A look at the Azure announcements from Microsoft Ignite 2021
This year’s digital edition of Microsoft Ignite has now wrapped up, but don’t worry if you missed it! The high-quality sessions and keynotes from across the two days are available to watch on-demand from the Session Catalogue on the official Ignite website.
2021’s instalment has brought us plenty of news and reveals, so just in case you missed it, let’s walk through some of the key Azure-centric announcements. If you’re looking for announcements on other topics, you can check the Microsoft Ignite 2021 Book of News, which details everything from across the two day stream.
Azure AI
- Azure Cognitive Search now supports more languages
- Azure Cognitive Services offers preview of OpenAI Service
Azure Data
- Azure Cosmos DB introduces developer-friendly features including cost control and easy migration of Apache Cassandra data to the cloud
- Azure Synapse Analytics announces updated features and enhancements including real-time analytics for telemetry, time series and log data
- Flexible Server deployment option for Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL generally available this month
- New investments in Azure SQL boost performance and security
- SQL Server 2022 now in preview
Azure Dev and Ecosystem
- Azure Communication Services SMS short code preview and Microsoft Teams interoperability general availability
- Azure Container Apps is now in preview
- Azure Logic Apps updates, including running logic apps in a disconnected fashion, managed identity support and more.
- Azure Service Bus large message support generally available
- Azure Web PubSub service reaches general availability
- New solutions for running Java EE applications on Azure container platforms now available
- Open Service Mesh add-on for Azure Kubernetes Service now generally available
- Updates and enhancements to Azure DevOps, including OpenID Connect integration and a DevOps Workflow Generator tool
- Updates to Azure API management include GraphQL preview, WebSocket API general availability and more
Azure Hybrid, Azure Infra and Azure Migrate
- Feature update and new tools for IT pros in Azure Stack HCI
- New Azure Arc releases, including deep and native integration with Azure Stack HCI, enhanced integration with VMware vSphere and more
- New Azure Virtual Desktop features, including support for Azure Stack HCI
- New updates and enhancements for Windows Server on Azure
- New Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets
- New Azure Virtual Machines for better price performance
- Several updates for enhanced support and capabilities with Azure Monitor
- Updates to Azure Disk Storage now generally available
- Virtual machines selector helps customers find the right Azure Virtual Machines
- Azure Migration and Modernization Program expands coverage areas
Azure IoT
…and more!
There were so many announcements during Microsoft Ignite 2021 that we can’t do justice to all of them here. If you want to see the full list of announcements, you can do so by visiting the Microsoft Ignite 2021 Book of News. This handy website contains everything you need to know from the event, on topics from Microsoft 365 to Security and Windows. Be sure to make use of the contents page, as there’s a lot to go through!
Brendan Burns Corporate Vice President of Azure Compute has written an in-depth blog about how you can innovate with cloud-native apps and open source on Azure. There’s also a great article by Nicole Herskowitz, Microsoft Teams General Manager, on how you can stay in the flow of work with new collaborative apps for Microsoft Teams.
In case you missed it, there’s also a blog post written by Frank Shaw, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, introducing this year’s Microsoft Ignite. It contains a lot of interesting information about what topic areas Ignite covers, so it’s a great starting point if you’re looking at exploring particular areas of the Microsoft ecosystem.
Useful Links
- Check out the brand new Microsoft Learn TV!
- Check out the sessions you might have missed in the official Ignite website
- Follow the conversation on the #MSIgnite hashtag!
