Azure Cloud Updates
Independent coverage of Microsoft Azure Cloud — the latest service announcements, infrastructure updates, AI capabilities, and best practices.
Optimize object storage costs automatically with smart tier—now generally available
By continuously optimizing data placement, smart tier ensures your storage costs are aligned with actual usage. The post Optimize object storage costs automatically with smart tier—now generally available appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Microsoft named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™ for Sovereign Cloud Platforms
Microsoft is named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™ for Sovereign Cloud Platforms, recognizing Microsoft Sovereign Cloud leadership in evolving sovereignty needs. The post Microsoft named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™ for Sovereign Cloud Platforms appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
How Drasi used GitHub Copilot to find documentation bugs
How Microsoft uses AI agents and Drasi to keep open‑source documentation accurate and working. The post How Drasi used GitHub Copilot to find documentation bugs appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Cloud Cost Optimization: How to maximize ROI from AI, manage costs, and unlock real business value
Get practical strategies and best practices to help you plan, design, and manage AI investments for sustainable value and efficiency. The post Cloud Cost Optimization: How to maximize ROI from AI, manage costs, and unlock real business value appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Azure IaaS: Keep critical applications running with built-in resiliency at scale
Azure IaaS provides foundational capabilities across compute, storage, and networking to help organizations stay resilient. The post Azure IaaS: Keep critical applications running with built-in resiliency at scale appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Building sovereign AI at the edge: Microsoft and Armada collaborate to deliver Azure Local on Galleon modular datacenters
Explore how Microsoft and Armada bring sovereign AI to the edge with Azure Local, enabling secure, resilient workloads in disconnected and regulated environments. The post Building sovereign AI at the edge: Microsoft and Armada collaborate to deliver Azure Local on Galleon modular datacenters appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Navigating digital sovereignty at the frontier of transformation
Digital sovereignty has become a practical leadership discipline grounded in risk management, continuity planning, and long-term accountability. The post Navigating digital sovereignty at the frontier of transformation appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Microsoft named a Leader in 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Integration Platform as a Service
Read why Microsoft was named a Leader for integration services in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Integration Platform as a Service. The post Microsoft named a Leader in 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Integration Platform as a Service appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
AI for nuclear energy: Powering an intelligent, resilient future
To break the infrastructure bottleneck and shift the industry from ambition to delivery, Microsoft is announcing an AI for nuclear collaboration with NVIDIA, to provide end-to-end tools that streamline permitting, accelerate design, and optimize operations across the industry. The post AI for nuclear energy: Powering an intelligent, resilient future appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
What’s new with Microsoft in open-source and Kubernetes at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026
At KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026 in Amsterdam, we're making announcements that reflect the goal of bringing the operational maturity of Kubernetes to today's workloads and demands. The post What’s new with Microsoft in open-source and Kubernetes at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026 appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Advancing agentic AI with Microsoft databases across a unified data estate
Built on a consistent Microsoft SQL foundation from on premises to the cloud, Azure SQL brings AI capabilities directly into your database experience. The post Advancing agentic AI with Microsoft databases across a unified data estate appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
FabCon and SQLCon 2026: Unifying databases and Fabric on a single data platform
We're bring attendees together to share real experiences and solve challenges side-by-side. Only together can we move into meaningful results. The post FabCon and SQLCon 2026: Unifying databases and Fabric on a single data platform appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Microsoft at NVIDIA GTC: New solutions for Microsoft Foundry, Azure AI infrastructure and Physical AI
Microsoft combines accelerated computing with cloud scale engineering to bring advanced AI capabilities to our customers. For years, we’ve worked with NVIDIA to integrate hardware, software and infrastructure to power many of today’s most important AI breakthroughs. The post Microsoft at NVIDIA GTC: New solutions for Microsoft Foundry, Azure AI infrastructure and Physical AI appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
From legacy to leadership: How PostgreSQL on Azure powers enterprise agility and innovation
Our mission is to make PostgreSQL the most performant, scalable, and enterprise-ready open database platform available. With Azure Database for PostgreSQL and the newly introduced Azure HorizonDB, we’re delivering on that vision. The post From legacy to leadership: How PostgreSQL on Azure powers enterprise agility and innovation appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Modernizing regulated industries with cloud and agentic AI
