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May 2025 news roundup
Good morning, partners, Don't miss these 4 directional blogs while planning your partner strategy for the upcoming period: All partner types will benefit from the Go-To-Market resources. These benefits go beyond Internal Use Rights and remain underutilized across Africa. The ISV success program holds benefit for AI partners who drive innovation as future-focussed Software Development Companies. Also, review the Geo-Expansion benefit to reach new markets. System Integrators can learn more about the Cloud Accelerate Factory to access zero-cost services from Microsoft. Align with the best practices from Azure Migrate and discover how the Microsoft programs support partners in Azure projects. Join the community for frequent updates. Resellers (CSP Partners) can review updates to CSP offers and authorisations. Use the Azure Marketplace as a transactional engine for your innovation is a scalable way to reach existing and new markets via public or private offers, including one-time deals that may be repeated in future. This is a four-part series. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Move beyond "Contact Me" listings to transactable marketplace services. PS - the Microsoft Build announcements are available at https://news.microsoft.com/build-2025-book-of-news/ Warm regards, James
2024 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards!
Nominations are now open for the 2024 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award! These awards honour Microsoft partners from over 100 countries/regions who have shown excellence in #innovation and delivering customer solutions using the Microsoft platform. We are proud of our 400,000 plus #MSPartner community and want to celebrate your achievements. Please submit your nomination by April 3rd, 6:00 pm, PT. You may submit multiple nominations across different categories, including the Country Partner of the Year Awards. https://partner.microsoft.com/en-us/inspire/awards .How to activate your Signature Cloud support
Good morning, partners, As we moved from the Gold and Silver MPN program to the new Solution Partner Designation program, you may not have activated your Signature Cloud support option and are not leveraging this benefit. Microsoft technical support is offered to all customers and partners, but customers receive dedicated support once they leverage their Unified Support options. Similarly, partners with Solution Partner Designation or Advanced Support for Partner have access to Signature Cloud support - but need to activate this service and ensure you log tickets using this enhanced service using the "Service Hub". Kindly review Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Benefits - Technical Support for on-premises or Cloud products - Partner Center | Microsoft Learn for detail to activate the service, and the process on logging tickets with the correct entitlement on the "Service Hub" portal. MPN Administrators - kindly ensure that your support teams have access to your "Access ID" and "Contract ID". Kind regards, James Avenant
Era of AI Marketing Resources
Customers' cloud adoption needs are rapidly evolving. AI is here now, and our partners are already driving innovation and transformation with customers across industries to help them realize the benefits of integrating AI capabilities into every level of their organizations. We're excited to announce new Era of AI marketing resources to help you drive customer demand for AI transformation. Choose from a ready-to-share demand-gen marketing campaign or a highly customizable campaign in a box, including co-branded assets and a joint-value proposition with Microsoft. Run a ready-to-share demand-generation campaign in https://dmc.partner.microsoft.com/product-areas/3/campaigns/222?wt.mc_id=hbd6hi3e6y. Launch a customizable campaign in a box in https://partner.microsoft.com/asset/collection/era-of-ai#/?wt.mc_id=vkq7ygoat3.AI Transformation Partner Playbook
The AI Transformation Partner Playbook is designed to empower you to build and grow your AI transformation practice. The “Overview” section introduces the Microsoft AI strategic pillars. “Innovate Together” guides you through AI skilling through blueprints to monetize your IP and monetize your services. Use the “Market Together” section to learn more about demand generation materials, Marketplace, and Azure OpenAI Service case studies to drive your customers’ imaginations. Finally, leverage the “Sell Together” section to move the needle on customer opportunities with the latest sales assets, information on Azure Innovate, and sales guidance to help you capitalize on the excitement around generative AI. No matter where you are in your AI transformation journey, the AI Transformation Partner Playbook will empower you to accelerate innovation and grow your AI practice. aka.ms/aipartnerplaybookNew Partner Center documentation - Insights
Good morning, partners, An updated report description for Partner Center Insights is now available at Partner insights reports and data definitions - Partner Center | Microsoft Learn. The Insights module provides access to performance data to manage your Microsoft partner business. Customer lifecycle data underpins your MCPP and incentives - review the "PartnerAssociationType" field from these reports. Courses and Certifications can be monitored via the MS Learn and related reports. Note the data refresh cycles Insights data refresh frequency - Partner Center | Microsoft Learn and review the full "Insights" chapter for more detail. Partners with multiple PGA accounts should review their separate entities, or consider merging into a single PGA. Two levels of partner accounts - Partner Center | Microsoft Learn Warm regards, James AvenantPartner Enablement Newsletter: Latest Enablement Activities, June 8, 2023
