Azure Native Integrations: Public Preview of Napster Companion API on Azure
What is Napster Companion API? Napster Companion API is Napster's platform for building Omniagents: persistent, multi-channel AI agents with one identity, one memory, and one set of tools that show up across every channel an end user touches. The same Omniagent meets the customer on the website, in the mobile app, on video, and on the phone line with the same face, the same voice, and the same memory of the last conversation. The Omniagent as a digital worker The clearest way to think about an Omniagent is as a digital worker: It has a role (customer support specialist, sales advisor, internal IT assistant). It carries the memory of past shifts and prior conversations. It has the tools it needs to do the job which include APIs, knowledge bases, ticketing systems, CRMs. It shows up across every surface the end user touches, like a human worker who answers the door, the phone, and the inbox. When something is outside its scope, it hands off to a human colleague with the context already attached and picks the thread back up when the human is done. Use cases for the Companion API Teams are already exploring the Companion API across a wide range of scenarios: Agentic commerce. Agents that guide end users through discovery, recommendations, purchase, and post-sales support all in one continuous conversation across channels. Customer service. Agents that resolve issues end to end, escalate to humans with full context attached, and pick the thread back up across sessions. Internal operations and digital coworkers. Agents that orchestrate workflows, retrieve knowledge, and automate repetitive tasks for the workforce. Capabilities introduced by Napster Companion API The Companion API public preview brings the following capabilities to Azure customers: Persistent multi-channel agents that maintain identity, memory, and context across web, mobile, voice, video, and telephony. Real-time multimodal interactions across voice, video, and text for natural back-and-forth conversation. Tool and API orchestration that lets agents take real actions like opening tickets, updating records, retrieving documents, and triggering workflows. Persona-driven agents with configurable behavior, conversational style, and avatar-based interaction. Knowledge bases and deterministic question-and-answer pairs for grounded, accurate responses on topics where exactness matters. Developer SDKs and a no-code Dashboard for building, testing, deploying, and iterating on agents. Better together: Napster and Microsoft This integration is the result of a long-term Azure-native partnership between Napster and Microsoft. It is not an external service layered onto Azure infrastructure but it is a co-engineered offering designed to help enterprises operationalize persistent AI agents at scale. In practice, the Azure Native integration delivers: Benefit What it means for you Seamless development experience Provision and manage Companion API resources directly from the Azure portal, alongside your other Azure services. Build and operate Omniagents in the Napster Dashboard, reached through single sign-on. Bring your own model or use Napster Hosted Connect your Azure OpenAI realtime deployment on Microsoft Foundry so inference runs in your tenant. Or use the Napster Hosted tier where Napster manages the model for you. Simplified billing Manage Companion API spend through Azure Marketplace, on the same invoice as the rest of your Azure consumption which means no separate procurement, no separate billing relationship. Single sign-on with Microsoft Entra Switch between Azure resources and the Companion API Dashboard without re-entering credentials. Enterprise-ready foundation Built on Azure's compliance, security, and global infrastructure footprint. How it works?    If the player doesn’t load, open the video in a new window: Open video Get started in minutes Provisioning Napster Companion API on Azure takes just a few clicks: Open the Azure portal and search for *Napster Companion API*. Create a new resource and choose your subscription, resource group, region, and pricing tier. Link your Napster organization (or create one as part of resource provisioning). Launch the Companion API Dashboard from the resource overview page using single sign-on, and start building your first Omniagent in the Napster portal. Full step-by-step guidance is available in the Napster Companion API documentation on Microsoft Learn Resources Product documentation: Napster Companion API on Microsoft Learn Quickstart: Create a Napster Companion API resource Azure Marketplace listing: Napster Companion API Napster for partners: napster.com/partners Azure Native Integrations overview: Azure partner solutions What's next This public preview is the first milestone on a broader roadmap. We are eager to hear from early adopters. Try the public preview, build your first Omniagent, and let us know what you think as your feedback will shape what ships next. Get started today by searching for Napster Companion API in the Azure portal.Partner Blog | Leading the moment: How Azure partners are driving the Frontier shift
