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Tag: Azure

  • Microsoft’s Azure Business Hit With Layoffs

    Microsoft’s Azure Business Hit With Layoffs

    Microsoft’s Azure division appears to be the latest part of the company hit with layoffs, with 150 personnel impacted.

    Microsoft announced in January that it planned to lay off 10,000 employees but did not provide details about which divisions would experience cuts. The company’s plans have only become apparent as layoffs have occurred. Yesterday news broke that LinkedIn was the latest division to experience downsizing, following similar action across the HoloLens, Surface, and Xbox teams.

    According to The Information, Microsoft’s Azure division now joins the list. A source told the outlet that approximately 150 individuals in the company’s digital cloud acquisition team had been let go. The team is responsible for “convincing medium-size companies to adopt cloud services such as Azure server rentals and Microsoft 365 productivity apps.”

    Interestingly, the impact on the Azure team goes beyond just sales personnel. Azure test engineers, systems administrators, and product managers have posted on LinkedIn within the last few days, revealing they had been laid off.

    Gaurang Deshmukh, Software Test Engineer at Microsoft, was one such individual:

    With an extremely heavy heart, I have to announce that I was one of the employee impacted by #Microsoft layoffs. Despite this setback, I’m extremely grateful for my experience at Microsoft as Software Test Engineer in Azure for Operators #A4O org for over 3 years.

    Christopher Teahan, Azure Cloud Administrator, was another:

    I was laid off from #Microsoft this week, it was a great experience working for a start up like Affirmed Networks for 4 years and then transitioning to a larger company as part of the Microsoft acquisition back in 2020. I was at Microsoft for almost 3 years and learned a lot being part of the IT and BIS teams and working on the migrations of our legacy IT systems and tools to the Microsoft’s. Working on #Azure projects and transiting legacy systems to the cloud has been amazing and I am thankful for all I’ve learned at Microsoft. I will miss being part of the Azure for Operators organization and everyone I have worked with over the past 6-7 years, but it’s time for a new challenge and journey!

    During the economic downturn, the cloud segment has been one of the more resilient elements of the tech industry. While tech layoffs have become an almost daily occurrence, it is odd that the Azure team has been this heavily impacted.

  • Microsoft Acquires Fungible to Improve Its Data Centers

    Microsoft Acquires Fungible to Improve Its Data Centers

    Microsoft has announced its acquisition of Fungible, a company that produces data processing units (DPUs) used in data centers.

    Microsoft Azure is the second-largest cloud computing platform behind AWS. Microsoft clearly wants to improve its data center offerings, and sees Fungible as a way to achieve that.

    “Fungible’s technologies help enable high-performance, scalable, disaggregated, scaled-out datacenter infrastructure with reliability and security,” writes Girish Bablani, Corporate Vice President, Azure Core.

    “The Fungible team will join Microsoft’s datacenter infrastructure engineering teams and will focus on delivering multiple DPU solutions, network innovation and hardware systems advancements.”

    Microsoft sees Fungible as a long-term investment that will help it differentiate its offerings.

    “Today’s announcement further signals Microsoft’s commitment to long-term differentiated investments in our datacenter infrastructure, which enhances our broad range of technologies and offerings including offloading, improving latency, increasing datacenter server density, optimizing energy efficiency and reducing costs,” Bablani adds.

    No financial terms of the acquisition were revealed.

  • Microsoft Bans Crypto Mining On Its Cloud Platform

    Microsoft Bans Crypto Mining On Its Cloud Platform

    Microsoft has updated its Universal License Terms for Online Services to prohibit crypto mining on its cloud platform.

    Cloud platforms are popular options for crypto mining, but the practice is not without its challenges and risks. Microsoft has deemed those risks too great to allow mining on its cloud platform.

    The company included the following note in its Summary of Changes:

    Updated Acceptable Use Policy to clarify that mining cryptocurrency is prohibited without prior Microsoft approval.

    The company didn’t elaborate, but provided the following statement to The Register:

    “Crypto currency mining can cause disruption or even impairment to Online Services and its users and can often be linked to cyber fraud and abuse attacks such as unauthorized access to and use of customer resources.

