and Thermo Fisher’s Platform for Science. Enabling helped with APIs, programming, and some other integration, which was helpful for non-IT people."

Microsoft technology provided a simple-to-use app and the integration protocols needed to handle the end-to-end testing and results.

Enabling architected the solution and used the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) protocol within Azure API for FHIR to safeguard Tuskegee data.  Azure API for FHIR was used to facilitate the movement of data between the application built on Power Platform and the testing lab software systems.

The rollout at Tuskegee and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities was aligned to Microsoft’s racial equity initiative. this solution was also deployed in support of  Microsoft's announcement to commit more than $110M to support nonprofits, workers, and schools in Washington state.

Soothing the concerns of the community

With COVID-19 swirling, Tuskegee’s students, faculty, and staff had enough on their minds. Learning to use a new app could not be yet another burden. Enabling’s Adoption and Organizational Change team, led by Gabrielle Manuel, stepped in. "It was important to provide students, faculty, and staff with appropriate support materials and advance messaging to prepare them to begin using the app," she said. "The custom messaging, user guides, and videos provided clear instructions and expectations."

Tuskegee’s James advised, "One of the biggest issues that isn’t as well highlighted about the pandemic is the anxiety created when you have to engage in public spaces during this pandemic. Having a tool like this assists us to bring that anxiety level down to a manageable level and bring our students and faculty back to an environment we can call as safe as possible."

The results

The implemented solution through Microsoft’s Power Platform improved the safety of Tuskegee's students, faculty, and staff. The Return to School solution helped decrease the time from exposure to a confirmed PCR lab result to five hours. It also helped Tuskegee to assure parents and students that there is a system to monitor trends every day since RTS also publishes results to their dashboard. Tuskegee published the number of cases on campus, the number of tests conducted, and the percentage of positive cases reducing the mental stress on potentially exposed individuals.

"Microsoft’s release was just in time," said Chris Stegh, CTO, Enabling Technologies. "The fact that the app could be activated in the existing Microsoft 365 tenant made the decision simple. Azure API for FHIR allowed the app to integrate with the university’s COVID-19 testing lab."

What’s next?

While Ms. James is optimistic, she’s also realistic. "While I know the rest of the world would like for us just call it over, that's not how pandemics work. We realize that COVID-19 will still be an issue that needs to be addressed on our campus. Because we are in an area that does not have a hospital and access to health care is very sparse, we want to continue to monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 on our campus. The app will help us pivot should another wave start around the country."

Source: microsoft.com

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Digital transformation for manufacturers requires additional IT/OT security

While every industry is vulnerable to a ransomware attack, manufacturers are at a particular risk. While digitization and automation have helped transform the industry, it has simultaneously opened up new attack vectors within organizations. Now the most targeted industry, the manufacturing industry, has seen a 300 percent increase in cyberattacks in a single year.

Beyond the tremendous growth in attacks, manufacturing companies make an ideal target for hackers due to the high value of the companies themselves, the high costs of unplanned downtime, and the highly visible impact that downtime has on consumers’ daily lives. With the risks so high, an enterprise-level solution that provides visibility and protection like Microsoft Defender for IoT is essential.

Visibility is the first step to network protection

The number of connected industrial control system (ICS)/operational technology (OT) devices in manufacturing facilities continues to grow. The benefits for the operations side of the house are clear, but the lack of visibility into them poses serious security risks for chief information security officers (CISOs).

Manufacturers often have no way to identify and monitor what all their connected devices are doing and with whom or what they are communicating. Worse, all too often they lack even a simple inventory of all the connected devices they have in their facilities. In case of an attack, the lack of visibility means that they have no way of tracing the attack vector the hacker took, making them vulnerable to a second wave and delaying recovery and remediation.

Continuous monitoring without impacting productivity

Microsoft Defender for IoT not only creates asset maps within minutes of being turned on, but it also provides continuous monitoring of every device in every facility around the world. Microsoft’s Section 52 has access to tens of trillions of identity, endpoint, and other signals each day. The threat intelligence from this specialized IoT and ICS research team produces high-impact insights that help keep manufacturers safe from attacks.

