Coming soon: Updated Partner Center verification experience for the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program and Cloud Solution Providers
Starting July 28, 2026, we will be modernizing the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program and Cloud Solution Provider user experience in Partner Center to streamline how partners navigate vetting, along with a new look and feel and a more consistent verification flow. Learn more Be sure to follow our Cloud Solution Provider Partner discussion board where you connect with subject matter experts and other CSP partners.Spin Up MongoDB Atlas Clusters in Azure (Preview)
Your data platform just got a lot closer to home. You can now create MongoDB Atlas projects and deploy clusters directly from the Azure portal - the same place you already manage the rest of your cloud. This builds on the general availability of MongoDB Atlas as an Azure Native Integration. Back then, you could provision an Atlas organization from Azure and manage billing through the Azure Marketplace. Now the workflow goes all the way down to the thing that runs your app: the cluster. Atlas Projects & Clusters An Atlas Project is a logical container that groups clusters and related resources within your Atlas organization. Create one per app, team, or environment and then deploy clusters into it. An Atlas cluster is a fully managed MongoDB deployment running in the cloud. It is where your data lives and where it scales, replicates, backs itself up, and serves every read and write your application makes. Getting the cluster right is what turns a project into a production-ready app: Performance & scale - pick a tier that matches your traffic, from free experiments to high-throughput dedicated workloads. Data residency - the Azure region you choose for the cluster is where your data is stored, so you stay aligned with compliance requirements. Resilience - clusters come with backups and health state you can view at a glance. Organization - clusters live inside projects, giving you clean logical boundaries for teams, environments, and apps. What you can do now, right from Azure Create and browse Atlas projects from your MongoDB Atlas resource. Deploy clusters - Free (M0), Flex, or dedicated M10 / M30 tiers. Choose the Azure region where each cluster's data lives. View cluster details: MongoDB version, region, tier, backups, and state. Keep billing unified through your existing Azure Marketplace plan. Get started in minutes If you already have a MongoDB Atlas resource in Azure, you're four clicks from a running cluster: In the Azure portal, open your MongoDB Atlas resource (search All resources if you need to find it). In the service menu, select Projects (preview), then + Create project and give it a unique name Open the project and, in the Clusters section, select + Create Cluster. Pick a tier, enter a cluster name and Azure region, and select Create. That's it - your cluster deploys. Don't have an Atlas resource yet? Search for MongoDB Atlas in the Azure portal and create one against your subscription first to follow the steps above. You'll need the Owner role on the Atlas organization to create projects and clusters. Choosing your cluster tier Start small and grow. You can begin free and move up as your app takes off. Built for what's next: vector search & AI agents A cluster is the foundation for AI-powered apps. MongoDB Atlas brings native vector search right alongside your operational data, so you can build semantic search and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) experiences that ground large language models in Foundry in your own enterprise data. That story goes further with agents. As covered in Build and connect Microsoft Foundry agents to MongoDB Atlas, the MongoDB MCP Server is available in the Microsoft Foundry Tool Catalog - letting agents run vector search and database operations against the very clusters you just deployed, with enterprise-grade governance built in. Ready to build? Head to the Azure portal, create a project, and deploy your first cluster today. Start free, then scale when you're ready. Create projects and clusters in MongoDB Atlas — step-by-step docs MongoDB Atlas is generally available as an Azure Native Integration Connect Microsoft Foundry agents to MongoDB Atlas Create a free Azure accountNew Microsoft 365 Certified: AI Services Administrator Associate Certification
As AI moves deeper into mission-critical work, organizations need trusted administrators who can govern access, secure data, monitor services, and keep Microsoft 365 AI experiences running at enterprise scale. Show you’re ready with new Exam AB-650 (beta). AI-powered productivity is no longer just about enabling new capabilities, it’s about operating them with the right controls, safeguards, and visibility. Organizations need administrators who can help make Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Copilot, agents, and connected AI services secure, compliant, reliable, and scalable across the enterprise. The new Microsoft 365 Certified: AI Services Administrator Associate Certification validates the skills to configure, manage, secure, govern, and continuously optimize Microsoft 365 tenants, workloads, and AI services so organizations can adopt AI with confidence and drive effective outcomes at scale. To earn this Microsoft Certification, you’ll need to pass Exam AB-650: Administering Microsoft 365 and AI Services, currently