    “We made this change to further protect our customers and mitigate the risk of disrupting or impairing services in the Microsoft Cloud.”

  • Microsoft and London Stock Exchange Group Form Strategic Partnership

    Microsoft and London Stock Exchange Group Form Strategic Partnership

    Microsoft will purchase a 4% equity stake in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), forming a 10-year cloud partnership.

    The financial sector is an increasingly important one for cloud providers, with all of the major cloud providers vying for partnerships in the industry. Microsoft has scored a major one, forming a 10-year strategic partnership with the LSEG, one that will see the Redmond-based company take a 4% equity stake.

    In exchange, the LSEG will migrate its data to Microsoft Azure and will use Microsoft Azure, AI, and Microsoft Teams to build its next-generation solutions. The deal will also see Scott Guthrie, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President, Cloud and AI Group, appointed as a non-executive director of LSEG.

    “This strategic partnership is a significant milestone on LSEG’s journey towards becoming the leading global financial markets infrastructure and data business, and will transform the experience for our customers,” said David Schwimmer, CEO of LSEG.

    “Bringing together our leading data sets, analytics, and global customer base with Microsoft’s comprehensive and trusted cloud services and global reach creates attractive revenue growth opportunities for both companies.

    “We are delighted to welcome Microsoft as a shareholder. We believe our partnership with Microsoft will transform the way our customers discover, analyse, and trade securities around the world, and create substantial value over time. We look forward to delivering on that potential.”

    The two companies will also explore other opportunities to integrate digital market infrastructure with cloud technology.

    “Advances in the cloud and AI will fundamentally transform how financial institutions research, interact, and transact across asset classes, and adapt to changing market conditions,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO.

    “Our partnership will bring together the industry leadership of the London Stock Exchange Group with the trust and breadth of the Microsoft Cloud — spanning Azure, AI, and Teams — to build next-generation services that will empower our customers to generate business insights, automate complex and time-consuming processes, and ultimately, do more with less.”

  • Microsoft and Nvidia Partner to Build Cloud-Based Supercomputer

    Microsoft and Nvidia Partner to Build Cloud-Based Supercomputer

    Microsoft and Nvidia are teaming up to build a cloud-based supercomputer with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI).

    Nvidia chips are staples in AI development, with GPUs offering a number of performance benefits over traditional CPUs. Microsoft and Nvidia are collaborating to combine Nvidia’s GPUs with Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform.

    The companies say the result of the collaboration will be one of the most powerful cloud-based AI supercomputers in the world. In addition, as part of the collaboration, Nvidia will use Azure virtual machine instances to further AI development.

    “AI technology advances as well as industry adoption are accelerating. The breakthrough of foundation models has triggered a tidal wave of research, fostered new startups and enabled new enterprise applications,” said Manuvir Das, vice president of enterprise computing at NVIDIA. “Our collaboration with Microsoft will provide researchers and companies with state-of-the-art AI infrastructure and software to capitalize on the transformative power of AI.”

    “AI is fueling the next wave of automation across enterprises and industrial computing, enabling organizations to do more with less as they navigate economic uncertainties,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of the Cloud + AI Group at Microsoft. “Our collaboration with NVIDIA unlocks the world’s most scalable supercomputer platform, which delivers state-of-the-art AI capabilities for every enterprise on Microsoft Azure.”

  • Microsoft’s Latest Quarter Is a Mixed Bag

    Microsoft’s Latest Quarter Is a Mixed Bag

    Microsoft delivered its quarterly results Wednesday and it was a mixed bag of news.

    Microsoft delivered an impressive $50.1 billion in revenue, an increase of 11% over the year ago quarter. Despite the increased revenue, however, net income was down 14%, coming in $17.6 billion.

    The company’s results are very much in line with the overall state of the economy, and the tech sector in particular. While the pandemic fueled massive growth in the personal computer, tablet, and smartphone market, those markets have slowed as things have returned to normal. That reality is reflected in Microsoft’s earnings, with Windows OEM revenue dropping 15%. In fact, revenue from More Personal Computing decreased slightly overall, coming in at $13.3 billion.

