Microsoft delivers new advancements in Azure from cloud to edge ahead of Microsoft Build conference

Microsoft continues commitment to building the most productive platform for developers, enables developers to take advantage of the latest computing trends

REDMOND, Wash., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Thursday, Microsoft Corp. announced a series of new Azure services and developer technologies that put advanced capabilities spanning AI, mixed reality, IoT and blockchain in the hands of developers. The company will share these and additional advancements in hybrid cloud and edge computing at its Microsoft Build conference to empower developers.

"It's an incredible time to be a developer. From building AI and mixed reality into apps to leveraging blockchain for solving commercial business problems, developers' skillsets and impact are growing rapidly," said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Microsoft Cloud and AI Group. "Today we're delivering innovative Azure services for developers to build the next generation of apps. With 95% of Fortune 500 customers running on Azure, these innovations can have far-reaching impact."

Furthering Microsoft's commitment to building the most productive AI platform

Microsoft announced a new set of Azure AI technology aimed to help developers and data scientists apply AI to any solution.

    --  Azure Cognitive Services power applications to see, hear, respond,
        translate, reason and more. Microsoft is launching a new Cognitive
        Services category, called "Decision," that delivers users a specific
        recommendation for more informed and efficient decision-making. This
        category includes Content Moderator, the recently announced Anomaly
        Detector, and a new service called Personalizer, which uses
        reinforcement learning to provide users with a specific recommendation
        to enable quick and informed decision-making.
    --  Microsoft is bringing AI to Azure Search with the general availability
        of the cognitive search capability, enabling customers to apply
        Cognitive Services algorithms to extract new insights from their
        structured and unstructured content. In addition, we are previewing a
        new capability that enables developers to store AI insights gained from
        cognitive search, making it easier to create knowledge-rich experiences
        leveraging Power BI visualizations or machine learning models.

New innovations in Azure Machine Learning simplify the process of building, training and deploying machine learning models:

    --  MLOps capabilities with Azure DevOps integration provides developers
        with reproducibility, auditability and automation of the end-to-end
        machine learning lifecycle.
    --  Automated ML advancements and an intuitive UI make developing
        high-quality models easier.
    --  Visual machine learning interface provides no-code model creation and
        deployment experience with drag-and-drop capabilities.
    --  To enable extremely low latency and cost-effective inferencing,
        Microsoft is announcing the general availability of hardware-accelerated
        models that run on FPGAs, as well as ONNX Runtime support for NVIDIA
        TensorRT and Intel nGraph for high-speed inferencing on NVIDIA and Intel
        chipsets.

Expanding opportunity at the Intelligent Edge

The company introduced several new products and solutions today that continue to address the existing and emerging needs of hybrid cloud and edge computing:

    --  Microsoft introduced Azure SQL Database Edge to support the spectrum of
        edge compute needs. A SQL engine optimized for lower compute
        requirements with built-in AI, the product combines data streaming with
        in-database machine learning and graph capabilities to enable
        intelligence on the edge. Because Azure SQL Database Edge shares the
        same programming surface area with Azure SQL Database and SQL Server,
        developers can easily take applications to the edge without having to
        learn new tools and languages, providing a consistent programming
        experience.
    --  Microsoft also announced IoT Plug and Play, a new open modeling language
        to seamlessly connect IoT devices to the cloud, enabling developers to
        navigate one of the biggest challenges they face -- deploying IoT
        solutions at scale. Previously, software had to be written specifically
        for the connected device it supported, limiting the scale of IoT
        deployments. IoT Plug and Play will offer customers a large ecosystem of
        partner-certified devices that can connect quickly.
    --  For mixed-reality development, Microsoft is making it easier to create
        for HoloLens 2 with the HoloLens 2 Development Edition, which provides
        the community of mixed-reality developers with access to solutions to
        help them build and run mixed-reality experiences across a range of
        devices.
    --  Unreal Engine 4 support for streaming and native platform integration
        for HoloLens 2 will be available?for developers by the end of May to
        create high-quality, photo-realistic renders and immersive,
        mixed-reality experiences for solutions spanning architecture,?product
        design, manufacturing and more.?

Doubling down on investments to empower blockchain developers

Last year, Microsoft announced Azure Blockchain Workbench, which gave developers a simple UI to model blockchain applications on a preconfigured Azure-supported network. Today's announcements take it even further.

    --  Azure Blockchain Service simplifies the formation, management and
        governance of consortium blockchain networks, allowing businesses to
        focus on workflow logic and app development. Azure Blockchain Service
        deploys a fully managed consortium network and offers built-in
        governance for common management tasks, such as adding new members,
        setting permissions and authenticating user applications.
    --  Microsoft also announced this week that J.P. Morgan's Ethereum platform,
        Quorum, is the first ledger available in Azure Blockchain Service,
        giving Microsoft and J.P. Morgan customers the ability to deploy and
        manage scalable blockchain networks in the cloud.

More than 6,000 developers and content creators will join Microsoft in Seattle next week for the conference to learn about the latest advancements in cloud and developer technologies, as well as get hands-on experience with them. Today's announcements give developers of all kinds new cutting-edge tools to create the next generation of applications for intelligent cloud and intelligent edge. There will be even more showcased next week at Build.

Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

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SOURCE Microsoft Corp.