Cloud Computing


Cloud IT Spending Has Outpaced 'Traditional IT' Spending

Revenues from IT infrastructure products sold to cloud service providers have surpassed revenues from traditional IT infrastructure sales "for the first time," according to a recently published report by IDC.

Partners Sidelined in New 'Microsoft Customer Agreement' Model for Azure

Microsoft's new approach for getting organizations to purchase Azure services appears to put its partners at a disadvantage.

Microsoft Dropping Azure Container Service in 2020

Microsoft's Azure Container Service (ACS), which commercially launched more than two years ago, will fall out of support on Jan. 31, 2020, according to a Microsoft post earlier this month.

Microsoft, Docker Collaborate on 'CNAB' Spec for Distributed Apps

To help organizations that build and maintain distributed applications, Microsoft and Docker this week launched a new specification called Cloud Native Application Bundles (CNAB).

Microsoft Bringing Azure Portal Account Manager to More Services

Microsoft's new "account manager" multiple sign-in capability will be available across various Microsoft online services sometime next year, the company said this week.

Microsoft Spotlights Partner IoT Efforts Around 'Smart Cities'

Microsoft recently put the spotlight on several of its partners that are at the forefront of the "smart cities" movement through their use of Azure's Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities.

Improvements Coming to Azure SQL, SQL Server 2019 Preview

A raft of improvements are coming to Microsoft's database products, including migration support to Azure SQL Database, Apache Kafka Support on Azure Event Hubs, Azure SQL Data Warehouse improvements and yet another preview of the coming SQL Server 2019 product.

Microsoft Enables Group-Based Azure AD Licensing

Organizations can now license Azure Active Directory by group, Microsoft announced Friday.

Microsoft Expert Makes Case Against Typical Multicloud Strategies

A Microsoft expert questioned the use of "third-party" multicloud management tools over cloud-native solutions.

Azure Gets More Availability Zones, DevOps Improvements

Microsoft is bringing a few notable enhancements to its Azure cloud, according to announcements this week.

After Partner Pilots, Azure Digital Twins Hits Public Preview

Azure Digital Twins, a new Microsoft platform for representing buildings and outdoor spaces, is now in the public preview stage.

Azure Confidential Computing Preview Goes Public

Microsoft this week expanded access to its Azure confidential computing solution, which is now in public preview after a year of being at the more limited "Early Access" stage.

Microsoft's Azure Data Box Hits General Availability

After nearly a year in preview, Azure Data Box, Microsoft's heavy-duty cloud data transfer appliance, became generally available on Monday during the company's 2018 Ignite conference.

AWS Launches Competency for Cloud Management Partners

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is expanding its partner competencies to recognize partners focusing on cloud management tools.

Microsoft's Cloud Outage Postmortem: What Went Wrong in Texas

Microsoft this week released its report on what went wrong with its cloud on Sept. 4, when a lightning strike at its U.S. South Central datacenter region caused a widespread service outage.

Microsoft Cloud Services Stumble After Outage Hits Texas Datacenter

Various Office 365 and Azure cloud services went down this week after a Sept. 4 lightning strike temporarily disabled Microsoft's datacenters in the South Central U.S. region.

SharePoint Online, OneDrive To Bolster AI Capabilities This Year

Microsoft on Tuesday described the host of artificial intelligence (AI) features that it plans to add to SharePoint Online and OneDrive by year's end.

Microsoft Brings Google ID Support to Azure Active Directory B2B

For the first time, Microsoft is allowing users with non-Microsoft IDs to use its Azure Active Directory Business to Business (B2B) service.

Microsoft Says It's Developing Next-Gen BizTalk Server

Microsoft recently shared its plans for an upcoming release of BizTalk Server, its enterprise integration solution for "on-premises" installations that's used to connect business applications and services.

Microsoft Gaining More Ground on Amazon in Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been the dominant cloud provider in the global market for years, with Microsoft Azure a very distant runner-up. However, a recent report suggests Microsoft, while still No. 2, is no longer quite so distant.