Replicating your AWS application to Azure: key resources for software development companies
Azure offers a broad global footprint, strong security and compliance foundations, flexible cost options, and the ability to deploy your solution directly into a customer’s subscription for tighter integration with their environment. While Microsoft Marketplace expands your reach instantly by connecting your solution to millions of customers across Microsoft’s global ecosystem. It also provides deeper integration with Azure services and a unified experience that makes it easier for organizations to discover, purchase, and deploy your app. You can scale with channel-led sales by extending your reach through an ecosystem of 500K+ partners through a variety of sales models. With ISV Success, you can also accelerate replication with cloud credits, AI services, and hands on technical guidance. Understanding how AWS and Azure services align — across networking, storage, identity, regions, and marketplace requirements — helps ensure a smooth replication process. This post highlights key resources that compare AWS and Azure components, outline migration considerations, and guide you through preparing an Azure‑ready version of your application. Essential guides for AWS‑to‑Azure replication To get started, here is a curated set of resources that cover architecture differences, identity, security, networking, regions, and marketplace publishing — all designed to help you build an Azure‑ready version of your existing AWS application. App replication foundations Advantages of replicating your app from AWS to Azure Guide to replicating your app from AWS to Azure Quick‑start toolkit for AWS‑to‑Azure replication Architecture & service mapping AWS to Azure service comparisons Storage migration paths AWS‑to‑Azure network design Region selection for AWS developers Identity & Security Identity and Access Management AWS‑to‑Azure security model comparison Marketplace Enablement Publishing and selling through Marketplace Step-by-step curated guidance through App Advisor These resources provide a complete starting point for understanding how to replicate your AWS‑based application to Azure, from comparing services and configuring infrastructure to preparing your Marketplace listing and extending your multi-cloud reach. Want more? Start coding in minutes with code templates, solution architecture, and how-to articles to start coding in minutes? Visit the AWS to Azure replication code library in the Quick-Start Development Toolkit.Key AI announcements for software developers from Microsoft Ignite 2025
At Microsoft Ignite 2025, Microsoft unveiled a series of AI innovations that signal a significant evolution in how software developers build, deploy, and scale intelligent solutions. Central to these announcements is Microsoft Foundry, a unified platform designed to simplify the development, orchestration, and governance of AI agents across Microsoft’s cloud and application ecosystem. The announcements also introduced Foundry IQ, enabling secure, compliant access to enterprise data for AI agents, along with a new Foundry Control Plane that provides centralized visibility and operational control. Together, these capabilities help reduce complexity while supporting enterprise-grade security, compliance, and scalability requirements. Additional highlights include expanded model choice and flexibility through enhanced Model Router support and deeper integration of third-party models, as well as new capabilities that allow developers to publish and distribute AI agents directly into Microsoft 365 and Teams, creating powerful new go-to-market opportunities. Read the full article to learn more about these Microsoft Ignite announcements, what they mean for software developers, and how to take advantage of Microsoft’s rapidly evolving AI and Marketplace ecosystem.
Microsoft Ignite 2025 AI announcements: What software developers need to know
Igniting what’s next: What software development companies need to know about Microsoft’s AI announcements at Ignite 2025 The AI landscape took a major leap forward at Microsoft Ignite 2025, and for software development companies and digital natives, the announcements represent a massive opportunity: faster innovation, simplified agent development, access to enterprise‑ready AI platforms, and a dramatically expanded ecosystem to build on. This year, Microsoft introduced the era of agentic AI—and software companies are at the center of this shift. Ignite 2025 formally unveiled Microsoft Foundry, our unified platform for building, governing, and scaling intelligent agents. From new agent runtimes to multi‑agent orchestration, enterprise‑grade knowledge access, and one‑click publishing to Microsoft 365, the momentum creates one clear signal: 💡 AI assistants are becoming intelligent agents—and Foundry is the platform software companies will use to build them. Why Microsoft Ignite 2025 mattered for software companies Across every session, Microsoft doubled down on helping partners accelerate time‑to‑market with agentic AI solutions. Whether you’re building vertical apps, automation copilots, knowledge systems, or developer tools, the new capabilities in Foundry eliminate much of the heavy lifting associated with retrieval, orchestration, compliance, hosting, and model selection. Key themes this year from Azure AI: Unified agent platform across all Microsoft clouds Framework‑agnostic development (bring your own models, tools, or frameworks) Enterprise‑grade governance built