in beta. Is this the right Certification for you? Candidates for this Certification: Configure, manage, secure, and govern Microsoft 365 tenants, workloads, and AI services, including Copilot, agents, and connected AI capabilities. Govern data access, protect information, and support collaboration between users and agents. Operate and continuously optimize Microsoft 365 and AI services at enterprise scale, helping to ensure reliable and effective outcomes in an AI-powered workplace. Candidates should have experience with Microsoft 365 workloads and Microsoft Entra ID, an understanding of Defender XDR capabilities, and familiarity with Microsoft Graph PowerShell. Ready to prove your skills? Take advantage of the discounted beta exam offer. The first 300 people who take Exam AB-650 (beta) on or before August 18, 2026, can get 80% off. To receive the discount, when you register for the exam and are prompted for payment, use code AB-650SkyClub . This is not a private access code. The seats are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. As noted, you must take the exam on or before August 18, 2026. Please note that this discount is not available in Turkey, Pakistan, India, or China. How to prepare Get ready to take Exam AB-650 (beta): Review the Exam AB-650 (beta) page for training resources, exam registration, and other details. The Exam AB-650 study guide explores key topics covered in the exam. Connect with Microsoft Training Services Partners in your area for in-person offerings. Need other preparation ideas? Check out Just How Does One Prepare for Beta Exams? Ready to get started? You can take Certification exams online, from your home or office. Get the details in Online proctored exams: What to expect and how to prepare. Remember, only the first 300 candidates can get 80% off Exam AB-650 (beta) with code AB-650SkyClub on or before August 18, 2026. Beta exam rescoring begins when the exam goes live, with final results released approximately 10 days later. For more details, read Creating high-quality exams: The path from beta to live. Stay tuned for general availability of this Certification in October 2026. Additional information For more Certification updates, read our recent blog post, Microsoft Credentials roundup: June 2026. Follow our credentials news on The Skills Hub Blog as we roll out additional new Certifications in August and September 2026. Join our Microsoft Worldwide Learning SME Group for Credentials on LinkedIn for beta exam alerts and opportunities to help shape future Microsoft learning and assessments. Explore Microsoft Credentials on AI Skills Navigator.How multiparty private offers are unlocking new channel growth opportunities in Australia
As Microsoft Marketplace continues to evolve as a strategic go-to-market platform, the introduction of multiparty private offers (MPOs) in Australia is creating new opportunities for software companies, resellers, distributors, managed service providers, and systems integrators to collaborate more effectively. This new capability enables multiple partners to participate in a single Microsoft Marketplace transaction, helping simplify procurement, streamline commercial workflows, and strengthen partner-to-partner collaboration. By bringing software solutions, implementation expertise, managed services, and Microsoft cloud investments together through one purchasing experience, organizations can focus on delivering customer outcomes rather than managing transactional complexity. In this article, explore how multiparty private offers support channel-led growth, when to use MPOs versus resale-enabled offers, how Azure benefit eligible solutions can enhance customer conversations, and the foundational steps partners should take to build a scalable Marketplace strategy. Read the full article to learn how Australian partners can leverage Microsoft Marketplace to accelerate growth, expand customer reach, and create repeatable go-to-market motions powered by collaborative selling. Read the blog Multiparty private offers are creating new opportunities for channel-led growth in AustraliaMultiparty private offers are creating new opportunities for channel-led growth in Australia
The launch of multiparty private offers in Australia marks more than the availability of a new Microsoft Marketplace capability. It signals a meaningful shift in how software companies, channel partners, distributors, and Microsoft can collaborate to deliver customer outcomes through a single commercial experience. For years, many partner-led software transactions followed a fragmented model. A software company sold the application. A reseller owned the customer relationship. A services partner supported deployment or implementation. The customer then had to navigate separate commercial relationships, invoices, and procurement steps. Each participant added value, but the commercial process often created unnecessary complexity. Multiparty private offers help address that challenge by bringing software companies and channel partners into one Marketplace transaction. The model gives partners a more structured way to collaborate on customer opportunities, align commercial roles, and simplify procurement through Microsoft Marketplace. For partners developing a Marketplace strategy in Australia, this capability creates a practical path to combine software, customer expertise, implementation knowledge, and Microsoft cloud investments into a more