The upcoming training opportunities available including Cloud Weeks, Depth Workshops, Sales Enablement, and other related content. See below for more details and to invite your learners to register! Copilot, OpenAI Microsoft 365 Copilot Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot: The AI-Powered Future of Work Learn more about Microsoft 365 Copilot and how it works and find out how you can help your customers prepare to put the power of AI to work for their businesses. June 22, 2023 8AM-9AM PDT https://learning.eventbuilder.com/event/74700 Format: Live Labs: No Azure OpenAI We have new content and assets available for our Microsoft partners on Azure AI and Azure OpenAI. These resources will help partners deliver better AI solutions and services to their clients. You can access them on the partner portal or through the links below. For all partners Microsoft Cloud Executive Enablement Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNoxGPPYnCg&list=PLcgFidNgo6oMZhzhBAf98hzNI8_h5NoAQ&index=5 Skilling and enablement on Azure OpenAI Service for partners https://partner.microsoft.com/en-us/explore/solution-areas#tab-2 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/explore-azure-openai/ https://aka.ms/AAjhqg3 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/openai/ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/openai/whats-new https://github.com/Azure/azure-openai-workshop/ https://microsoft.github.io/PartnerResources/azure/data-analytics-ai/openai https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t3qZu1Dy1k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN_SP_RAl1c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ0v3apQ2dM&list=PL8_VXqhvJI9CNF6Q409mSjh0InP6_GfBg https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/group/ai-for-good-research-lab/ Cloud Executive Enablement Series Announcing the Microsoft Cloud Executive Enablement Series This new high impact series features Senior Microsoft leaders discussing current cloud trends and technology solutions. The series provides a unique perspective on the business value of the Microsoft Cloud and ways to engage with your customers. Current episodes: Introducing the new Microsoft Cloud Executive Sales Enablement Series Gain clarity on co-selling with Microsoft and leveraging the Executive Briefing Center Understanding the full power and capabilities of Microsoft Cloud solutions Maximizing ROI with Azure Infrastructure: Key strategies for IT Executives Accelerating business transformation through the power of AI Unlocking the power of data with Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform Connecting the dots: Mainframe opportunities in the cloud world Secure mission-critical workloads in the cloud with Microsoft Vodcast: https://www.youtube.com/@msPartner | https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcgFidNgo6oMZhzhBAf98hzNI8_h5NoAQ Podcast: https://mscloudenablement.com/ Cloud Weeks On-demand The Cloud Week format features 8 hours of selected content from the full MOC course, plus 2 hours of exam prep – ideal for individuals who need to balance project work with exam prep. Cloud Fundamentals for Partners https://vshow.on24.com/clients/vshow/microsoft/index.html?showCode=Cloud_Fundamentals&partnerref=CF_ALL_ORG_PEM_PN | https://vshow.on24.com/vshow/Cloud_Fundamentals23/registration/20771?partnerref=CF_ALL_ORG_NL_PEFN* Azure Cloud Week https://aka.ms/AAi8o8n Modern Work Cloud Week https://aka.ms/AAi6xjr Business Applications Cloud Week https://aka.ms/AAinik8 Security Cloud Week https://aka.ms/AAi1pw0 * See here for an explanation Depth Workshops Depth: Azure Azure Kubernetes Service Workshop Technical insights on how to use AKS to containerize and deploy applications and benefit from this Azure managed service. June 13-15, 2023 8AM-12PM PDT https://vshow.on24.com/vshow/Azure_Depth/registration/23002 Format: Live Labs: BYO Azure Subscription Azure Load Testing Technical Webinar Azure Load Testing is a fully managed load-testing service that helps developers and testers generate high-scale load with ease and gain actionable insights into performance and scalability, and support continuous improvement through automated CI/CD workflows. June 13, 2023 10AM-12PM, 8:30PM-10:30PM IST https://vshow.on24.com/vshow/Azure_Depth/registration/23111 Format: Live Labs: BYO Azure Subscription On-demand Azure Depth Workshops Instructor-led intermediate to advanced technical training with technical experts. Uncover new insights, learn about architecture and implementation considerations, and find innovative ways to support business challenges. Available Trainings App Innovation Azure VMware Solution Modernize Java App and Date with Azure Well Architected Framework Infrastructure | Migration to Azure Infrastructure | Azure Virtual Desktop App Innovation | Modernize .Net Apps Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Azure Networking and Network Security Infrastructure | Migration to Azure Infrastructure | Azure Virtual Desktop App Innovation | Modernize .Net Apps Data & AI | Azure Synapse Analytics https://aka.ms/partner/AzureOD (trainings visible once registered) Depth: Modern Work Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot: The AI-Powered Future of Work Learn more about Microsoft 365 Copilot and how it works and find out how you can help your customers prepare to put the power of AI to work for their businesses. June 22, 2023 8AM-9AM PDT https://learning.eventbuilder.com/event/74700 Format: Live Labs: No Teams Premium | Enablement and adoption for IT Pros Webinar Join us for an IT PRO-centric Teams Premium webinar where we will deep dive into feature set-up and enablement, and illustrate real-world implementation demos and share proven best practices to drive adoption change management. June 14, 2023 8AM-9AM PDT June 21, 2023 5PM-6PM PDT https://aka.ms/TeamsPremiumITPROS Format: Live Labs: No Microsoft Teams Rooms Partner Technical Bootcamp Managing and monitoring meetings, and certified Teams Rooms devices by using the Microsoft Teams Admin Center, PowerShell, the Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro Management portal. On-demand https://readiness.transform.microsoft.com/learning-path/57a3b070-7302-4432-86da-74ba25bff58b Partner Virtual Technical Bootcamp for NextGen Windows Experiences The latest investments across Windows 11, Windows 365, Microsoft Intune, and Microsoft Intune Suite. On-demand Coming soon Microsoft Viva Partner Technical Bootcamp Latest product development and technical knowledge to enable partners to help their customers create a workplace that is centered on the digital employee experience with Microsoft Viva. On-demand https://readiness.transform.microsoft.com/learning-path/d68db727-1264-4a94-866d-f26ca0a46895 Microsoft 365 SMB Masters Virtual Bootcamp Capabilities in selling, managing, and deploying Microsoft 365 solutions for SMBs. On-demand https://readiness.transform.microsoft.com/learning-path/fe543d78-0c3f-402f-8e0d-bb50ff3a322a https://readiness.transform.microsoft.com/learning-path/22f61240-2577-434c-a3ee-5a8c469c1fc6 Depth: Business Applications Customer Success Series Learn from customer success experts about the approach, methodology, insights, and best practices to support customers’ challenges. Build Consumption Capability On-demand Business Value Management Overview On-demand https://aka.ms/AAjv9l1 Format: Live Labs: No Business Value Management Workshop Execution On-demand Value: Potential, Path and Confirmation June 20, 2023 4PM-5PM CEST On-demand Business Applications Workshops View on-demand content to deepen your skills through instructor-led training with technical experts. Uncover new insights, learn about architecture and implementation considerations, and find innovative ways to support your customer business challenges. Available Trainings (Depth and MCLP) Power Platform Low Code Tools D365 Marketing and Customer Insights Extend D365 Finance and Ops Apps D365 Customer Engagement (CRM) Apps Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management D365 Customer Engagement (CRM) Apps Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Dynamics 365 Finance Power Platform Architecture and Governance https://aka.ms/AAk1zzl (trainings visible once registered) A deeper dive into Microsoft Supply Chain Platform Hear from product leaders about the recent announcements and how a supply chain practice can be built with Microsoft. https://mktoevents.com/Microsoft+Event/383111/157-GQE-382 Viva Sales: scenarios, features and partner opportunity Core scenarios, key features, and the opportunity for partners. https://info.microsoft.com/US-NoGEP-VDEO-FY23-01Jan-10-Viva-Sales-scenarios-features-and-partner-opportunity-SRGCM8872_LP01-Registration---Form-in-Body.html Depth: Security Security Through the Lens of Zero Trust Security features and capabilities available within Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 that can help protect identity, network and infrastructure workloads hosted in hybrid and cloud environment. June 12-13, 2023 11AM-1:30PM EDT June 26-27, 2023 2PM-4:30PM IST https://vshow.on24.com/vshow/Security_Depth/registration/22777 Format: Live Labs: No On-demand Security, Compliance, and Identity Management Workshops Intermediate to advanced technical sessions designed to drive deep skills applications by experienced technical professionals across priority solution plays. Days of the Defender Capture the Flag Compliance and Privacy with Microsoft Purview and Priva Designing a Cloud Security Strategy with Microsoft Defend against threats with Microsoft Sentinel Identify & Access Management with Microsoft Entra Firewall Protection Other Available Trainings Azure Security Management Deep Dive Azure Network Security Deep Dive Implementing Cloud Security with Microsoft 365 Defender Solutions Secure All Things with Microsoft Security Solutions Security Through the Lens of Zero Trust How to Renew Your Microsoft Certifications https://aka.ms/AAjkj3e (trainings visible once registered) Industry Cloud Sustainability Sustainability concepts and how the business thinks about tracking and reporting emissions. On-demand https://vshow.on24.com/vshow/Industry_CW23/registration/22817 Healthcare Advanced knowledge of four priority healthcare scenarios for implementing solutions and their capabilities. On-demand https://vshow.on24.com/vshow/Industry_CW23/registration/22833 Sales Enablement SMB Network Security Partner Training Hear about how to enhance customer network security on Azure and drive business growth. June 14, 2023 8AM-9:30AM, 6PM-7:30PM PDT