into the lifecycle Open ecosystem and interoperability using MCP, A2A, OpenAPI Seamless distribution through Microsoft 365 and Teams Let’s break down what’s new—and what it means for your product strategy. Top announcements for software companies at Ignite 2025 Microsoft Foundry: A unified brand for AI agent development Azure AI Foundry is now Microsoft Foundry—a consolidated platform for building, deploying, and managing intelligent agents. For software companies, this means: One consistent developer experience Shared governance and compliance across products A more integrated ecosystem for publishing and distributing agentic solutions This rebrand isn’t cosmetic—it reflects Microsoft’s strategic shift to deliver a platform built explicitly for the next generation of AI agents. Introducing Foundry IQ: Your enterprise knowledge engine One of the most exciting announcements is Foundry IQ, a new engine that gives agents instant access to enterprise data from SharePoint, OneLake, ADLS, and the web, all governed by Purview. For software companies, this unlocks: Reliable, production‑grade knowledge retrieval without building RAG pipelines Consistent compliance and security models Faster customer onboarding with fewer integration gaps Foundry IQ is a game‑changer for teams who have spent months building retrieval layers or maintaining custom RAG components. Foundry Control Plane: Unified governance for all agents Now in public preview, the Foundry Control Plane enables teams to manage agents across frameworks, clouds, and environments. Highlights: Unified visibility and observability Built‑in security & compliance (Defender, Purview) Fleet‑wide monitoring for cost, health, and risk For software companies offering multi‑tenant solutions or operating in regulated industries, this dramatically simplifies the operational burden of managing AI agents. Agent Framework (public preview): SK + AutoGen, Unified The Microsoft Agent Framework, now in public preview, merges the strengths of Semantic Kernel and AutoGen into a single SDK for building durable, interoperable agents. Software companies gain: A consistent programming model Durable memory Strong interoperability with MCP, A2A, OpenAPI Framework‑agnostic design This is the developer foundation for future AI applications built on Microsoft clouds. Hosted Agents: Enterprise‑grade runtime, no infrastructure needed With Hosted Agents, teams can deploy custom‑code agents directly into a fully managed runtime—no containers, pipelines, or infra setup. What this enables for software companies: Faster deployment cycles Secure, autoscaling environments Simple onboarding for customer‑specific agents Observability and monitoring built in This drastically reduces the operational overhead many software companies face today. Multi‑agent workflows & connected intelligence Ignite 2025 introduced major advancements in multi‑agent orchestration: Built‑in memory across sessions A catalog of 1,000+ Microsoft & partner tools (with private catalogs for software companies) Visual and programmatic orchestration tools Enterprise‑ready coordination for long‑running workflows Foundry IQ for instant knowledge access This allows software companies to design more autonomous, intelligent, and interconnected systems—moving beyond assistants toward true digital workers. Model Router GA + Anthropic partnership expansion There are two major updates for model flexibility: Model Router GA Now supporting 11,000+ models, the router helps developers intelligently choose the best model for each task, optimizing both cost and performance. Anthropic Claude models in Foundry Claude Sonnet 4.5, Opus 4.1, and Haiku 4.5 are now integrated into Microsoft Foundry through an expanded partnership with Anthropic. This gives software companies more choice, capability, and model‑agnostic development paths. One‑click publishing to Microsoft 365 & Teams One of the biggest wins for software companies: Agents built in Foundry can now be published to Microsoft 365 and Teams Chat with one click. This means: Access to hundreds of millions of users Unified governance through Microsoft Admin Center Seamless integration with Copilot experiences For software companies, this is a massive new distribution channel. Why this matters for software development companies Ignite 2025 didn’t just introduce new products—it signaled a platform shift. software companies now have: A full-stack platform for agentic applications - From data access to orchestration, hosting, deployment, and compliance. A unified runtime and SDK - Reducing fragmentation and speeding up development cycles. Enterprise reach through Microsoft 365 - Making your agents as discoverable as apps. A rapidly expanding ecosystem - More models, more tools, more integration points. If you’re building AI-powered products, this is your moment. Get hands-on: Sessions & resources for software companies Here are links to top Ignite sessions to dive deeper. Build & Manage AI Apps with Your Agent Factory AI Agents in Azure AI Foundry: Ship Fast, Scale Fearlessly AI‑Powered Automation & Multi‑Agent Orchestration Agent Developer Guide for Foundry Agent Service The Future of RAG with Agentic Retrieval & AI Search What’s next: December Foundry Council Session Join us on Dec 18 for the Ignite Recap session through the Foundry Partner Council. It’s the best opportunity for software companies to: Get deeper into the new capabilities Share partner/DN feedback Join focus groups For more information about the December 18 session, contact foundrycouncil@microsoft.com or visit aka.ms/foundrycouncilNew in App Advisor: Guidance for resale enabled offers (REO)