The agentless nature of the system protects companies without impacting production, no matter the topology of the network or the regulations governing the industry. And, with round-the-clock protection, Microsoft Defender for IoT can alert the SecOps team about an intrusion any time, any place.

Security for networks in an age of IT and OT convergence

As their digital transformations have progressed, manufacturers have seen their IT and OT environments converge. The air gap between them that ensured production would continue even if IT assets were taken offline is increasingly a thing of the past. With these trendlines, forward-thinking CISOs and their boards are taking proactive steps to protect the entire company from cyber-physical attacks that could have huge costs to safety, production, reputation, and the bottom line.

Fortunately, Microsoft Defender for IoT can usually be deployed in less than a single day per facility and works right out of the box for large enterprises and small, niche facilities. With it, defenders of OT networks have a powerful new tool at their disposal to help keep hackers out and people, production, and profits safe.

Source: microsoft.com

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Microsoft Azure expands to new region in the China market

Since March 1, 2022, a new Azure region in North China will gain unrestricted access by customers, which adds the fifth Azure region to the China market and doubles the capacity of Microsoft’s intelligent cloud portfolio in China.

Announced in 2012, and officially launched in March 2014 with two initial regions, Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet was the first international public cloud service that became generally available in the China market. Following Azure, Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Power Platform operated by 21Vianet successively launched in China in 2014, 2019, and 2020 respectively.

“We see fast-growing needs for global public cloud services in the China market, both from multi-national companies coming to China, Chinese companies seeking for global presence, and Chinese companies to digitally transform their businesses and processes on clouds—that’s the strong momentum driving us to keep expanding and upgrading our cloud services for almost eight years here in China,” said Dr. Hou Yang, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Chairman and CEO of Microsoft Greater China Region (GCR). “Microsoft’s intelligent cloud, the most comprehensive approach to security in the world, has been empowering hundreds of thousands of developers, partners, and customers from both China and the world to achieve more with technical innovation and business transformation. The new Azure region will further reinforce Microsoft’s capabilities to enable and empower innovation, growth, and discover opportunities across the business, ecosystem, and a future with sustainability."

Cloud for innovation

According to an IDC report, China has become the world’s fastest-growing public cloud market with a year-on-year growth rate of 49.7 percent, and the China market’s global share will increase to more than 10.5 percent by 2024. The fast development of China’s digital economy demands advanced technologies and services like Microsoft Azure, to support its emerging digital innovation and industrial digital transformation.

With the availability of the new Azure region, Microsoft will better empower our customers and partners from both China and global to harness the opportunities of China’s digital development, with capabilities over hybrid and multi-cloud deployment, IoT, edge computing, data intelligence, and more.

Along with the new Azure region launch, a set of new cloud innovation capabilities will be available in China in 2022, which includes: Azure availability zone, which gives customers industry-leading 99.99 percent SLA when VMs are running in two or more availability zones and provides the most comprehensive resiliency strategy to protecting against large scale events with failover to separate regions. Azure Digital Twins, an IoT capability that enables customers to create ”digital twins” of physical objects in the cloud; Azure Arc, which helps customers manage data and applications across hybrid and multi-cloud environments; Flexible Server deployment option for Azure Database for MySQL, to provide maximum control for an organization’s databases, high availability options to help ensure zero data loss, built-in capabilities for cost optimization, and increased productivity enabled by the Azure ecosystem. Azure Purview is a unified data governance solution that helps you manage and govern your on-premises, multi-cloud, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) data.

"As Microsoft’s global partner, we’ve been working closely to develop and deploy digital solutions for industries,” said Jin Jia, Managing Director and Lead of Technology in Accenture Greater China. “With the new Azure region and services coming to China, we will further enable end-to-end transformations, by delivering a broad range of Azure services across infrastructure, platform, data, IoT, and cognitive computing."

Cloud for sustainability

Cloud computing provides massive efficiency that reduces the collective carbon footprint required to support the world’s computing needs. As Microsoft cloud scales its computing power, we’re also pursuing breakthrough technologies to incorporate sustainability into datacenter design and operations. Microsoft cloud’s latest key advanced development initiatives include:

◉ Reducing water use in datacenters: a new approach to datacenter temperature management will further reduce the amount of water used in our evaporative cooled datacenters.