https://info.microsoft.com/US-NoGEP-CATALOG-FY23-05May-11-SMB-Network-Security-SREVM14951_Catalog-Display-Page.html Format: Live Labs: No On-demand Sales Bootcamp’s by Solution Area Azure https://vshow.on24.com/clients/vshow/microsoft/index.html?showCode=Sales_Bootcamp®PageId=21827&partnerref=SEBTCP_AZ_ORG_NL_MINDG Modern Work https://vshow.on24.com/clients/vshow/microsoft/index.html?showCode=Sales_Bootcamp®PageId=21822&partnerref=SEBTCP_MW_ORG_NL_MINDG Business Applications https://vshow.on24.com/clients/vshow/microsoft/index.html?showCode=Sales_Bootcamp®PageId=21984&partnerref=SEBTCP_BA_ORG_NL_MINDG Security https://vshow.on24.com/clients/vshow/microsoft/index.html?showCode=Sales_Bootcamp®PageId=21738&partnerref=SEBTCP_SCI_ORG_PEM_PN Microsoft Sales Acceleration Bootcamp Showcase key strategies and best practices our Microsoft field experts pull in at the last mile of their opportunities. On-demand https://aka.ms/AAjrsiy Do More with Less Sales Bootcamp A focus on real-life customer examples, resource demos, and a lot more. On-demand https://aka.ms/AAj1eut End to End Security Solutions for SMB Customers An overview of partner opportunities to build and expand a Microsoft security practice for SMB customers. On-demand https://aka.ms/AAkb441 Modular Training Modular Training The content is derived from Microsoft Official Curriculum in a modular format for each certification course. Participants have the opportunity to refresh their knowledge on Refresh knowledge on a specific module within a particular course of interest Gain knowledge and prepare towards a certification exam Access certification renewal training towards Access sales content in modules (Coming soon) https://vshow.on24.com/vshow/GSI_MMOC/registration/20801 and start preparing for certification with this on-demand, modular content across Microsoft Solution Areas. Access our Social playbook to target Partners only: find the Social Playbook https://microsoft.sharepoint.com/teams/PartnerEnablementandInnovation/SitePages/Modular-Training.aspx, under “Promotional assets”. On-demand https://vshow.on24.com/vshow/GSI_MMOC/registration/20801 Partner Academy Microsoft offers a wealth of partner programs, tools, resources, and campaign tools that help partners uncover new sales opportunities, reach new customers, and expand their business. Partner Academy is here to connect the dots between those programs, help navigate through multiple resources and allow partners to have richer conversations with their customers! The Academy will focus on simplifying the complexity of key programs, streamline go-to-market opportunities and accelerate sales engagement and support from Microsoft. Register for live and on-demand calls via the https://aka.ms/MicrosoftPartnerAcademy and links below. Partner Enablement Guides Technical and sales guides to help learners find learning resources: learning paths, upcoming events, and exam preparation. https://partner.microsoft.com/en-US/training/assets/collection/partner-enablement-guides#/ Other useful information https://partner.microsoft.com/en-US/training#/?page=2 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/certifications/renew-your-microsoft-certification https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/certifications/retired-certifications https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/certifications/retired-certification-examsMicrosoft Build 2023 Hero Announcements
I thought you might be interested to learn about the key announcements shared at Microsoft Build, our global digital event that brings together developers and decision makers to explore the latest innovations from Microsoft and its partners. Join us today to learn from the community of experts who build and support the latest tools and technologies, network and connect with others in the industry, and explore deep technical opportunities to gain the skills necessary to drive the full value from Microsoft technology. This year’s key Build announcements include the latest Microsoft developer innovations, with a focus on building in the new era of AI. Over the past few months Microsoft has announced a range of first-party Copilot applications for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and more. Today, we're sharing the app development pattern we used to create these solutions—and showing how any developer can use this Copilot stack to develop their own copilots. What’s more, we're excited to announce a joint commitment with OpenAI to support and grow the AI plugins ecosystem, embracing an open standard that will enable plugins interoperability across ChatGPT and the breadth of Microsoft’s Copilot offerings. Developers can build plugins that work across both consumer and business surfaces, including ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Dynamics 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and other Microsoft first-party Copilot apps. This means developers can build experiences that enable people to interact with their apps using the most natural user interface: human language. Keep reading to learn about these exciting announcements and more, and to discover more ways to connect, learn, and share. Build next-gen, AI powered applications We believe AI is the next massive shift in computing. That’s why at Microsoft we’re investing heavily in AI and the tools to deploy AI, so developers and organizations can do more. With the latest innovation announced at Build, developers can create unique experiences using comprehensive