Something fundamental is shifting in how partners create value, and it is moving faster than many expected. That shift is creating new opportunities for those ready to lead. Across recent partner events and one-on-one conversations, we have heard a consistent message: customers are actively adopting AI and shifting toward becoming Frontier firms. They are moving AI from isolated experimentation to a core capability that drives execution, differentiation, and growth. Now customers are asking a more consequential question: how do we rewire our businesses to operate as a Frontier firm? That question can reshape how you deliver value. In this blog, we share how Microsoft is investing in the platform and programs that enable the partner-led path to becoming Frontier, so you can turn AI ambition into durable transformation. The Frontier shift partners are witnessing now Frameworks set the direction, but markets move when partners lead. In conversations with partners around the world, one point is clear: AI has moved from exploration to execution. Customers are no longer asking whether to adopt AI. They are asking how fast they can put it to work safely, at scale, and with measurable outcomes. Take TD SYNNEX, for example. TD SYNNEX is turning “AI-ready” into a repeatable channel motion by connecting devices, cloud, and security into its “Better Together” approach. Instead of letting customers buy pieces of the stack in silos, the motion guides partners to modernize endpoints, secure the foundation, and then adopt Microsoft AI with confidence, at the scale distributors can bring. Across these conversations, a clear pattern is emerging: partners are thinking beyond any single workload or product to drive end-to-end business transformation built on Azure. This is the Frontier narrative coming to life in the market. Continue reading hereImportant: FY26 PRACR close deadlines
We’re sharing the Partner Reported Azure Consumed Revenue (PRACR) deadlines for the close of fiscal year 2026 (July 2025–June 2026) to help you stay on track. These dates are sequential and critical to an accurate year-end close, ongoing submission eligibility, and a smooth transition to FY27. Category Deadline Requirement Owner Notes PRACR submissions June 10, 2026 (EOD) Final cutoff to submit PRACR reports through Partner Center Partner N/A Deal eligibility June 13, 2026 (EOD) Last day to mark deals as “Won” in MSX Microsoft Seller Required before deal registration Deal registration June 14, 2026 (EOD) Deals must be registered in Partner Center and all revalidation and disputes must be submitted by June 14. Deal registration will resume starting July 15, 2026. Partner Only registered deals can be reviewed for approval Exception handling June 19, 2026 (EOD) Final deadline to submit exception requests with full evidence through the PRACR Ops alias Partner or PDM Last exception forum of fiscal year 2026: June 24 Deal review June 26, 2026 (EOD) If deal is selected for further review, final date to submit required documentation Partner N/A No immediate action is required at this time; however, you as a partner are expected to plan and align internal activities to meet the deadlines outlined above. This communication is intended for awareness and planning purposes and partners are expected to align activities accordingly.Say goodbye to planning bottlenecks with Microsoft Azure Migrate
Every migration starts with the same questions: what do we have, and where should it go? Getting from those question to a clear, execution-ready answer has historically taken weeks. From exporting spreadsheets and manually classifying workloads to running assessments, conducting cost analyses, and stitching everything together into a deck that feels outdated by the time it's presented, the process slows teams and even limits pipeline. Azure Migrate collapses that entire process into a single workflow—reducing migration planning from weeks to hours. How to get started with Azure Migrate Start with Azure Migrate Collector to scan a customer's entire IT estate offline, enrich the inventory with tags and application groupings, and generate a stakeholder-ready Microsoft PowerPoint presentation with migration and modernization recommendations. The output includes lift-and-shift options, security posture guidance, and cost insights so you can move from assessment to customer conversation faster. Follow these steps for a speedy migration planning process: Set up Collector: Download and configure the Azure Migrate Collector on a Windows Server in your datacenter. Choose your discovery method: Compare Collector, appliance, and import-based approaches for your scenario. Tag your workloads: Follow tagging best practices for accurate recommendations. Organize applications: Define and manage applications from your discovered inventory. Generate your report: Build an Azure Migrate report and export to PowerPoint. Dive deeper: View application assessments for application and workload-level migration plans. From discovery to execution, this repeatable workshop-to-deck motion is built to empower partners to streamline their migration and modernization planning. Start exploring Azure Migrate and learn how to turn weeks of manual research and planning into more time for customer outreach and efficiency that expands your pipeline. Start exploring Azure Migrate todayPartner Case Study | CTERA