cohesive go-to-market motion. Microsoft Marketplace is becoming a go-to-market platform Organizations are modernizing infrastructure, strengthening security, and improving data and analytics capabilities while looking for simpler ways to procure and deploy cloud solutions. Software remains a critical part of these initiatives, but customers often need more than a single application. They need software, implementation expertise, managed services, and customer-specific customization to come together in a practical solution. Microsoft Marketplace provides a framework for bringing those elements together. Software companies can publish applications through Marketplace while channel partners contribute implementation expertise, managed services, and customization for regulatory or proprietary needs. Microsoft cloud services provide the platform foundation, and Marketplace creates the commercial pathway that supports the software solution. This approach allows partners to move beyond individual product conversations and focus on solving broader business challenges. Instead of discussing a single application, partners can bring together software from relevant software companies with Azure, security, data and analytics capabilities, implementation support, and customer-specific customization. The result is a larger customer conversation centered on outcomes rather than individual technologies. Multiparty private offers bring multiple partners together in one transaction Multiparty private offers are designed to support collaborative selling through Microsoft Marketplace. The workflow begins when a channel partner identifies a customer opportunity. That opportunity may come from a software renewal, an Azure modernization project, a security initiative, or a broader business transformation need. After the opportunity is qualified, the channel partner engages the software company. The software company creates a multiparty private offer in Partner Center and extends it to the channel partner. The channel partner can then customize the offer, add margin, and present the final customer-ready offer through Marketplace. Once the customer accepts and purchases the offer, Microsoft manages invoicing and payment processing. Microsoft collects payment from the customer and distributes funds according to the transaction structure. This approach reduces operational complexity while preserving the commercial role of both the software company and the channel partner. For customers, the value is a more streamlined purchasing experience. They can acquire a partner-led software solution through a single Marketplace transaction instead of coordinating separate commercial relationships across multiple providers. For partners, the value is a clearer structure for collaboration, margin, customer engagement, and participation in Microsoft Marketplace-led sales motions. Channel-led growth is central to Marketplace success Successful software adoption rarely happens without partner expertise. Customers often depend on trusted advisors, managed service providers, systems integrators, distributors, and resellers to evaluate technology options, design solutions, manage implementation, and optimize long-term value. Multiparty private offers recognize that reality by placing the channel partner directly inside the Marketplace transaction. Rather than operating outside the software sale, the channel partner can participate in the commercial workflow and contribute differentiated customer value. For software companies, this model can extend reach through the Microsoft partner ecosystem. Channel partners often have established customer relationships, industry expertise, and delivery capabilities that help software companies enter or expand within target markets. For channel partners, multiparty private offers create a more direct way to participate in Marketplace software transactions. Partners can strengthen customer relationships, collaborate more closely with software companies, and engage Microsoft sellers around opportunities that align with eligible Marketplace offers. The result is stronger commercial alignment across the organizations responsible for delivering customer outcomes. Partners should choose the Marketplace offer model that fits the sales motion Resale enabled offers and multiparty private offers both support channel-led Marketplace selling, but they serve different collaboration patterns. Resale enabled offers are useful when a software company wants to delegate more of the transaction workflow to a trusted channel partner or distributor. In that model, the reseller assumes greater responsibility for creating the offer, managing the customer transaction, and handling partner-to-partner financial arrangements outside Microsoft’s direct view. Multiparty private offers are better suited to collaborative selling scenarios where both the software company and the channel partner remain actively involved in shaping the customer opportunity. The software company creates the offer and sends it to the channel partner, while the channel partner customizes and presents the offer to the customer. Partners deciding between the two models should evaluate several practical factors: The level of collaboration required between the software company and channel partner. Existing distributor or reseller relationships. Preferred payment and revenue recognition models. Geographic availability of each Marketplace