developer tools and new AI and machine learning capabilities. To learn more, read the blog post by Jessica Hawk, CVP of Data, AI, and Digital Applications Marketing. Our latest Azure AI and Machine Learning innovations include the following: • Today, we’re proud to announce Azure AI Studio and new capabilities to harness generative AI, including the capability to easily ground OpenAI models on your data, coming to preview. With just a few clicks, developers can now ground OpenAI models, such as ChatGPT and GPT-4, on their data to quickly and easily to build organization specific conversational AI experiences. • Azure AI prompt flow coming to preview, will provide a streamlined experience for prompting, evaluating, tuning, and operationalizing large language models. Developers and data scientists can quickly create prompt workflows that connect to hundreds of popular open source and proprietary models and data sources for building intelligent applications and assessing the quality of their workflows to choose the best prompt for their use case. • Azure OpenAI Plugins, coming to private preview, will streamline the process of building and consuming APIs that extend the capabilities of GPT-4. The following plugins will be available during private preview: Azure Cognitive Search, Azure SQL, Azure Cosmos DB, Microsoft Translator, and Bing Search. • To make working with open-source models easier, we’re also introducing foundation models in Azure Machine Learning, which starts with the model catalog to select from collections of foundation models including both Azure OpenAI Service models, and open-source models curated by Azure Machine Learning and Hugging Face, and provides the ability to fine-tune and deploy those foundation models using Azure Machine Learning components and pipelines. • New Vector search capability in Azure Cognitive Search, in private preview, allows users to now store, index, and search within their datasets based on vector representations of their data, also known as embeddings, to find information that is semantically similar to their search query. Vector search can be used in combination with retrieval plugins for ChatGPT through Azure OpenAI service. • We are now enabling a Provisioned Throughput Model for Azure OpenAI Service, to offer dedicated capacity. • New Azure AI Content Safety service will make it easier for developers to test and evaluate AI deployments for safety by detecting and assigning severity scores to unsafe content across languages in both images and text. We’re integrating Azure AI Content Safety across products, including Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Studio, and Azure Machine Learning, to help practitioners assess models prior to deployment and as a content moderation tool. Today we also announced exciting updates to our comprehensive developer tools and app platform portfolio, including: • Microsoft Dev Box, generally available in July, is an Azure service that gives developers access to ready-to-code, project-specific dev boxes that are secure and centrally managed. Microsoft Dev Box helps support hybrid dev teams of any size, helping developers focus on writing code by streamlining access to all the resources and tools they need for the project at hand. • GitHub Advanced Security for Azure DevOps in preview soon, is a solution that provides the three core features of GitHub Advanced Security into the Azure DevOps platform, so customers can integrate automated security checks into their workflow. It includes code scanning powered by CodeQL to detect vulnerabilities, secret scanning to prevent the inclusion of sensitive information in code repositories, and dependency scanning to identify vulnerabilities in open-source dependencies and provide update alerts. • Azure Deployment Environments (ADE), now generally available, enables developer teams to quickly spin up app infrastructure with project-based templates, minimizing setup time while maximizing security, compliance, and cost efficiency. ADE provides self-service templates that deploy directly from dev tools, code repos, or custom developer portals, and maximize security with centralized permissions and policy governance, access controls, and full management of cloud resource configurations. • Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): To give enterprises more control over their environment, we are announcing long-term Support for Kubernetes that will enable customers to stay on the same release for two years—twice as long as what’s possible today. We are also announcing confidential containers in AKS, coming soon in preview, as a first party offer that allows teams to run standard unmodified containers, aligned with Kata Confidential Containers opensource project. Bring your data into the era of AI with Microsoft Fabric We're excited to unveil Microsoft Fabric, an end-to-end analytics solution that empowers organizations to manage their data in one place with a suite of analytics experiences that work together seamlessly, helping teams create intelligence faster than ever. Join the Fabric launch virtual event and read the blog post by Arun Ulagaratchagan, CVP of Azure Data, to learn more. • Microsoft Fabric is an end-to-end unified analytics solution that brings together data and analytics tools in one place to help data engineers, data scientists, and data analysts uncover and serve intelligence to business users. o Fabric integrates proven technologies like Data Factory, Power