◉ Research in liquid immersion cooling, toward waterless cooling options: Microsoft achieved the first cloud provider that is running two-phase liquid immersion cooling in a production environment. The efficiencies in both power and cooling that liquid cooling unlock new potential for datacenter rack design.

◉ Datacenter design to support local ecosystems: Microsoft benchmarked the ecosystem performance in terms of water, air, carbon, climate, biodiversity, and more in twelve datacenter regions, to renew and revitalize the surrounding area so that we can restore and create a pathway to provide regenerative value for the local community and environment.

◉ Cutting carbon footprint in datacenter design and construction: Embodied carbon counts for emissions associated with materials and construction processes throughout the whole lifecycle of a building or infrastructure. We use a tool called the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) to identify building materials and reduce concrete and steel embodied carbon by 30–60 percent. Some of all the initiatives will have been adapted in the new Azure region in China step by step.

In addition to the investments in cloud infrastructure, Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability is now available for preview globally, which allows organizations to record, report, and reduce their carbon emissions on a path to net-zero more effectively. It provides a common foundation to ensure carbon emissions are measured in an accurate, consistent, and reliable manner globally. Now, both multi-national companies and Chinese companies could use this offering on global Azure to measure their sustainability efforts.

At 2021 China International Import Expo (CIIE), SGS China announced the first global and China dual-standard carbon management platform, S-Carbon, based on Microsoft Azure. Dr. Sandy Hao, Managing Director of SGS China, said, “SGS’s expertise in carbon emission, combined with Microsoft’s world-leading cloud platform, will enable more Chinese companies to accelerate the implementation of their sustainable development strategies.”

“We are pleased to be a Net Zero Technology Partner to Microsoft, jointly enabling customers with a full suite of end-to-end carbon neutrality solutions to support their green transition and ambitions,” said Michael Ding, Global Executive Director of Microsoft’s global net-zero partner Envision Group.

“We are partnering with Microsoft to conceive, build and manage smart and sustainable buildings in China and worldwide,” said Michael Zhu, Vice President and General Manager, Building Solutions, China, Johnson Controls. “Our OpenBlue digital platform, closely connected with Microsoft’s cloud platform and workplace technologies, represents an unbeatable opportunity to help our customers make modern spaces safer, more agile, and more sustainable.”

“DELTA’s Energy Management System (EMS) is built on Microsoft Azure platform completed with IoT, machine learning, and data insights from Power BI,” said Kevin Tan, General Manager of Delta GreenTech (China) Co., Ltd. ”By cooperating with Microsoft, we empower customers effectively monitor, manage, and save energy consumption to achieve a green factory.”

Cloud with trust and compliance

Microsoft cloud is comprised of over 200 physical datacenters across more than 34 markets. It serves over one billion customers and over 20 million companies worldwide—95 percent of Fortune 500 businesses run on Microsoft cloud services. With over 90 compliance certifications globally, Microsoft’s cloud platform meets a broad range of industry and regulatory standards in China, Europe, the US, and many other global markets. For China, Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet has also obtained a number of certifications for local compliance.

Microsoft Azure was the first international public cloud service compliantly launched in the China market. In accordance with Chinese regulatory requirements, Azure regions operated by 21Vianet in China are physically separated instances from Microsoft’s global cloud but are built on the same cloud technology as other regions operated by Microsoft globally.

The consistent architecture across China and global markets makes it easy, efficient, and secure for multinational companies to roll out their IT systems and business applications to China or vice versa.

Source: microsoft.com

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IoT adoption remains strong in the Asia-Pacific region as organizations broaden usage

The Asia-Pacific region has long been a strong manufacturing base and the sector continues to be a strong adopter of the Internet of Things (IoT). But as the latest Microsoft IoT Signals report shows, IoT is now much more widely adopted across verticals, and across the globe, with smart spaces—a key focus for many markets in the Asia-Pacific region—becoming one of the leading application areas.

The newest edition of this report provides encouraging reading for organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. The global study of over 3,000 business decision-makers (BDMs), developers, and internet technology decision-makers (ITDMs) across ten countries—including Australia, China, and Japan—shows that IoT continues to be widely adopted for a range of uses and is seen as critical to business success by a large majority. Further, rather than slowing growth which some might have feared, the COVID-19 pandemic is driving even greater investment across different industries as IoT becomes more tightly integrated with other technologies.

