Share this post:Microsoft Ignite 2121 was just as hot as the previous installments. There were new services introduced, and many upgrades to existing services were also shown. The event took place from 2nd through 4th March 2021. It was too overwhelming to digest all of the information. You might have been there, while others may not have. It is easy to forget the main takeaways from a virtual conference with all that is happening.
We decided to take a look at the event and bring you all the important announcements and news. Let’s get to it without further delay.
Here are the highlights from the Microsoft Ignite 2021 event:
Azure Networking, Azure Active Directory and Azure Spring Cloud saw major updates and changes. Improvements and updates were made to Azure Synapse Pathway and Semantic Search Capability in Azure Spring Cloud.
In Power Platform: AI capabilities to chatbots, Robotic Process Automation for Windows 10 Users (RPS), and a low-code programming language Power FX were announced.
Microsoft Team has new features and updates. These include Teams Connect, which allows you to add people to your meetings without creating an account, Endpoint transfer, which allows you to seamlessly switch between devices while on an ongoing call, as well as Presenter Mode, which offers three styles. Teams also offers webinar capabilities.
Microsoft 365 updates and new features have been announced for Microsoft Mesh, Azure Security Center, and Microsoft Mesh.
Azure
Microsoft Ignite 2021 introduced several new Azure Cloud services. Let’s take a quick look at them.
Azure Sentinel, Microsoft’s Security Information Event Management service (SIEM), has 30 new connectors. These connectors are available for Cisco Umbrella and Microsoft Dynamics, VMware, Salesforce Service Cloud, and VMware.
Azure Machine Learning now supports role-based access control.
A new service has been introduced for migration. Organizations can now migrate their applications to Azure regions whenever an Azure Resource Mover is available. The Azure Platform will allow for billing.
A new communication service was introduced. Azure Communication Service platform allows you to integrate voice, text, video, and data communication.
Some updates to the Azure Active Directory were also made public. Let’s take a closer look at them.
The Azure Active Directory now supports password-less authentication. This will allow employees of an organisation to sign in using the Microsoft Authenticator App or Windows Hello for business security keys.
The Azure Active Directory Application Proxy now supports header-based authentication apps. This will allow header-based apps to link natively to Azure Directory.
Azure AD External Identities allow Azure Active Directory to access customers and partners. All tiers will be eligible for free access to the first 50,000 monthly active users who have External Identities.
Azure Networking
Customers can upgrade from the Basic SKU to Standard SKU of the Azure public IP without having to change their public IP address via the Azure Public SKU Upgrade.
Customers will now be able to control how traffic is routed between Azure, the internet and Azure using the Azure Networking Routing preferences. Customers will be able to optimize for cost or performance. These options are called “cold potato routing” or “hot potato routing”.
Azure Spring Cloud
The Spring Boot-based Java application developers have a service that solves a variety of infrastructure and maintenance issues. This service is called Azure Spring Cloud Service.
A new GA feature is available for customers who require extra security. Managed Virtual Network deploys Azure spring cloud with an additional layer of security. Autoscale for Azure SpringCloud is another GA feature.
Azure Spring Cloud service is now available in 7 additional Azure regions, bringing the total number of regions with Spring Cloud availabilities to 18.
Azure Cloud Semantic Search Capability
Microsoft has taken Semantic Search Capability to the next level by introducing this semantic search capability in Azure. This will allow developers to search results based upon user intent, instead of keywords etc. This is a significant step forward.
This service uses machine learning to understand the intent and return the most relevant search results.
Azure Synapse Pathway
Azure Synapse Pathway makes it easy to migrate from legacy or cloud data warehouses. Azure Synapse Pathway provides an automated translation of existing business logic and speeds up migration.