BI, and the next generation of Synapse into a single solution, empowering everyone to unlock the potential of their data. The end-to-end analytics stack is automatically integrated and optimized, and users can sign up within seconds and get real business value within minutes. o Fabric offers a suite of role-specific experiences including data integration, data engineering, data warehousing, data science, real-time analytics, applied observability, and business intelligence. o Data brought into Microsoft Fabric is hosted on OneLake, an enterprise-grade data lake that eliminates data movement and duplication. All Fabric workloads are automatically wired into OneLake, just like all Microsoft 365 applications are wired into OneDrive. Data is organized in an intuitive data hub and automatically indexed for discovery, sharing, governance, and compliance. o Fabric is infused with the Azure OpenAI Service at every layer to help customers unlock the full potential of their data, enabling users to leverage the power of generative AI with their data and helping business teams unlock intelligence to drive critical decisions, innovation, and competitive advantage. o Purchasing and managing resources is massively simplified with Fabric. Customers purchase a single pool of compute that powers all Fabric workloads. With this all-inclusive approach, customers can create solutions across all workloads freely without any friction in their experience. Universal compute significantly reduces costs, as any unused capacity in one workload can be used by any other workload. o With Fabric, customers can turn their Microsoft 365 apps into hubs for uncovering and applying insights. For example, users in Microsoft Excel can directly discover and analyze data in OneLake and generate a Power BI report with a click of a button. In Microsoft Teams, users can infuse data into their everyday work with embedded channels, chat, and meeting experiences. Business users can bring data into their presentations by embedding live Power BI reports directly in Microsoft PowerPoint. • Free Trial: try out everything Fabric has to offer by signing up for the free trial: o Everyone who signs up gets a fixed Fabric trial capacity, which may be used for any feature or capability. o Existing Power BI Premium customers can turn on Microsoft Fabric through the Power BI admin portal. o After July 1, 2023, Microsoft Fabric will be enabled by default for all Power BI tenants. Modernize and protect your infrastructure with Microsoft Azure The Azure Infrastructure team announced two new capabilities, including confidential VMs with Intel TDX, which helps you move more workloads to Azure, and Azure Container Storage, which manages persistent storage volumes for stateful container applications in a cost-effective way. To learn more, read blog posts here and here. • Confidential VMs with Intel TDX: We’re excited to announce the expansion of our Confidential VM portfolio with the launch of the DCesv5-series and ECesv5-series in preview. Featuring 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors, these VMs are backed by an all-new hardware-based Trusted Execution Environment called Intel® Trust Domain Extensions (TDX). Organizations can use these VMs to seamlessly bring confidential workloads to the cloud without any code changes to their applications. • Azure Container Storage: Last week we announced the public preview of Azure Container Storage, Microsoft’s unique container-native storage solution. Today we’re excited to introduce several new features in preview to enhance the performance, reliability, and backup experience for Azure customers. These features include volume snapshot, which allows users to capture the point-in-time state of persistent volumes, enabling you to back up data before applying changes. Additionally, the scalability target of Persistent Volumes has increased, empowering users to easily scale up their storage footprint. This means users can focus on building data services without worrying about the limitations of the underlying infrastructure. Shaping the future of work with AI In March, we announced Microsoft 365 Copilot—your copilot for work—and today we’re excited to announce even more new AI innovation to inspire developers and ISVs on the opportunity of the Microsoft 365 Copilot. To learn more, read the blog post by Rajesh Jha, EVP of Experiences and Devices. • Plugins for Microsoft 365 Copilot: Developers can now integrate their apps and services into Microsoft 365 Copilot with plugins. Plugins for Microsoft 365 Copilot include ChatGPT and Bing plugins, as well as Teams message extensions and Power Platform connectors—enabling developers to leverage their existing investments. Developers will be able to easily build new Microsoft 365 plugins with the Microsoft Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio. Developers can also extend Microsoft 365 Copilot by bringing their data into the Microsoft Graph, contextualizing relevant and actionable information with the new Semantic Index for Copilot. More than 50 plugins from partners will be available for customers as part of the early access program and thousands of plugins will be available by general availability of Microsoft 365 Copilot. • Teams Live Share SDK: With the Live Share SDK, now generally available, developers can transform Teams apps into collaborative multi-user experiences without writing any dedicated back-end code. The result: a rich, multi-player meeting experience