In step with Microsoft, working to unlock customer potential Headquartered in Israel and New York, with global offices worldwide, CTERA Networks Ltd strives to help organizations create a connected fabric of data to unlock its full potential. CTERA powers some of the world’s largest Fortune 500 enterprises and government agencies. Its customers are often highly distributed organizations, operating across numerous edge and core sites, including factories, hospitals, municipalities, law offices, and remote work environments with file estates ranging from hundreds of terabytes to hundreds of petabytes of data. CTERA has partnered with Microsoft since the early introduction of Microsoft Azure and today supports more than 60 customers running CTERA on Azure compute and storage infrastructure. CTERA’s Intelligent Data Platform, available for purchase through Microsoft Marketplace, delivers a software-defined global file system that intelligently caches data at distributed sites based on access frequency. It uses Azure Blob Storage as the authoritative, protected, immutable copy, and Azure Premium SSD and Azure Virtual Machines as core infrastructure components. In addition, CTERA integrates with Microsoft’s security, productivity, and AI ecosystem, including Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Copilot, enabling governed data to power secure collaboration and AI-driven insights. Swift enterprise deals and 68% more marketplace listing engagement Because CTERA focuses on large enterprises and government agencies, Microsoft Marketplace significantly streamlines procurement, legal review, and vendor onboarding processes, which are often complex. Offering a solution through the marketplace enables customers with a Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment to apply eligible purchases toward their cloud budget while benefiting from Microsoft’s established trust and account relationships. The marketplace also increases product visibility and provides valuable insight into market engagement, allowing CTERA to better support customers and refine its strategy. Continue reading here Explore all case studies or submit your own Subscribe to case studies tag to follow all new case study posts. Don't forget to follow this blog to receive email notifications of new stories!
Foundry IQ and the partner opportunity: Turning domain knowledge into AI advantage
Turning domain knowledge into AI advantage with Foundry IQ The enterprise software landscape is undergoing a fundamental shift. AI agents are moving quickly from experimental pilots into production workloads. As organizations deploy agents at scale, a hard truth is emerging: an agent is only as valuable as the knowledge behind it. General-purpose models can reason, summarize, and generate. What they cannot replicate is the deep domain expertise software development companies have spent years building into products, data models, and best practices. That expertise is what turns an agent from “capable” into “useful” in real business workflows. This is the moment to ask a strategic question: where does your knowledge live in the AI agent economy, and how easily can customers find it when they are building agents? Microsoft Foundry IQ is designed to answer that question. What Foundry IQ means for the partner ecosystem Foundry IQ is a knowledge layer within Microsoft AI Foundry that connects curated, structured knowledge sources to the agents customers build and deploy. Organizations constructing agents in Foundry can browse, evaluate, and attach knowledge sources in the same place they select models and tools. Microsoft is leading with its own investment. Foundry IQ already surfaces product knowledge for first-party services, including: Microsoft Fabric (data pipelines, lakehouses, analytics) Azure Storage (blob, file, queue, and table architectures) SharePoint (collaboration, content management, and search) A growing set of additional Microsoft services For partners, this matters because it establishes a distribution surface inside the workflows where customers design and operationalize agents. Customers already use Microsoft knowledge sources when building. That same integration path is now open to partners, creating a clear opportunity to bring domain expertise into the agent-building experience. Microsoft knowledge covers Microsoft products. Customers also need industry and function-specific expertise that only partners provide. Foundry IQ enables you to meet that need by connecting your knowledge to the moment of highest intent, when customers are assembling the knowledge and tools their agents will rely on. In return, partners can gain: Increased visibility inside the platform where enterprise AI decisions are made A route to customer acquisition at the point of agent creation, not only through a separate sales cycle Stronger integration into the Microsoft ecosystem that can reinforce alignment with Microsoft sellers The ability to consume Microsoft first-party knowledge via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), making partner-built agents more capable without duplicating knowledge pipelines Three partner value paths The opportunity is not one-size-fits-all. Depending on your product architecture and go-to-market strategy, Foundry IQ opens three practical paths. Path 1: Integrate your knowledge where customers are already building Microsoft has populated Foundry IQ with knowledge for Fabric, SharePoint, Azure Storage, and other first-party services. Partners can integrate alongside these sources, becoming discoverable at the moment customers are assembling their agents. This is about showing up where design choices happen, not after the architecture is locked. A financial services organization builds a compliance agent and pulls in Microsoft platform knowledge alongside your regulatory expertise. A healthcare organization