The latest enhancement to App Advisor introduces guidance for resale enabled offers (REO), helping you understand where reseller-led distribution aligns with your offer strategy. Want to see if REO fits into your sales strategy for 2026? If you're just getting started with REO, you can learn how to: Assess REO as a new sales tool with other negotiated deals in App Advisor Prepare your offer and organization for reseller participation Follow improved, set-up REO steps in Partner Center Scale into new markets with less effort 👉 Go here to read our blog post on how to accelerate your sales growth with resale enabled offers (REO) through guidance in App Advisor.Accelerate your sales growth with resale enabled offers (REO) through guidance in App Advisor
Why start with App Advisor? If you’re looking to expand your sales reach quickly and efficiently, App Advisor helps clarify your options. It provides tailored guidance to help you understand resale enabled offers (REO) and determine whether this pathway to near global scale is right for your marketplace strategy. Microsoft Marketplace offers several ways to grow through partners, and choosing the right one can feel complex. App Advisor simplifies the decision, giving you clear, scenario‑based guidance on REO, Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), multi‑party offers (MPO), and customer private offers, so you can confidently pick the model that aligns with your goals. Grow globally with resale enabled offers Resale enabled offers (REO) open the channel-led marketplace opportunity for near-global scale. Many software companies like you rely on channel partnerships for the sales and implementation of their solution. With this feature, you can enable your channel partner(s) to sell on your behalf, creating a simplified pathway for recurring revenue and growth. For the channel, this helps unlock pre-committed cloud budget in new markets while also helping cut down implementation times as solutions are pre-configured to deploy on Azure. If you’ve been looking for a clearer, faster path to a channel-led sales motion, REO provides the structure and automation to help you grow. ough channels only continues to grow. Why resale enabled offers matter REO changes the way you can sell. It gives you a repeatable resale model inside Microsoft Marketplace to help you break through to new markets without adding overhead while channel partners maintain their customer relationships while getting the added value of Marketplace. The result is a simplified path to recurring revenue: one that aligns offer owners, channel partners, and customers around a more efficient transaction flow. The benefits of REO Resale enabled offers can help grow your bottom line with ease: Authorization to resell is nearly instantaneous, Your reach grows to match your reseller’s markets, Channel partners take on more of the sales execution, You only enable resale once. No repeated setup or engineering work required, Both you and your channel partner earn full Marketplace Billed Sales (MBS) credit, enabling you to maximize Marketplace Rewards benefits. These advantages make REO a strategic lever for you to move toward a broader channel-led distribution model while helping you stay agile, expanding your reach, and avoiding adding extra overhead. How resale enabled offers work You can offer a REO on any SaaS or Azure Virtual Machine (VM) offer. The REO experience is designed to be simple, structured, and predictable for both the offer owner and the reseller. You, as the offer owner, come to an agreement with a channel partner to sell your offer. You authorize this sale in Partner Center (once) and then your channel partner is empowered to sell your offer, either as a customer private offer or as a multi-party offer (MPO). With this additional way to sell, you’ll be able to scale without worrying about hiring more salespeople. Other ways to sell at scale With many great ways to sell through negotiated deals or channel partners within Microsoft Marketplace, it can sometimes be challenging to choose. If you’re not sure which options are right for your marketplace offers, App Advisor can help you choose. To discover the benefits of REO, Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), MPO, and customer private offers, and when to use which, see how to grow with negotiated deals and channel partners here. Ready to unlock channel-led scale? Resale enabled offers can create a faster, more predictable path for software companies that want to expand with ease through channel partners. With simplified resale authorization, broader reach, and shared sales credit, REO makes it easier to activate partners and grow your marketplace presence. Ready to explore your path to channel-led scale? Visit App Advisor to get started.Becoming a Frontier Firm: Accelerate custom app development with Quick-Start Development Toolkit
Frontier firms are moving faster to build and monetize AI apps and agents at scale. To help teams keep up, the Quick-Start Development Toolkit now gets you from idea to code in minutes with guided patterns, reference architecture, and deployable templates. If you’re starting your next AI app or agent, start here: Becoming a Frontier Firm: Accelerate custom app development with Quick-Start Development Toolkit | Microsoft Community HubBecoming a Frontier Firm: Accelerate custom app development with Quick-Start Development Toolkit