    Cloud computing was one of the company’s bright spots. Server products and cloud services revenue was up 22%, with Azure and cloud services revenue up 35%.

    “In a world facing increasing headwinds, digital technology is the ultimate tailwind,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. “In this environment, we’re focused on helping our customers do more with less, while investing in secular growth areas and managing our cost structure in a disciplined way.”

    “This quarter Microsoft Cloud revenue was $25.7 billion, up 24% (up 31% in constant currency) year-over-year. We continue to see healthy demand across our commercial businesses including another quarter of solid bookings as we deliver compelling value for customers,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

  • Microsoft and Starlink Combine Cloud Computing and Anywhere Connectivity

    Microsoft and Starlink Combine Cloud Computing and Anywhere Connectivity

    Microsoft is expanding its focus on space, working with SpaceX to combine the power of Azure with the latter’s Starlink internet.

    Microsoft unveiled Azure Space nearly two years ago, partnering with SpaceX, among others. The company is expanding that collaboration with the goal of bringing Azure cloud computing to whether customers need it, thanks to Starlink satellite internet.

    “Azure Orbital Cloud Access brings connectivity from the cloud wherever businesses and public sector organizations need it the most,” writes Jason Zander, EVP, Strategic Missions and Technologies. “Across the space ecosystem, we are seeing a proliferation of low-latency satellite communication networks. This massive new expansion of connectivity across fiber, cellular, and satellite networks demands a new approach to connectivity, one which intelligently prioritizes traffic across these options, and bridges resilient connectivity into a seamless cloud experience.

    “Today, we are announcing the preview of Azure Orbital Cloud Access. Serving as a step toward the future of integrated 5G and satellite communications, Azure Orbital Cloud Access is a new service that enables low-latency (1-hop) access to the cloud—from anywhere on the planet—making it easier to bring satellite-based communications into your enterprise cloud operation.”

    Read more: Microsoft Makes the Leap to Space With Azure Space

    The service is currently only available to Azure Government customers. Microsoft is pitching it as an option where there is little to no connectivity or in applications that require a redundant fallback connection.

    Microsoft says its Azure traffic will be prioritized on Starlink’s network, offering the speed and reliability its customers require.

    “Starlink’s high-speed, low-latency global connectivity in conjunction with Azure infrastructure will enable users to access fiber-like cloud computing access anywhere, anytime. We’re excited to offer this solution to both the public and the private sector.”—Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer

  • Microsoft Unveils Ampere Altra Arm-Based Virtual Machines for Azure

    Microsoft Unveils Ampere Altra Arm-Based Virtual Machines for Azure

    Microsoft is throwing its weight behind Arm-based cloud computing, unveiling Ampere Altra Arm virtual machines (VMs) on its Azure platform.

    Microsoft Azure is currently the second-largest cloud provider, behind AWS. While the cloud industry has largely been powered by x86 processors, such as Intel and AMD, Arm-based options are becoming increasingly popular. Microsoft clearly sees the potential benefits for its customers.

    “Microsoft is announcing the general availability of the latest Azure Virtual Machines featuring the Ampere Altra Arm–based processor,” writes Paul Nash, Vice President, Azure Compute Platform. “The new virtual machines will be generally available on September 1, and customers can now launch them in 10 Azure regions and multiple availability zones around the world. In addition, the Arm-based virtual machines can be included in Kubernetes clusters managed using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). This ability has been in preview and will be generally available over the coming weeks in all the regions that offer the new virtual machines.”

    Nash also touted Microsoft’s 20-year history working with the Arm architecture and its partnership with Ampere in particular.

    “Ampere’s Cloud Native Processors are uniquely designed to meet both the high performance and power efficiency needs of the cloud. Through our strong partnership with Microsoft, Ampere Altra processors are now generally available as Azure Virtual Machines, bringing new cloud-focused processor technology to end users so that they can deploy the next generation of innovative cloud applications at scale, and do so in a sustainable manner.”—Jeff Wittich, Chief Product Officer, Ampere

    Several Linux distributions are available on the new VMs, including Canonical Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and Debian, with planned support for Alma Linux and Rocky Linux.

