Ignite 2025 highlighted a clear trend across customer and partner discussions: modern workloads—AI inference, data-intensive analytics, and globally distributed applications—require infrastructure that delivers consistent performance, rapid scale-out, and adaptive behavior under real-world pressure. The focus this year was on practical capabilities that remove bottlenecks, simplify operations, and provide the compute foundation needed to support the next wave of innovation.

Azure’s newest advancements reflect that direction. Breakthroughs like Direct Virtualization enable low-latency access to GPUs and NVMe; Large Container sizes push new limits for AI/ML and analytics; VM Applications streamline global deployments; Scheduled Actions bring automation to thousands of VMs; Azure Compute Gallery boosts resiliency with Soft Delete and ZRS; and VMSS Instance Mix improves capacity acquisition through flexible SKU selection.

This retrospective highlights the capabilities that shaped Ignite and how Azure is advancing a high-performance, adaptive compute platform built for the next generation of workloads.

Direct Virtualization – Breaking Barriers for Performance

Direct Virtualization generated a lot of excitement at Ignite, enabling performance-sensitive workloads like AI inference and gaming to launch faster and more affordably. Key highlights:

• Direct access to devices like NvMe disks and GPUs with near Bare metal performance.
• Isolation for child VMs hosting hostile workloads.
• Lower latency and cost efficiency for demanding applications.
• High throughput data access from child VMs for high performance workloads.

Available in limited preview, please sign up here: aka.ms/DirectVirtualizationPreview

Large Containers sizes: Supercharging Compute-Intensive Apps

Large containers were well received at Ignite. Why? Because they unlock massive performance gains for AI/ML training, big data analytics, and high-throughput services. With higher vCPU and memory configurations, customers can:

• Accelerate AI workloads: Train models faster and scale inference seamlessly.
• Simplify orchestration: Fewer containers, less complexity.
• Reduce latency: Minimize inter-container chatter for blazing-fast execution.

Now Generally Available!

Learn more: aka.ms/bigcontainersblog

VM Applications: Global Reach, Zero Hassle

We were happy to announce General Availability for VM applications. Managing apps across thousands of VMs, at Ignite we showcased how VM Applications make this effortless. Customers loved the ability to:

• Deploy up to 25 applications (2GB each) per VM together.
• Deploy consistently across regions with automatic replication.
• Automate updates without manual intervention.
• Scale globally with confidence.

This simplifies operational overhead for enterprises running distributed workloads.

Learn more: https://aka.ms/VMApps/blogs/ignite2025

Scheduled Actions: Automation at Scale

Operational efficiency was a hot topic, and Scheduled Actions, now Generally Available solves this problem. Now you can schedule power operations for up to 5,000 VMs in one go. Scheduled actions enables:

• Cost optimization during off-peak hours.
• Reliability with built-in throttling safeguards.
• Time savings through automation.
• Actions available in GA: Start, Stop, Hibernate, with support for more actions coming soon!

Azure Compute Gallery – Enhance resiliency

Azure Compute Gallery (ACG) continues to evolve, introducing robust features that safeguard your virtual machine (VM) images and application artifacts. Two key resiliency innovations: the new Soft Delete feature (announced in preview) and Zonal Redundant Storage (ZRS) as the default storage type for image versions.

The combination of Soft Delete and ZRS by default provides Azure customers with enhanced operational reliability and data protection. Whether overseeing a suite of VM images for development and testing purposes or coordinating production deployments across multiple teams, these features offer the following benefits:

• Mitigate operational risks associated with accidental deletions or regional outages.
• Minimize downtime and reduce manual recovery processes.
• Promote compliance and security through advanced access controls and transparent recovery procedures.

Read more: https://aka.ms/acgresiliencyblog

Acquiring capacity at Scale

We know that capacity acquisition can get complicated and can prohibit scale. With SKU fungibility in a single deployment where you can define up to 5 SKUs using VMSS Instance Mix with allocation policies simplifies capacity fungibility at scale. Customers can:

• Mix up to five VM sizes in a single scale set.
• Use allocation strategies like CapacityOptimized, LowestPrice, or Prioritized.
• Secure capacity during peak demand while optimizing costs.

This approach ensures agility and resilience for unpredictable workloads.

Best Practices

We also shared best practices for Scale and performance. The session emphasized:

• Using latest SKUs for best performance and price/performance.
• Using Instance mix for acquiring capacity at scale using different SKUs.
• Use VM Apps for delivering apps reliably and at scale.
• For Virtual Desktop use cases, use Schedule actions for managing power states at scale.
• Building resiliency and security from the get-go.

Session on-demand link: ignite.microsoft.com/en-US/sessions/BRK173?source=/speakers/80665103-5e69-4b8c-ad15-1d1f84c8dd6a

Conclusion: Customer Excitement on AI + Azure Infra

Ignite made it clear that scaling for performance is no longer about simply adding more compute; it’s about intelligent architecture, automation at scale, and flexible capacity models that adapt to real-world demands. Capabilities such as Direct Virtualization, Large Container sizes, VM Applications, Scheduled Actions, and SKU fungibility are not incremental enhancements; they represent foundational building blocks for AI-ready, resilient, and cost-efficient infrastructure.

Customers are approaching Azure with bold AI ambitions, and the momentum is unmistakable. Whether training large models or deploying inference globally, the innovations showcased at Ignite demonstrate that Azure Compute is engineered to support these next-generation workloads with precision, scale, and operational excellence.

As the industry accelerates toward more intelligent and distributed systems, Azure’s compute platform is evolving in lockstep—delivering the performance, automation, and adaptability required to turn ambitious ideas into production-ready breakthroughs.

Here’s to scaling smarter, operating more efficiently, and powering the next decade of cloud innovation—together.