constructs a clinical workflow agent and discovers your domain knowledge at the point of need. In this model, your expertise becomes part of the agent’s foundation. Instead of being evaluated later through a separate procurement cycle, it becomes a selectable component in the agent-building workflow. That creates a new distribution channel at the point of highest customer intent. Path 2: Consume Foundry IQ to power your own agents The value flows both ways. Partners building agents, or agent-building platforms, can consume Foundry IQ as a knowledge source through MCP. Consider a partner offering a vertical supply chain platform. By connecting to Foundry IQ via MCP, that platform can: Ground its agents in Microsoft knowledge for Azure infrastructure, data services, and collaboration tools Layer the partner’s proprietary supply chain logic on top Deliver more capable agents without building and maintaining knowledge pipelines for every Microsoft service This is leverage. Partners benefit from Microsoft’s knowledge investment. Customers get agents that understand more of the full stack, from infrastructure through industry workflows. Path 3: Extend your existing knowledge platform with Foundry IQ Some partners already operate knowledge management or intelligence platforms. For these partners, Foundry IQ can expand relevance without forcing a platform rewrite. Foundry IQ and Microsoft Search capabilities can be integrated into your existing solution so you can: Combine your proprietary knowledge graph with Microsoft’s enterprise knowledge surface Deliver a more unified experience without requiring users to leave the platform they already use Evolve a standalone knowledge product into one that is connected to broader enterprise intelligence workflows This path strengthens your role as the knowledge hub while extending the reach of the content you surface. The business case for software development companies Across these paths, the business case tends to show up in three ways: Growth through integration When your knowledge becomes a selectable part of a customer’s agent architecture, each deployment becomes a durable touchpoint. Agents built with your integration can create ongoing product usage and expanded commercial opportunity. Differentiation through domain expertise Microsoft covers the platform layer. Partners cover the domain layer. As reasoning capabilities become more common, curated domain expertise becomes a key differentiator in agent outcomes. Ecosystem leverage through co-innovation Partners who integrate early can shape emerging patterns, build stronger visibility into customer demand, and become a natural choice when customers need domain-specific knowledge connected to their agents. Next steps Microsoft has already committed its product knowledge to Foundry IQ, and customers are using it to build agents. The domain layer is where partners complete the picture. Start with these actions: Identify your value path: Which of the three models aligns with your product and go-to-market strategy? Inventory your knowledge assets: What expertise, data sets, or frameworks would materially improve customer-built agents? Define an integration plan: Prioritize one scenario where your knowledge creates clear customer value and can be packaged repeatably. Engage your Microsoft partner development team: Align on scope and the right technical path to integrate or consume knowledge. The partners who move early can help set quality benchmarks and establish durable placement in the agent-building workflows customers adopt first. Additional resources Microsoft AI Foundry – Build, evaluate, and deploy AI agents Foundry IQ Overview – Learn how Foundry IQ connects knowledge to agents Model Context Protocol (MCP) – Open standard for connecting AI agents to knowledge and tools Azure AI Foundry Documentation – Technical documentation for the Foundry platform Microsoft Partner Network – Explore partnership opportunities and engagement pathPartner Case Study | Copeland
Copeland is best known for the hardware that keeps modern life running. Its scroll compressors and HVACR technologies quietly heat and cool buildings and help protect temperature-sensitive goods in supermarkets, national retail chains, and other industries. But inside the company, a much smaller team operates with a different mandate. In Software Solutions, engineers build and run cloud platforms that monitor, control, and analyze equipment in the field. The work looks far more like a modern SaaS operation than a traditional manufacturing function. One of those platforms is Connect+, which Copeland uses to monitor and control refrigeration controllers in grocery and large-format retail environments where uptime directly affects food safety and operations. As Brian Haggard, Technical Director for Software Solutions at Copeland, puts it, Connect+ supports “the controllers that you see in big box retailers,” including “those long aisles of frozen and refrigerated food.” When Copeland became a standalone company following a divestiture from Emerson Electric, the team faced a hard deadline. Connect+ was running in Emerson’s Global Data Center, and that environment was being shut down. “The entire thing was being sunset,” Haggard explains. “We had to move.” Copeland did more than relocate infrastructure. The company used the transition to modernize Connect+ and establish an operating model built for scale, security, and reliability with Azure. The effort included migrating the Connect+ customer environment and application workloads from on-premises operations to Azure, followed by a broader Phase 2 modernization initiative known internally as Connect+ 2.0. Continue reading hereGitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