  • Supply Chain Issues May Be Constraining Azure Server Availability

    Supply Chain Issues May Be Constraining Azure Server Availability

    Supply chain issues may be negatively impacting Microsoft’s Azure cloud service, constraining the supply of available server resources.

    Customers are reportedly having issues with the number two cloud provider, including an inability to subscribe to new services. The Information ran a piece claiming Microsoft is running out of server capacity, and The Register says the problem may lie in the broader supply chain issues that have plagued the computer industry since the beginning of the pandemic.

    According to the reports, even if customers in UK South and UK West can sign up for subscriptions, they cannot deploy compute solutions. Capacity in Washington State appears to be impacted as well.

    One likely explanation is the effort Microsoft is exerting to help the Ukrainian government, with the company moving its IT operations to the cloud and helping to combat Russian cyberattacks.

    These various factors, in combination with general supply chain constraints, are pushing Azure’s capacity to the limit.

    Microsoft told The Register it was experiencing “unprecedented” demand, adding that it would use capacity restrictions as needed to cope with the issue.

    “With this surge, coupled with macro trends impacting the whole industry, we’ve taken steps to address customer increases in capacity while also expediting server deployment in our datacenters. Our priority remains ensuring business continuity for customers. In addition to managing and planning for growth, we actively load balance as needed.

    “If it does become necessary to put capacity restrictions in place, we will first restrict trials and internal workloads to prioritize growth of existing customers,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement.

    Interestingly, at least some customers say these constraints are nothing new and have been a long-term problem for the cloud provider. One thing is certain: If Microsoft wants to build on the momentum it currently has, and continue to gain ground on AWS, it will need to address its capacity issues one way or another.

  • Microsoft and Next Pathway Partner to Speed Up Cloud Migration

    Microsoft and Next Pathway Partner to Speed Up Cloud Migration

    Microsoft has partnered Next Pathway to help companies speed up their migration from legacy data warehouses to Microsoft Azure.

    Cloud adoption is progressing faster than ever, but many companies are still stuck on legacy data warehouses, struggling to find the best way to migrate their data. Microsoft and Next Pathway have partnered to use the latter’s software to help companies make the transition.

    Next Pathway has developed a suite of tools that companies can use to analyze their current data and workloads, as well as translate, test, and migrate complex workloads, including SQL, ETL pipelines/workflows, Stored Procedures, and other code types. The company’s technology can also translate legacy ETL pipelines to Azure Data Factory (ADF).

    “We are pleased to partner with Next Pathway and provide our customers with a faster and more efficient migration path to Microsoft Azure,” said Zia Mansoor, Worldwide Vice President Data and AI.

    “At Next Pathway we are continuously innovating to make it easier, and faster for our customers to migrate to the cloud. We are extremely excited to be working with Microsoft”, said Chetan Mathur, Chief Executive Officer at Next Pathway.

  • AWS Exec Takes Microsoft to Task for Cloud Licensing Terms

    AWS Exec Takes Microsoft to Task for Cloud Licensing Terms

    AWS’ SVP of Sales and Marketing is calling out Microsoft for its cloud licensing terms, despite the latter company’s recent changes.

    Microsoft was slapped with an EU antitrust complaint, with smaller rivals claiming the company uses its desktop and office suite dominance to unfairly compete in the cloud market. The complaint alleges that it costs more for companies to use a third-party cloud provider, rather than bundling Windows and Office with Microsoft Azure. Microsoft has since vowed to change its licensing terms, but AWS’ Matt Garman says it’s not enough:

    Customers and policy makers around the world increasingly see MSFT’s recent licensing rhetoric as a troubling admission of the same anti-competitive tactics that many companies have been raising with them for years, but went unheeded until they were put before the European Commission.