that enables participants to co-watch, co-create, and co-edit content during meetings. • Avatars and immersive spaces for Microsoft Teams: Avatars for Microsoft Teams is now generally available and offers an alternative to the binary option of video or no video and features customizable avatars and reactions. Avatars give users the option of a camera break, while encouraging engagement and fun. Transform your everyday meetings to have a sense of natural co-presence with immersive spaces for Microsoft Teams, now in private preview. Immersive spaces for Microsoft Teams can be accessed through a PC or VR headset, with the ability to easily connect with other participants regardless of whether they join a Teams meeting using video or as an avatar, or in the immersive space directly. • Microsoft Mesh: Microsoft Mesh is a platform that empowers developers and creators to build custom, immersive experiences for the workplace. Mesh gives developers the tools to create shared experiences that help foster a sense of connection and belonging regardless of where workers are located, using a PC or VR headset. Microsoft Mesh is available in private preview starting today. Making it easier to build on and for Windows We’re announcing a lot of exciting updates for Windows developers at Microsoft Build, including Windows Copilot, the brand-new Dev Home, how Hybrid Loop for AI is becoming a reality, and major Microsoft Store updates. To learn more, read the blog post by Panos Panay, EVP & Chief Product Officer. • Introducing Windows Copilot. Windows will be the first PC platform to provide centralized AI assistance with the introduction of Windows Copilot. Together with Bing Chat and 1P/3P plugins, Windows Copilot will allow developers to focus on bringing their ideas to life, complete complex projects, and collaborate instead of spending energy finding, launching, and working across multiple applications. • Dev Home, productivity companion on Windows. Dev Home allows developers to quickly set up their machines and monitor workflows all in one location, enabling greater productivity on Windows. Dev Home also offers WinGet configuration for easier and faster setup, Dev Drive for enhanced file system performance, and easy connection to GitHub. All updates in preview. • Microsoft Store on Windows is announcing new tools and AI features to help developers reach new customers at the right time, in the right place. These include: o Microsoft Store AI Hub: Coming soon, a dedicated section that will curate the best AI experiences, built by the developer community or Microsoft. o AI-Generated review summary: To help optimize app discovery, we are introducing a new tool in Partner Center that leverages AI to generate and suggest search tags for apps to improve discoverability. o AI-Generated keywords: Developers will soon be able to reach more customers with AI-powered smart keyword suggestions, resulting in more precise SEO for their product description pages. o Microsoft Store Ads: Microsoft Store Ads is expanding in three significant ways. Starting in June, it will serve more than 150 regions, supported by Microsoft Advertising. Developers will also be able to reach their customers with a new premium spotlight section of the Store and Bing.com search results. o Backup and Restore App capability: To help developers retain their customers when they switch devices, we are enhancing the backup and restore experience for apps. This update is in preview and is available to Windows Insiders today. • Hybrid Loop for AI becomes a reality: With ONNX Runtime (ORT) and Olive toolchain, we are making it easier for developers to create amazing AI experiences on Windows and other platforms, with less engineering effort and better performance. We created Olive, an extensible toolchain, to ease the burden on developers, simplifying the optimization process, and eliminating the need for deep hardware knowledge. • ORT and Olive are cross-platform so Windows AI investments can extend to all app platforms. ONNX Runtime now supports the same API for running models on the device or in the cloud, enabling hybrid inferencing scenarios where your app can use local resources when possible and switch to the cloud when needed. • With the Azure EP (execution provider) in preview, developers can connect to models deployed in Azure Machine Learning or even to the Azure OpenAI service, providing flexibility to choose larger in the cloud or small local models at runtime and more control over costs and user experience. With just a few lines of code developers can specify the cloud endpoint and define their criteria for when to use the cloud. The future of app development with the Power Platform Developers need to deliver high-quality apps faster than ever before and Power Platform helps by supercharging productivity and changing development with next-generation AI. Learn about the latest Power Platform innovation announced at Build—including how developers can combine the Power Platform, Azure, Visual Studio, and GitHub to accelerate app development, automation, or build chatbots—and discover why Power Platform is the world’s most comprehensive and intelligent tool for developers. To learn more, read the blog post by Charles Lamanna, CVP of Business Applications and Platforms. We’re showcasing advancements in low-code tools to help professional developers be more productive: • To further enhance developer productivity in the Power Platform, Managed Environments now