The theme of Ignite was undeniable: Frontier firms are transforming business with investments and projects developing AI apps and agents. And these aren’t just businesses using AI - they’re companies developing and monetizing AI apps and agents. The numbers are clear - here are a few compelling stats from a global study commissioned by Microsoft with the International Data Corporation (IDC) about Frontier firms: 67% are monetizing industry-specific AI use cases to boost revenue 58% use custom AI, and in the next two years, that will increase to 77% Those building agentic solutions will grow 3x in the next two years ROI is 3x higher for Frontier firms than slower adopters It’s no longer a question. Companies who get ahead, make and sell AI apps and agentic solutions. But it can be difficult to develop at the speed of AI. To answer the challenge of streamlining and shortening the development cycle, we’ve improved the Quick-Start Development Toolkit to help your team start coding in minutes. Getting simple guidance for custom application development To help your team go from idea to coding in minutes, we've introduced the Quick-Start Development Toolkit. Teams were spending too much time with false starts or hunting for AI app or agent code templates. With expert developer guidance, we created the Quick-Start Development patterns - a package that includes a sample solution reference diagram, custom code templates for your dev team to download and customize, and high-value resources to address common development challenges. We’ve also made it easier to find the right development pattern for your needs. Answer a few questions to see how to develop an AI app We’ve built an interactive wizard that makes it easy for software companies to go from thinking about AI or agentic solutions to solve a problem directly to creating custom code. The process is easy: Go to Quick-Start Development Toolkit Click on “Find the right pattern for your needs” Answer a few simple questions about your priority scenario, environment, and tools Land on a development pattern designed to help your team start coding in minutes With development patterns ranging from flexible AI app or agent development with Microsoft Foundry to multi-agent custom automation to integrating your data with Microsoft Fabric Unified Data Foundation, you’ll find a development pattern to get started on your next AI app or agent. Not the right fit? Keep looking at focused patterns, all created in partnership with Microsoft experts. If your project has a different focus, like migrating or replicating an AWS app to Azure or integrating Microsoft Security to an app, the Quick-Start Development Toolkit has development templates for these, too. Take the confusion out of how to make an app and then publish and monetize it After you're done developing, realize full ROI on your app or agent and help other companies advance their Frontier level by publishing and selling it on Microsoft Marketplace. Within each development pattern, you can get curated guidance from App Advisor to package, publish, and sell your app. Ready to get started with your next AI app project? Visit the Quick-Start Development Toolkit today!AI innovation takes center stage at Microsoft Ignite
Artificial intelligence is transforming how software companies build, scale, and deliver solutions. At Microsoft Ignite, we announced new tools and programs to help developers accelerate innovation responsibly, from AI-powered workflows and unified tools in Microsoft Foundry to Cohere’s language models on Azure. Plus, the global launch of Microsoft Marketplace brings the industry’s largest catalog of AI apps and agents, enabling partners to reach new customers and unlock growth. Explore the latest announcements and learn how to ship faster, scale confidently, and turn AI innovation into business impact. Read the full articleAccelerate your multi-cloud strategy with Azure storage
Looking to expand your AWS-based solution into Microsoft Azure? Discover how to map your existing storage architecture to Azure’s native services and unlock new performance, scalability, and marketplace opportunities. This guide breaks down key differences between AWS and Azure storage, offers migration best practices, and helps you align with Azure Marketplace requirements for a seamless transition. Read the full blog to explore storage migration paths, service comparisons, and tips for building a resilient, Azure-native deployment. Explore the article
New To The Community
Hello ISV Success Community, As a new member to the community, I decided to start with an introduction. I’m Aubin Bakana, Founder and CTIO (Chief Technology & Innovation Officer) of Baobab Logix LTD, now based in Leeds, UK. I lead technology and innovation, driving solutions that are secure, ethical, and intelligent. At Baobab Logix, we’re building future-ready platforms that empower businesses to thrive. One of our flagship innovations is KeepComm Intel, a next-generation contact center solution that combines AI-driven automation with human-in-the-loop architecture for speed, accuracy, and trust. As a Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Harvard CS50 certified, and full-stack developer, I bring deep technical expertise and a vision for sustainable innovation. I’m here to connect, collaborate, and share insights with fellow innovators who believe in shaping technology for good. Looking forward to engaging with this amazing community and exploring opportunities to build impactful solutions together! thank you.