    Garman goes to say that Microsoft is not really interested in doing what’s right for its customers and that the company continues to engage in discriminatory practices:

    MSFT’s answer is not to do what’s right for customers and fix their policy so all customers can run MSFT’s software on the cloud provider they choose; but rather, under the pretext of supporting European technology needs, MSFT proposes to select cloud providers about whom it is less competitively concerned and allow MSFT software to run only on those providers. This is not fairness in licensing and is not what customers want. We continue to hear from customers around the world that MSFT’s discriminatory licensing practices are costing them millions of dollars and the freedom to work with whom they wish.

    While it’s not uncommon for tech companies and executives to take shots at one another, Garman’s words are particularly pointed. It’s no secret that Microsoft Azure is a growing threat to AWS’ position in the market. As a result, it’s hard to tell whether Garman’s statements are borne out of genuine concern for customers or a larger concern over Azure’s growth in the market.

  • Microsoft and Oracle Partner to Integrate Azure and Oracle Cloud

    Microsoft and Oracle Partner to Integrate Azure and Oracle Cloud

    Microsoft and Oracle are partnering to integrate their cloud platforms, providing customers with a powerful multicloud option.

    Oracle and Microsoft have announced Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure, a way for Azure customers to easily access Oracle Database services in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). The new service builds on a partnership dating back to 2019.

    “Microsoft and Oracle have a long history of working together to support the needs of our joint customers, and this partnership is an example of how we offer customer choice and flexibility as they digitally transform with cloud technology. Oracle’s decision to select Microsoft as its preferred partner deepens the relationship between our two companies and provides customers with the assurance of working with two industry leaders,” said Corey Sanders, corporate vice president, Microsoft Cloud for Industry and Global Expansion.

    The service will allow customers to connect their Azure subscription to OCI. The service will automatically configure everything necessary to integrate the two platforms, providing a familiar Oracle Database Services dashboard combined with Azure terminology and the benefit of Azure Application Insights monitoring.

    “There’s a well-known myth that you can’t run real applications across two clouds. We can now dispel that myth as we give Oracle and Microsoft customers the ability to easily test and demonstrate the value of combining Oracle databases with Azure applications. There is no need for deep skills on either of our platforms or complex configurations—anyone can use the Azure Portal to harness the power of our two clouds together,” said Clay Magouyrk, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

    The partnership between Microsoft and Oracle should help both companies leverage their respective benefits in their quest to gain more of the cloud market.

  • Microsoft’s Netflix Formula: Promise Big and Don’t Compete

    Microsoft’s Netflix Formula: Promise Big and Don’t Compete

    Microsoft surprised the industry when Netflix chose the Redmond company for its advertising ambitions, but Microsoft had a winning formula.

    Netflix has been working to unveil an ad-supported tier as it looks to revitalize its subscriber growth. The company turned in its first subscriber drop in nearly a decade and sees an ad-supported tier as a way to attract new customers. Google and NBCUniversal parent Comcast were seen as the front-runners to assist Netflix, but Microsoft swooped in seemingly out of nowhere to secure the contract.

    According to Business Insider, there were a combination of factors that led to Microsoft’s win, not the least of which was what the company was willing to promise. Google pulled out all the stops in assembling a team that “went to the top of the company” but couldn’t meet Netflix’s expectations.

    “We got feedback from Netflix that our number was underwhelming,” Insider’s source revealed.

    Read more: AWS, Microsoft, and Google Account for More Than Two-Thirds of the Cloud Market

    Much of the problem stemmed from Google hedging its bets over fears Netflix would eventually abandon it in favor of an in-house solution.

    “This deal only made sense for Google to put the effort and reconfigurations to go to market if Netflix was going to permanently outsource it,” the source continued.

    In contrast, Microsoft approached the deal with a far more optimistic view, meeting Netflix’s targets — reportedly revenue in the “billions” — and viewing the new relationship as a way to eventually poach Netflix as a cloud customer from AWS. In other words, rather than a fearing a potential loss, Microsoft saw an immediate win with the potential for a much larger one down the road.

    “What I see is Netflix is testing the Azure/Microsoft waters with a feature or two first,” a Microsoft employee told Insider.