capability. Customer purchasing agreements, including whether the customer buys through an Enterprise Agreement, Microsoft Customer Agreement, or Cloud Solution Provider motion. Whether the software company or channel partner needs to manage more of the commercial workflow. Multiparty private offers do not replace resale enabled offers. They expand Marketplace flexibility by giving partners another way to structure customer engagements based on the relationship, transaction model, and customer buying path. Azure benefit eligible offers can strengthen customer conversations Azure benefit eligible offers play an important role in Marketplace transactions because many enterprise customers have Microsoft Azure consumption commitments, commonly referred to as MACC. When customers purchase eligible solutions through Microsoft Marketplace, those purchases can contribute toward fulfilling their Azure consumption commitments. This creates a practical connection between software procurement and cloud investment strategy. Instead of treating a software purchase and an Azure commitment as separate discussions, customers can evaluate how Marketplace procurement may support both technology needs and existing Microsoft cloud commitments. For software companies and channel partners, this context can make customer conversations more relevant and actionable. If a customer has a MACC, partners can prioritize Azure benefit eligible offers and explain how Marketplace purchasing may help the customer apply eligible spend toward that commitment. This is especially important in enterprise sales cycles, where procurement efficiency, budget alignment, and cloud investment optimization can influence how customers evaluate software options. Repeatable Marketplace growth starts with partner readiness Channel partners that want to transact multiparty private offers must complete foundational Marketplace readiness steps. They need to be Microsoft partners, enroll in commercial Marketplace through Partner Center, receive a seller ID, and complete the associated tax and payment profile. Completing these steps helps partners become eligible to participate in multiparty private offer transactions. It can also support broader Marketplace engagement, including Marketplace Rewards and engagement with Microsoft sellers on eligible Marketplace opportunities. Readiness alone, however, is not enough to build a sustainable Marketplace business. Partners also need strategic focus. Rather than pursuing every software vendor relationship, channel partners should prioritize software companies that align with their customer base, delivery capabilities, and growth priorities. A security-focused partner may choose to build relationships with cybersecurity software providers. A data modernization partner may focus on analytics, monitoring, or data platform providers. An application development partner may look for software companies that complement application development, monitoring, or modernization work. By selecting aligned software relationships and creating repeatable solution patterns, partners can turn Marketplace from a transaction channel into a scalable go-to-market motion. The future of Marketplace collaboration is already taking shape Customer interest in Marketplace procurement is increasing as organizations seek more agile purchasing experiences and faster deployment timelines. Industries ranging from financial services to education and mining are exploring how Marketplace can help them simplify procurement and accelerate technology adoption. At the same time, Microsoft sellers are becoming increasingly aligned to Marketplace-driven opportunities, creating additional incentives for collaboration across the ecosystem. Together, these trends point toward a future where Marketplace serves not only as a procurement destination but also as the foundation for solution selling across software companies, distributors, channel partners, and Microsoft teams. Watch the full session to explore the complete Marketplace opportunity The launch of multiparty private offers in Australia creates new possibilities for software companies, distributors, managed service providers, systems integrators, and resellers seeking to expand their Marketplace business. By enabling collaborative selling, simplifying transactions, and aligning customer procurement with Azure investments, multiparty private offers provide a framework for building stronger customer solutions through Microsoft Marketplace. To hear the complete discussion, explore the decision frameworks, and learn directly from the Microsoft experts who shared these insights, watch the full Marketplace partner office hour session and continue the conversation in the Marketplace community. Watch and learn Multiparty private offers through Marketplace: channel growth in AustraliaBuild channel-led Marketplace growth in Japan
Multiparty private offers are now available in Japan, opening new opportunities for software companies and channel partners to sell collaboratively through Microsoft Marketplace. Join this session conducted in Japanese to learn how offers move between software companies, distributors, systems integrators, resellers, and customers and what each participant needs to do next. The Enterprise Partner Solutions team will cover eligible offer types, prerequisites, practical first steps, and how eligible purchases can contribute toward a customer’s Azure consumption commitment. Attendees will gain guidance for identifying opportunities, aligning partner roles, strengthening co-sell conversations, and telling a clearer customer-value story. A live Q&A will address practical questions from the Japanese partner ecosystem. Registration is not required. Add the session to your calendar, sign in to Tech Community, and select Attend to receive reminders. Multiparty private offers through Microsoft Marketplace: channel growth in JapanWhen cloud apps become a weak link: How FortiAppSec Cloud in Microsoft Marketplace bridges the gap