come with the ability to have a catalog of your enterprise-approved templates and components. Professional developers can publish artifacts such as apps, flows, and bots for their organization to use in their own solutions using the PAC CLI and GitHub actions. With every new component in the catalog, the entire organization will enjoy reduced time and cost for every new application. • The developer hub in Power Platform, now in public preview, is a new hub that helps code-first developers quickly learn and onboard to the Power Platform. It offers a single starting point to establish a developer environment using videos and guided walk-throughs so a developer can watch the process and then try for themselves to get started building their own apps faster. Low code and generative AI: • Copilot in Power Pages: We’re excited to introduce Copilot in Power Pages, now in public preview (U.S. only as this time), as the latest in Power Platform AI innovation, allowing makers to use natural language input to generate text copy, build business data-centric forms, activate chatbots, and enable site design themes in seconds for rapid visual setup and customization. • Power Automate – Custom Actions SDK: This feature, now in public preview, enables users to create, use, and manage custom actions in Power Automate for desktop. Users are now able to create custom actions through a publicly available SDK (Modules SDK) and manage groups of actions for their flows by adding/removing custom-developed action groups through a dedicated UI (Assets library) in the Power Automate for desktop designer. • The unified authoring canvas of Power Virtual Agents is now generally available. The unified authoring canvas in Power Virtual Agents brings together the powerful and flexible capabilities from Bot Framework Composer with the intuitive authoring experience that Power Virtual Agents is known for, providing a single authoring canvas where any member of the team, irrespective of their skill level, can collaborate on bot building—from low-code makers through to pro-developers alike. • Power Virtual Agents introduces generative actions, now in limited preview. This feature can automatically create actionable conversation responses by dynamically chaining components existing in Power Virtual Agents today. These components include pre-built and custom connectors, Power Automate flows, topics, and skills. Protect and customize access with the preview of Microsoft Entra External ID We’re announcing several DevSecOps innovations, including the introduction of Microsoft Entra External ID, the future of customer identity and access management. To learn more, read the blog post by Joy Chik, President of Identity and Network Access. • Microsoft Entra External ID, now in public preview: Announcing our next generation customer identity and access management solution that secures access to any app across any external identity from a single, centralized management platform. With Microsoft Entra External ID, users can: o Secure digital relationships: Protect identities with strong authentication and granular access policies. o Control access rights for any external user: Define the right level of access and govern identity lifecycles. o Create people-centric experiences: Design intuitive user journeys to immerse users in your brand experiences. o Accelerate development of secure applications: Make it easy for your app development teams to embed identity security to any application or any customer experience.Microsoft Build 2023 Book of News
The goal with the Book of News is to provide you with a roadmap to all the announcements we’re making, with all the details you need. Our focus remains the same – to make it as easy as possible for you to navigate the latest news and offer critical details on the topics you’re most interested in exploring. Check it out below: Microsoft Build 2023 Book of NewsNEW: Cybersecurity partner-ready campaigns in PMC
NEW: Cybersecurity partner-ready campaigns PMC Partner Marketing Center Organizations face a range of challenges when it comes to defending against cybersecurity threats. SIEM and XDR solutions are becoming increasingly important in the cybersecurity industry, as they help organizations detect and respond to threats across all systems. Microsoft’s SIEM and XDR provides a comprehensive, integrated cybersecurity solution that can help organizations defend against advanced threats in real-time. We’ve created the Defend Against Cybersecurity Threats campaign with two options available for Microsoft partners to engage customers with Microsoft security solutions and your services. If you’re looking for an automated digital campaign, you can launch a https://dmc.partner.microsoft.com/preview/product-areas/20/campaigns/208?wt.mc_id=zb0hdvx5kj utilizing the Digital Marketing Content OnDemand (DMC) platform. Or download the customizable assets from the Partner Marketing Center https://partner.microsoft.com/asset/collection/defend-against-cybersecurity-threats#/?wt.mc_?wt.mc_id=cbg0qyafi2, complete with a comprehensive execution guide. These campaigns provide you the opportunity to easily share engaging content and insights with customers on Microsoft's comprehensive approach that delivers integrated prevention, detection, and response capabilities across security layers. Launch either of these partner-ready campaigns and go to market quicker to drive customer engagement and leads for Microsoft Security solutions and your services.