    Another factor — and one that is becoming a major one for companies choosing a cloud provider — is that Microsoft doesn’t directly compete with Netflix. AWS parent Amazon has Amazon Prime, Comcast owns NBCUniversal and its Peacock streaming service, and Google owns YouTube TV.

    Ultimately, when taken together, Microsoft had the right attitude, approach, and circumstances to pull off the advertising coup of the year.

  • Tom Keane, Microsoft Cloud VP, Leaving After Reports of Verbal Abuse

    Tom Keane, Microsoft Cloud VP, Leaving After Reports of Verbal Abuse

    Tom Keane, Microsoft Cloud VP, is leaving the company after allegations he verbally “cut people down to pieces” on a regular basis.

    Keane was one Microsoft’s “golden boys,” a group of executives that have skirted and flaunted the company’s internal policies because of the results they delivered. Business Insider wrote a scathing report on these executives and the turmoil they created within the company. One such executive, Alex Kipman, announced his resignation in June after Insider reported on his history of sexual harassment, and now Keane is resigning as well.

    In a LinkedIn post outlining his departure, Keane focused on his accomplishments over the 21 years he spent at the company, including his work building out Azure.

    Today I am excited to share that I am leaving Microsoft and taking the next step in my career to build on the world’s computer. I could not be prouder of the last 21 years, and equally excited for my next journey to begin.

    While Keane’s post was upbeat, it’s hard to imagine Insider’s original report didn’t play a part. Sources told the outlet that Keane would “cut people down to pieces,” with one former executive saying, “I’ve seen him reduce people to tears.”

    Still other insiders said Keane was known as “King Tom,” saying, “People have to say the right thing and kiss the ring for King Tom.”

    Many had wondered why CEO Satya Nadella had not done more to address the company’s “golden boy” problem, especially after publicly taking a stand against toxic corporate culture.

    Perhaps these resignations indicate Nadella and Company are finally taking action.

  • Microsoft Wins Permission to Provide Azure Access in Kuwait

    Microsoft Wins Permission to Provide Azure Access in Kuwait

    Microsoft has received permission to provide cloud services in Kuwait, a big win for the company as it continues to expand its cloud business.

    According to Zawya, Microsoft received permission to deliver Azure, Azure Stack Hyperconverged Infrastructure, and Office 365 to businesses and organizations in Kuwait. The company received approval from the Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA).

    “In order to realize our digital ambitions and support the New Kuwait Vision 2035, it is crucial for government entities and private enterprises to adopt robust, secure cloud-based products and services to drive innovation. We have recognized the effort that Microsoft has made towards delivering these solutions, and we are confident that these and other technologies will unlock unprecedented opportunities for a cloud-first Kuwait,” said Eng. Salim Muthib Al-Ozainah, Chairman and CEO of CITRA.

    Microsoft welcomed the news, emphasizing that CITRA’s endorsement added a trust factor to its operations in the country.

    “Digital transformation plays a major role in moving the country of Kuwait forward, but this journey goes beyond just the technology – trust plays a major factor in the equation as well,” Alaeddine Karim, Microsoft Kuwait GM, said. “The permission granted to us by CITRA reinforces Microsoft’s position as a trusted technology provider and demonstrates our commitment to empowering organizations to innovate securely and accelerate digital transformation across the country.”

  • Microsoft Azure Is a Major Threat to AWS

    Microsoft Azure Is a Major Threat to AWS

    Multiple reports are showing that Microsoft Azure is increasingly becoming a major threat to AWS in the cloud space.

    AWS is the current market leader among public cloud providers, with Microsoft Azure in second place and Google Cloud in third. Despite AWS’s lead, according to the Flexera 2022 State of the Cloud Report, Azure usage has surpassed AWS in several instances, representing the first time this has happened in 11 years of Flexera’s reporting:

    As in previous years, AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Platform are the top three public cloud providers. But for the first time, Azure has closed the gap with AWS, while other cloud providers have not shown much growth. For each public cloud provider, respondents specified whether they’re running significant workloads in that cloud, running some workloads, experimenting, plan to use it or had no plans to use it.