Discover how cloud modernization and agentic AI are accelerating migration across healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing. The post Modernizing regulated industries with cloud and agentic AI appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Many agents, one team: Scaling modernization on Azure
We’re announcing the first agentic end-to-end modernization solution that brings IT and developers into a single, connected workflow. The post Many agents, one team: Scaling modernization on Azure appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Introducing Fireworks AI on Microsoft Foundry: Bringing high performance, low latency open model inference to Azure
We’re announcing the public preview of Fireworks AI on Microsoft Foundry, bringing high‑performance open model inference into Azure. This integration reflects Microsoft Foundry’s broader direction: providing a single place where developers can not only run open models efficiently but also customize and operationalize them as part of a complete enterprise‑ready AI lifecycle. The post Introducing Fireworks AI on Microsoft Foundry: Bringing high performance, low latency open model inference to Azure appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Unpacking your top questions on agentic AI: The Shift podcast
Today we're introducing "The Shift" podcast, an evolution of "Leading the Shift," to share more dialogue. Grounded in questions we heard from you after announcements at Ignite, we’re releasing eight episodes this spring. The post Unpacking your top questions on agentic AI: The Shift podcast appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
The economics of enterprise AI: What the Forrester TEI study reveals about Microsoft Foundry
Customers are on the hunt for smarter models, more capable agents, and market-ready solutions to operationalize AI workflows. The post The economics of enterprise AI: What the Forrester TEI study reveals about Microsoft Foundry appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Introducing GPT-5.4 in Microsoft Foundry
Today, we’re announcing OpenAI’s GPT‑5.4 to be generally available soon in Microsoft Foundry: a model designed to help organizations move from planning work to reliably completing it in production environments. The post Introducing GPT-5.4 in Microsoft Foundry appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Azure IaaS: Explore new resources for building a stronger, more efficient infrastructure
As organizations accelerate digital transformation, infrastructure decisions increasingly shape how quickly teams can adopt AI, how reliably applications operate at global scale, and how effectively businesses respond to constant change. The post Azure IaaS: Explore new resources for building a stronger, more efficient infrastructure appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Unlocking document understanding with Mistral Document AI in Microsoft Foundry
Enterprises today face a familiar yet formidable challenge: mountains of documents -contracts, invoices, reports, forms - remain locked in unstructured formats. Traditional OCR (optical character recognition) captures text, but often struggles with context, layout complexity, or multilingual content. The result? Slow workflows, error-prone manual reviews, and missed insights. The post Unlocking document understanding with Mistral Document AI in Microsoft Foundry appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Instant access incremental snapshots: Restore without waiting
Today, we’re excited to introduce instant access support for incremental snapshots of Premium SSD v2 (Pv2) and Ultra Disk, delivering an industry-leading snapshot experience where creation, disk restore, and production-ready performance all happen instantly. The post Instant access incremental snapshots: Restore without waiting appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Introducing Budget Bytes: Build powerful AI apps for under $25
Budget Bytes is a new series is designed to inspire developers to build affordable, production-quality AI applications on Azure with a budget of $25 or less. The post Introducing Budget Bytes: Build powerful AI apps for under $25 appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 in Microsoft Foundry-Frontier Performance for Scale
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is available today in Microsoft Foundry, and it is designed for teams who want frontier performance across coding, agents, and professional work at scale. The post Claude Sonnet 4.6 in Microsoft Foundry-Frontier Performance for Scale appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Azure reliability, resiliency, and recoverability: Build continuity by design
Modern cloud systems are expected to deliver more than uptime. Customers expect consistent performance, the ability to withstand disruption, and confidence that recovery is predictable and intentional. The post Azure reliability, resiliency, and recoverability: Build continuity by design appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
The data behind the design: How Pantone built agentic AI with an AI-ready database
Learn about an AI-powered experience launched as a minimum viable product to gather real user feedback and iterate rapidly. The post The data behind the design: How Pantone built agentic AI with an AI-ready database appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Agentic cloud operations: A new way to run the cloud
While today’s cloud delivers extraordinary flexibility, the rapid growth of modern applications and AI workloads has introduced levels of scale and complexity that traditional operations were not designed for. The post Agentic cloud operations: A new way to run the cloud appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Can high-temperature superconductors transform the power infrastructure of datacenters?
As the demand for AI and data-intensive computing is on the rise, the need for efficient and reliable power delivery is critical. The post Can high-temperature superconductors transform the power infrastructure of datacenters? appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.