In this guest blog post, Srija Reddy Allam, Cloud Security/DevOps Architect, Fortinet, discusses the increase of attacks targeted at web applications and APIs and how FortiAppSec Cloud in Microsoft Marketplace provides a layer of adaptive security to address the challenge.Microsoft Marketplace drives shared growth in FY27
As AI adoption accelerates and organizations move from experimentation to production, Microsoft Marketplace is becoming a critical growth engine for the partner ecosystem. In the latest partner blog, Mira Ayad, General Manager, Global Marketplace, shares how software companies, channel partners, and Microsoft are coming together through a unified commercial platform to help customers turn AI investments into measurable business outcomes. With Marketplace billed sales continuing to grow and new investments planned for FY27, partners can take advantage of expanded multiparty private offers, enhanced co-sell opportunities, intelligent AI-powered solution discovery, and new programs designed to simplify onboarding and accelerate growth. Marketplace now enables partners to reach customers across 141 markets while supporting local buying preferences and trusted channel relationships. Read the full article Built to grow together: The FY27 Microsoft Marketplace opportunity.Behind the Build with Gigamon: Enriching Microsoft Sentinel with Network-Derived Telemetry
Behind the Build is an ongoing series spotlighting standout Microsoft partner collaborations. Each edition dives into the technical and strategic decisions that shape real-world integrations—highlighting engineering excellence, innovation, and the shared customer value created through partnership. Security teams today operate across an expanding set of signals, spanning identity, endpoint, cloud and application environments. Yet many organizations still lack sufficient visibility into how systems communicate across their infrastructure, creating gaps in detection, investigation, and response. In this edition of Behind the Build, I spoke with Srinivas Chakravarty, vice president, cloud ecosystems at Gigamon, about how Microsoft and Gigamon collaborated to bring network-derived telemetry into Microsoft Sentinel, helping customers enrich security investigations with deeper runtime context and AI-driven insights. The Evolution of Network Intelligence and Why It Matters For more than twenty years, Gigamon has helped organizations access and operationalize network traffic across complex environments. Today, the Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline, helps enable organizations to extract actionable network-derived telemetry across hybrid infrastructure, encrypted traffic, containers, and modern application environments. That foundation makes the Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline a strong complement to Microsoft Sentinel. Microsoft Sentinel brings together security telemetry from across the enterprise—including identity, endpoint, cloud, application, and network data sources—while Gigamon contributes enriched network-derived telemetry that provides additional runtime context into how systems, applications, and services communicate. Together, these signals can help organizations gain deeper insight for threat detection, investigation, and response. As Srinivas put it: “You have logs, you have metrics, you have traces, but network telemetry completes the picture.” Together, these data sources provide deeper context for threat detection, investigation, and AI-driven analysis. Read the full announcement here: Behind the Build with Gigamon: Enriching Microsoft Sentinel with Network-Derived Telemetry Original Publication: Microsoft Sentinel Blog, June 30th, 2026Grow your business globally while selling locally through Microsoft Marketplace
Ready to reach new markets and grow through trusted partner ecosystems? Microsoft is expanding multiparty private offers to Australia, Japan, and South Africa, creating new opportunities for software companies and channel partners to scale globally while selling locally. Discover how Microsoft Marketplace helps partners accelerate co-sell motions, simplify procurement, close larger deals, and unlock new revenue opportunities through partner-led selling. Read the full article: Drive local growth with Microsoft Marketplace Help amplify this important announcement across your networks: Blog: https://partner.microsoft.com/blog/article/scaling-channel-growth-through-microsoft-marketplace Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/PartnerNews/partner-blog--drive-local-growth-with-microsoft-marketplace/4537077 LI: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/microsoft-cloud-partner-program_drive-local-growth-with-microsoft-ma… Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mspartner/posts/pfbid02pWqxfpkcWjW2nyf7CuZYrnuGGXY6zyi3ZwsNka6zDems4iE9gqU… X: Microsoft Partner (@msPartner) on X