    Interestingly, Azure took the lead in overall breadth of adoption among organizations:

    Azure passed AWS for breadth of adoption among enterprises. Google Cloud Platform has the highest percentage for experimentation (23 percent) and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure has the highest percentage of plan to use (twelve percent), which could drive more adoption in future years.

    Azure also scored a win among “enterprises running some or significant workloads on the platforms.” While Azure tied with AWS at 47% of organizations using it for significant workloads, it surpassed AWS among organizations using it for some workloads, at 33% vs 30%.

    Of the top six cloud providers, Azure was the only one that saw its adoption rate increase year-over-year, coming in at 80% in 2022 vs 76% in 2021. In contrast, AWS adoption rates dropped in 2022 to 77%, down from 79% in 2021. Similarly, Google dropped from 49% to 48% and Oracle dropped from 32% to 27%. IBM Cloud’s adoption rate stayed steady at 25%, while Alibaba dropped from 13% to 11%.

    While Flexera’s report is telling enough, it’s supported by a new report from Credit Suisse. According to Investing.com, Credit Suisse analysts outlined how “Azure has grown meaningfully faster than AWS” and, as companies transition to the cloud, “the full multi-year impact of Azure’s growth opportunity is still not properly reflected in consensus estimates.”

    Overall, the two reports are excellent news for Microsoft and dovetail with previous reports demonstrating the growth potential of Azure.

  • Microsoft Brings Azure Virtual Machines to Arm Processors

    Microsoft Brings Azure Virtual Machines to Arm Processors

    Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines are making their way to Arm processors, bringing significant performance improvements over x86.

    Arm processors have become popularized by mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Virtually every major manufacturer uses Arm-based processors in their devices. Apple has taken it one step further, basing the M1 powering its Mac lineup on the architecture. Arm chips are renowned for offering desktop-class performance at a fraction of the power consumption x86 chips are known for.

    As the second-largest cloud provider, Microsoft is now making its Azure Virtual Machines available for Ampere Altra Arm-based processor, providing as much as 50% more price-performance than comparable x86 options.

    The company’s customers are already reaping the benefits.

    “We power better journeys through travel technology. To achieve that, we design and deliver the most complex, trusted, and critical systems that our customers need”, said Denis Lacroix, SVP Cloud Transformation Program at Amadeus. “Travelers demand that their needs are met efficiently and quickly, and that they receive a consistent, personalized experience through every step of their journeys, from inspiration to search and booking, to ticketing, check-in, and arriving home. With Azure Arm64 VMs, we will be able to deliver higher throughput and even better experiences than the x86 VM that we’ve used in the past. Azure Arm64 VM series have proven to be a reliable platform for our applications, and we’ve accelerated our plans to deploy Arm64-based Azure solutions.”

    The new VMs are available in preview, but interested parties can fill out this form to request early access.

  • Microsoft Hit With EU Antitrust Complaint Over Its Cloud Business

    Microsoft Hit With EU Antitrust Complaint Over Its Cloud Business

    Microsoft has been hit with an antitrust complaint regarding its cloud business in the EU, as rivals try to compete against the second-largest cloud provider.

    Microsoft Azure is second only to Amazon’s AWS in the cloud market. One significant advantage Microsoft has over all of its rivals, both large and small, is the ecosystem the company has built up for decades. The business world runs on Microsoft software, including Windows and Office, and that familiarity with the ecosystem gives the company a significant competitive advantage.

    According to Reuters, three of Microsoft’s EU competitors, including OVHcloud, have filed an antitrust complaint.

    “Through abusing its dominant position, Microsoft undermines fair competition and limits consumer choice in the cloud computing services market,” OVHcloud said.

    “We’re continuously evaluating how we can best support partners and make Microsoft software available to customers across all environments, including those of other cloud providers,” a spokesperson for Microsoft told Reuters in response.

    It’s always unusual when it’s the runner-up, and not the market leader, accused of antitrust violations. According to The Wall Street Journal, however, it does appear it’s Microsoft’s bundling of its productivity software that is at the heart of the issue. OVHcloud and its co-complainants allege that it costs Microsoft Office customers more if they choose to use a third-party cloud provider, rather than Microsoft’s offerings.