Across the Asia-Pacific region, the research shows that organizations in Australia report the highest rate of IoT adoption at 96 percent—beating both Italy (95 percent) and the United States (94 percent)—and that organizations in China are adopting IoT for more innovative use cases and have the highest rates of implementation against emerging technology strategies. In Japan, it found that companies are using IoT more often to improve productivity and optimize operations. Below we dive into three key trends that emerge for organizations in this region.

1. A greater focus on planning IoT projects pays off

Whilst IoT projects in the region take slightly longer to reach fruition, it seems that this reflects a more thoughtful and diligent approach which appears to be paying off. By thinking through and taking time upfront to determine the primary business objectives for success, organizations in the Asia-Pacific region report high levels of IoT adoption (96 percent in Australia), importance (99 percent of companies in China say IoT is critical to business success), and overall satisfaction (99 percent and 97 percent in China and Australia respectively). These objectives are broadly in line with global findings, with quality assurance and cloud security consistently mentioned across all three countries in this region. Organizations in Australia and Japan adopt IoT to help with optimization and operational efficiencies: in Australia, the focus is on energy optimization (generation, distribution, and usage); and in Japan, it is on manufacturing optimization (agile factory, production optimization, and front-line worker). Those in Australia and China also tend to do more device monitoring as part of IoT-enabled condition-based maintenance practices.

Companies in the region report that these varied use cases are delivering significant benefits in terms of more operational efficiency and staff productivity, improved quality by reducing the chance of human error, and greater yield by increasing production capacity.

2. Emerging technologies accelerate IoT adoption

Of the organizations surveyed, the 88 percent that are set to either increase or maintain their IoT investment in the next year are more likely to incorporate emerging technologies such as AI, edge computing, and digital twins into their IoT solutions. And in the Asia-Pacific region, awareness of these technologies tends to be higher than in other markets.

Organizations in China are far more likely than their counterparts elsewhere to have strategies that address these three areas. They lead all other countries when it comes to implementing against AI and edge computing strategies, and a staggering 98 percent of companies in Australia that are aware of digital twins say they have a specific strategy for that technology. More significantly, their experience with these technologies is driving greater adoption of IoT across the region, with around eight in ten organizations working to incorporate them into their IoT solutions.

3. Industry-specific IoT solutions drive a broader range of benefits

The IoT Signals report analyzed several industries in-depth, all well represented in the Asia-Pacific region. Organizations in Australia, for instance, should note that energy, power, and utility companies use IoT to help with grid automation (44 percent) and maintenance (43 percent), while oil and gas companies tend to apply it more to workplace and employee safety (45 percent and 43 percent respectively). Energy companies are also much more likely to use AI in their IoT solutions than other industries (89 percent of organizations versus 79 percent for all verticals). The benefits of IoT being seen by organizations in these sectors include increases in operational efficiency, increases in production capacity, and increases in customer satisfaction.

In Japan, where manufacturing makes up an important part of the market, we find that there are more IoT projects in the usage stage (26 percent) than in other sectors, mainly focused on bolstering automation. Manufacturing organizations are using these IoT solutions to ensure quality, facilitate industrial automation, and monitor production flow. In doing so, they benefit from improved operational efficiency and greater production capacity, driving competitive advantage. In this industry, it’s not technology that poses a challenge but the huge business transformation that takes extra time and thought, often due to legacy systems and processes.

China, of course, has always been an innovator when it comes to devices, so its manufacturing sector will see the same impacts. But smart spaces—as in other countries in the Asia Pacific region—are getting a lot of attention, and this is where we see the highest levels of IoT adoption (94 percent) and overall satisfaction (98 percent). It also has the strongest indications of future growth with 69 percent planning to use IoT more in the next two years. It’s also the industry sector where the highest proportion of organizations are implementing IoT against AI strategies. The top applications of IoT in smart spaces are around productivity and building safety, where organizations can benefit from improved operational efficiency and personal safety.

Source: microsoft.com

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