Lot's of activity in Azure this week - almost too much to keep up with! We’ve announced the general availability of Azure Automation, Runbook Gallery, Event Hubs, and Microsoft Antimalware, plus the public previews of Azure Data Factory, Stream Analytics, Azure Batch, Marketplace, Hortonworks and Cloudera images, and SQL Database business continuity features. Related pricing changes have also been announced.
Azure Automation and Runbook Gallery - For more information, please visit the Automation webpage.
Azure Event Hubs - For more information, please visit the Event Hubs webpage.
Microsoft Antimalware for Cloud Services and VMs - available at no additional charge!! - For more information, please download the Microsoft Antimalware white paper.
Azure Data Factory public preview - For more information, please visit the Data Factory webpage.
Azure Stream Analytics public preview - For more information, please visit the Stream Analytics webpage.
Azure Batch public preview - For more information, please visit the Azure Batch webpage.
Announcing Microsoft Azure Marketplace - (formerly Azure Store/Azure Gallery) - For more information, please visit the Marketplace webpage or access the Marketplace in the existing Azure Management Portal and Azure Preview portal.
Hortonworks and Cloudera images in public preview in the Marketplace - This offer is the result of the ongoing partnership between Microsoft and Hortonworks, plus a newly announced partnership with Cloudera. It also complements our current Hadoop-as-a-service offering, Azure HDInsight, which provides a managed PaaS experience for our customers.
Azure SQL Database business continuity features with new visualizations in public preview - Now available to try in the Azure Preview portal
We are excited to announce the general availability of the Azure Websites Migration Assistant. It is now publicly available at https://www.movemetothecloud.net.
Now you can easily migrate to Azure Websites from your existing websites that run on Internet Information Service (IIS) 6 or later. Azure Websites Migration Assistant can analyze your IIS server installation, identify which sites can be migrated to Azure Websites, highlight any elements that cannot be migrated or are unsupported on the platform, and then migrate your websites and associated databases to Azure with just a few clicks. Please take a look at this Getting Started Guide to learn how to use the tool and it’s limitations. Finally, please look at this recent blog post from Owais Shaikh to view short videos on how the Azure Websites Migration Assistant works.
If you are challenged in moving off of Windows Server 2003/2003R2 because you have some web sites that need to be moved, this could be your ticket!!
Last July, we put the word out that Microsoft will host a unified enterprise technology conference in May. We told you it will bring together the best of previously individual events – the Management Summit, the Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and TechEd conferences – and then take it to the next level, based on what our customers and partners have asked for. Now, we have more to share.
Microsoft Ignite is May 4-8 in Chicago at McCormick Place. Satya Nadella will keynote and will be joined by technical and business leaders including Brad Anderson, Joe Belfiore, Dave Campbell, Peggy Johnson, Chris Jones, Julie Larson Green, Gurdeep Singh Pall and many others.
Ignite rounds out our schedule of key events for professional communities in the first half of 2015. We start with Convergence 2015 in Atlanta, March 16-19, the place where business leaders gather to explore solutions. //Build in San Francisco, April 29-May 1, is where developers will hear the latest about our platform strategy, technologies and opportunities. Then we turn to Ignite, followed by the Worldwide Partner Conference in Orlando, July 12-16, for our enormous partner community.
Ignite is the new entry, so here’s more about it.
If you are on the hook to help your company make the right tech moves in the new world of mobile and cloud, Ignite is the show for you. For the first time ever, we’re putting under one roof the education, vision and guidance for the full spectrum of our enterprise solutions. Our best and brightest minds, along with thousands of your peers, will be there to help you chart the course for your team, your company and your career.
We’re rewiring what a Microsoft enterprise tech conference is and does, from how you will plan your week ahead of time, to how you’ll use social media to get the most out of the event, to how you’ll enjoy the city of Chicago. Whether you’re a senior tech strategist or a hard core, hands-on admin, you’re going to be…well, stoked.
Ignite is where you’ll come up with your next great idea, based on what you learn about the upcoming wave of products and services. We’re going to cover it all, across cloud infrastructure and management, big data and analytics, productivity, unified communications, operating systems, mobile devices and more. You’ll get the practical guidance and the insight you need to build a game plan for that big project. You’ll learn from people who have reached the pinnacle of success, overcome the impossible and learned the hard lessons. You’ll dive deep with our experts, share stories with other professionals, and have some laughs, too.
In addition to hundreds of sessions, technical training, hands-on labs and opportunities for certification, we’re making it a priority to give attendees direct access to hundreds of Microsoft engineers and executives. Our top gearheads and thought leaders will be there in force, ready to step down from the podium and get into the weeds with you.
Take a look at what Ignite has to offer. Registration is open now. Don’t wait too long to start making the case to your management why you can’t miss it.
Microsoft reports annually on our citizenship priorities, commitments, and performance. The Microsoft 2014 Citizenship Report details Microsoft’s work during the last fiscal year to serve globally the needs of communities and fulfill our responsibilities to the public. I'm very proud of the importance that Microsoft places on giving back. I think it makes us stand out among most of the other large technology companies you may know about.
Microsoft's total annual giving surpassed $1 billion for the first time, with cash donations of $119 million and in-kind donations worth $948.6 million. The Microsoft YouthSpark Initiative is on track to surpass our goal of creating opportunities for 300 million youth over three years, having created opportunities for 227 million youth to date, including 124 million in FY14. We launched Office 365 for Nonprofits in 92 countries around the world, providing $55 million worth of Office 365 subscriptions to nearly 11,500 nonprofits globally.
Find more highlights and download the full report from this page.
Today, Microsoft announced the latest installment of our compliance commitment: With Office 365 for Government, Microsoft is able to support customer compliance with IRS 1075. IRS 1075 provides guidance to ensure that the policies, practices, controls, and safeguards employed by recipient agencies adequately protect the confidentiality of Federal Tax Information (FTI) and related financial tax return data. Read the blog entry for much more information.