    The EU is generally tougher on companies than the US, more aggressively protecting consumer rights. If there is merit to the complaint, Microsoft could have a major issue on its hands.

  • Microsoft Taking Platform Agnostic Approach to Cloud Security

    Microsoft Taking Platform Agnostic Approach to Cloud Security

    Microsoft has signaled it wants to provide security for cloud-based companies in general, regardless of whether they use Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud.

    Microsoft is a far different company under Satya Nadella than it was under Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Instead of ruthlessly protecting and pushing its own operating systems and platforms, the company has shifted to the cloud, with a focus on providing the best applications and services on a variety of systems and platforms.

    The company is now extending that philosophy to cloud security, with its latest update to Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Formerly known as Azure Defender, the company changed its name to better reflect its emphasis on securing multicloud environments. Microsoft has also added support for Google Cloud, roughly three months after adding support for AWS. In both cases, the company used open programming APIs to integrate Microsoft Defender with its rivals’ platforms.

    “Today most of our customers have AWS and they have Azure and they have Google Cloud and they have different workloads around and then they have security solutions which are native to each of these,” Vasu Jakkal, CVP Microsoft Security, Compliance, Identity & Privacy told Bloomberg in an interview. “Think about the security practitioners sitting in a Security Operations Center looking at these alerts in this pane of glass — they’re dealing with three if not more.”

    This is not the first time Microsoft has set itself apart from its rivals. In early February, the company released its Open App Store Principles, in which it committed to behavior that is almost diametrically opposite from the manner in which Apple and Google run their app stores.

    For those who remember Microsoft of the ’90s and early 2000s, this open, enlightened Microsoft is a refreshing change, and increasingly serves as an example for the rest of the industry. Hopefully more companies will take note and imitate it.

  • Microsoft Quarterly Report Smashes Expectations on Strong Cloud

    Microsoft Quarterly Report Smashes Expectations on Strong Cloud

    Microsoft has reported its latest quarterly earnings, smashing Wall Street expectations on strong cloud growth.

    Microsoft reported revenue of $51.7 billion, an increase of 20% from the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share came in at $2.48, an increase of 22%. In contrast, analysts were expecting the company to report $50.1 billion, and earnings per share of $2.31. Similarly, net income came in at $18.8 billion, an increase of 21%.

    Microsoft is currently the second-largest cloud provider, behind AWS and ahead of Google Cloud. The company’s cloud results didn’t disappoint, growing by 32% year-over-year to $22.1 billion.

    “Digital technology is the most malleable resource at the world’s disposal to overcome constraints and reimagine everyday work and life,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. “As tech as a percentage of global GDP continues to increase, we are innovating and investing across diverse and growing markets, with a common underlying technology stack and an operating model that reinforces a common strategy, culture, and sense of purpose.”

    “Solid commercial execution, represented by strong bookings growth driven by long-term Azure commitments, increased Microsoft Cloud revenue to $22.1 billion, up 32% year over year” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

  • Microsoft Beats Estimates on Strong Cloud Performance

    Microsoft Beats Estimates on Strong Cloud Performance

    Microsoft has announced its FY22 Q1 results, beating analysts expectations on strong cloud growth.

    Microsoft reported revenue of $45.3 billion, an increase of 22% over last year. Revenue easily topped analysts’ expectations of $44 billion. The company’s profit for the quarter came in at $17.2 billion, up 24%.

    Notably, much of the Microsoft’s results were driven by continued cloud adoption. The company’s revenue for its Intelligent Cloud division, which includes Azure, was $17.0 billion, representing a 31% increase over the previous year.

    “Digital technology is a deflationary force in an inflationary economy. Businesses – small and large – can improve productivity and the affordability of their products and services by building tech intensity,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. “The Microsoft Cloud delivers the end-to-end platforms and tools organizations need to navigate this time of transition and change.”

    “We delivered a strong start to the fiscal year with our Microsoft Cloud generating $20.7 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 36% year over year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

    Overall, Microsoft appears to have delivered on what Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives predicted would be another “Picasso-like masterpiece quarter.”