Microsoft Inspire has come to an end. There have been some exciting announcements and important focuses to take note of. Scroll down to read more.
Today marks the start of the week-long Microsoft Inspire event. For those unfamiliar, Microsoft Inspire is an annual conference for its partner community to share knowledge, best practices and to announce upcoming technologies. This year is especially exciting with so much changing in the tech world with revolutions like AI and Cloud computing gaining momentum.
We are looking forward to hearing what’s coming up from Microsoft 365, an evolution of the Office 365 space, along with important insights into Cloud storage and security using technologies such as Azure, Data Box Disk, Azure Virtual WAN and Azure Firewall.
In addition we're excited to hear more about their perspectives on the AI boom. Day 4 alone will include topics such as Conversational AI, AI early access programs and resources, Machine learning and Bots and AI in Dynamics 365. This amount of attention to AI gives an exciting look into the future of Microsoft programs and the possibilities that will be coming with them.
Outside of the AI and Cloud scope, announcements surrounding Windows 7 end of support, digital transformation and the aforementioned Microsoft 365 gives plenty to look forward to.
- Update Day 1
The first day on Microsoft Inspire revealed a lot of great intentions for the rest of the week.
MS Teams for free!
Microsoft announced one of their Office 365 apps, Teams, will be soon be free to use. Although this will not be the full version, the app is still an excellent resource for any business and might help give you an idea of how the rest of Office 365 works to connect staff.
Want to get your team all over the Office 365 experience? Find out more here.
Linux opportunity on Azure
Mandar Naik, Azure Director with Microsoft, spoke about accelerating your business with the Linux opportunity on Azure. Mandar states that Azure is a critical asset to a business’s success, offering unprecedented opportunities to help data centre transformation efforts. We absolutely agree that Azure can be an amazing resource for any business and it’s great to hear that the service is become more available to business on different platforms.
Windows 7 end of support
This is a big one. Microsoft announcing the end of Windows 7 support means a few things to a lot of business out there. It doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to use windows 7 but it does mean that there will be no more system updates or fixes. Depending on your subscription you may be entitled to extended technical support. Overall this means it might be time for your business to jump to the next level. If you are looking to upgrade windows 8 and 10 continue to be updated and improved every day.
- Update Day 2
Day 2 of Microsoft Inspire wraps up with sessions on cyber security, Artificial Intelligence(AI), Azure and Microsoft 365.
The Adoption of Office 365
A big session for the day was about the adoption of Office 365. Jason Zander, Executive Vice President for Microsoft Azure, stated
“over 90 percent of the Fortune 500 use the Microsoft cloud.”
however, many smaller businesses are not convinced it’s right for them. According to Microsoft own research, most businesses that are hesitant to implement Office 365 don’t even fully understand what it is. The solution to helping people understand the potential of cloud computing? As we have seen yesterday, Teams in Office 365 will be release as a free application, so businesses can trial the basics of cloud computing to get a better understanding of the bigger picture. If you’re considering Office 365 for your business
Microsoft Azure
There were many sessions on Microsoft Azure Sphere yesterday. As IoT (Internet of Things) becomes a bigger reality, the opportunities for interconnected everyday electronics are increasingly exciting. A recent tweet revealed that
“Microsoft is investing $5 billion in Internet of Things over the next four years. “That’s not just for R&D, it’s for new services and programs”
But increased opportunity brings increased risks. The basic and extremely common Microcontrollers (MCUs), that run almost every electronic device, have no security built into them. Hackers have already begun to exploit these flaws. Take for example, a recent attack on a Casino. Hackers got into the digital thermometer in the Casinos fish tank, that was connected to the casinos IT systems and gained access to the high-roller data base…
Azure sphere creates some great solutions to these problems. Microsoft is developing certified MCUs with Azure Sphere OS and a full security service that focuses on Hardware Root of Trust, Dynamic Compartments and Renewable Security. With these security developments Microsoft will certainly be pushing for IoT to become a bigger part of our daily lives.
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