Instead of counting premium requests, every Copilot plan will include a monthly allotment of GitHub AI Credits, with the option for paid plans to purchase additional usage. Usage will be calculated based on token consumption, including input, output, and cached tokens, using the listed API rates for each model. This change aligns Copilot pricing with actual usage and is an important step toward a sustainable, reliable Copilot business and experience for all users. Learn more here and access partner resources here. APAC Office hours link – May 6, 7:00 PM — 8:00 PM PDT EMEA/AMER Office hours link – May 7, 8:00 AM — 9:00 AM PDTPartner Case Study | DeepJudge
Legal work depends on precision, precedent, and the ability to apply institutional knowledge across diverse matters. For many firms, that knowledge is documented but not always easy to access or act on. DeepJudge, a Microsoft partner, is helping legal teams bridge that gap with AI-powered search and workflow tools built on Microsoft Azure. DeepJudge specializes in enterprise search and agentic AI workflows tailored for legal professionals. DeepJudge participated in Microsoft for Startups and the Pegasus Program, a selective initiative that helps high-potential partners scale through technical guidance, go-to-market support, and early access to Microsoft innovations. Today, the company’s platform is built on Microsoft Azure—including Azure OpenAI Services, Azure Kubernetes Service, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud—to promote high performance and robust data protection. Making internal knowledge accessible—and secure CMS Switzerland, a full-service law firm with more than 160 employees and a legacy spanning over 80 years, offers tailored legal solutions for businesses, investors, and private individuals. Known for its deep legal expertise and cross-border capabilities, CMS Switzerland built a strong foundation of internal knowledge—contracts, case files, templates, presentations, and precedent documents—stored across various systems and folders. While this information was historically well maintained, it wasn’t always easy for lawyers to locate and apply it consistently across cases. “Clients hire law firms for their expertise—but law firms often underestimate their breadth and depth of existing knowledge and experience,” said Stefan Brunnschweiler, Managing Partner at CMS Switzerland. The firm wanted to better surface and apply its internal expertise across teams—without disrupting existing workflows or compromising on data protection. The goal was to institutionalize internal know-how so that all employees could access and apply it confidently in their daily work. Security was a critical consideration. As part of CMS, one of the largest international law firms with over 7,200 lawyers in 92 offices across 50 countries, CMS Switzerland needed a solution that could meet strict data protection requirements while offering the flexibility and performance of modern AI tools. “Data security is our top priority,” Brunnschweiler emphasized. “The fact that Microsoft hosts our data in Switzerland and that DeepJudge, through Microsoft, also ensures high data protection convinced us.” CMS Switzerland began exploring options that could help surface internal knowledge more efficiently, reduce time spent on manual research, and support faster onboarding of new employees. The firm was looking for a solution that could meet the highest standards for security, reliability, and usability—while also aligning with the operational realities of legal work. Continue reading here Explore all case studies or submit your own Subscribe to case studies tag to follow all new case study posts. Don't forget to follow this blog to receive email notifications of new stories!Act now: Unlock cloud security growth to drive stronger customer outcomes
When it comes to accelerating migration and modernization, security is no longer an add‑on for customers—it’s a baseline expectation. By embedding security earlier, you can deliver a built-in security approach, making it possible to drive more seamless adoption and stronger customer outcomes from day one. Microsoft is offering two initiatives to empower you to lead with security. Complete the Cloud Security Envisioning Workshop before June 30 to sharpen your approach and engage customers earlier in their cloud journey. After June 30, access requirements for the workshop may change, so review the latest specialization guidance before planning your next actions. Attain the Cloud Security specialization to unlock continued access to the workshop and strengthen your ability to lead secure cloud transformations. Get started by reviewing the Cloud Security specialization requirements, then assess your progress in Partner Center and collaborate with your Partner Development Manager to accelerate readiness and streamline the process. For additional guidance, go to Partner Concierge or join the Azure Migrate and Modernize Partner Forum. Drive stronger outcomes, starting at the foundation of every cloud engagement: security. Get started by acting now: Learn about the Cloud Security Envisioning Workshop. Explore and attain the Cloud Security specialization.
