GPT‑5.1 in Foundry: A Workhorse for Reasoning, Coding, and Chat
Azure AI Foundry is unveiling OpenAI’s GPT-5.1 series, the next generation of reasoning, analytics, and conversational intelligence. The following models will be rolling out in Foundry today: GPT-5.1: adaptive, more efficient reasoning GPT-5.1-chat: chat with new chain-of-thought for end-users GPT-5.1-codex: optimized for long-running conversations with enhanced tools and agentic workflows GPT-5.1-codex-mini: a compact variant for resource-constrained environments Learn more here!Congratulations to the 2025 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards winners and finalists
Each year, Microsoft partners redefine what’s possible for customers through innovation, collaboration, and trust built with Microsoft Cloud and AI. Partners impact industries across the globe, enabling organizations to modernize operations, unlock new opportunities with AI, and deliver sustainable growth at scale. The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards celebrate that impact. These awards recognize the partners who have set a new standard for excellence by activating Frontier Firm capability, advancing business transformation, creating customer success, and contributing to positive change in their communities. I’m proud to announce the 2025 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards winners and finalists. This year’s awards span eight global categories that reflect the breadth of innovation across our ecosystem: Azure Business Applications Modern Work Security Industry Social Impact Partner Innovation Business Transformation In addition to the global award categories, we’re recognizing partners from over 80 countries and regions as part of the Country and Region Partner of the Year Awards. Together, these honorees represent the strength and diversity of our ecosystem and the collective innovation that drives us forward. This year, we received more than 4,600 nominations from 100 countries and regions, reflecting the continued momentum and growth of our ecosystem. Every submission showcased innovation, technical excellence, and inclusion as partners bring transformative solutions to market. We’ll celebrate these achievements together at Microsoft Ignite, taking place November 18–21, 2025. I look forward to connecting with many of you there as we recognize success, share insights, and continue to accelerate opportunity and innovation together. Register to attend Microsoft Ignite. You can explore the full list of winners and finalists on the Partner of the Year Awards website, along with stories highlighting partner innovation across Azure, Business Applications, Modern Work, and Security. Congratulations to this year’s winners, finalists, and nominees. Your dedication to customer success and your drive to transform business through Microsoft Cloud solutions continue to define what’s possible when we innovate together.OpenAI’s open‑source model: gpt‑oss on Azure AI Foundry and Windows AI Foundry
Open-weight models give customer decision makers control and flexibility - no black boxes, fewer trade-offs, and more options across deployment, compliance, and cost. With OpenAI’s gpt-oss open-weight models on Azure AI Foundry, you can: Fine-tune and distill the models using your own data and deploy with confidence. Mix open and proprietary models to match task-specific needs. Spin up inference endpoints using gpt oss in the cloud with just a few CLI commands. And Foundry Local makes gpt‑oss-20b usable on a high-performance Windows PC – enabling use-cases in offline settings, buildings in a secure network, or running at the edge. Check out more here!Sign up for Microsoft Partner Incentives performance measurement reports
As part of a larger push to empower you to deliver exceptional business outcomes, we've introduced incentives performance measurement reports, available through email. Delivered during the first week of every month, these reports include presales and post-sales partner performance measurements and earning cap status so you can get essential insights into your engagements across hero investments. These hero investments include Azure Accelerate, AI Workforce: Microsoft 365 Copilot + Power Accelerate, Al Business Process, and Security Activities. Here’s what to expect: Performance requirements pausing policy: Starting on November 15, 2025,* partners who are not meeting performance requirements will be paused from nominating new claims. This applies only to new nominations; in-progress projects will not be affected. Further, partners who have reached their earning cap and have nominations paused will be notified when they are eligible to nominate projects again. Reactivation of nominations: Paused partners will be reviewed each Tuesday by Microsoft to determine if they meet performance thresholds. Those who meet thresholds will be notified by email within two business days after their review and reactivated within seven business days after their review. Earning cap reviews: Partners who are approaching their earning cap and are meeting performance benchmarks will be considered for an earning cap increase based on budget availability and quality of claims. Claim quality can be affected by factors such as accuracy of your activity reporting, number of duplicate claims, and how your investments are leveraged. Increased cap value: If you’re approved for an earning cap increase, you can expect up to 50% above the engagement’s initial cap. Earning cap extension approval is not guaranteed. Earning cap pausing: Partners who have reached their earning cap and did not receive a notification of an increased cap based on review will be paused from submitting new claims and will be notified. This pause applies only to new nominations; in-progress projects will remain unaffected. No partner action is required, and Microsoft will proactively review and communicate decisions about earning caps. Review the updated policy for partner performance measurements and earning caps (available November 1, 2025). Sign up now for monthly reports so you can fuel transformation with expertise and funding and drive faster time to value for your projects. Sign up for monthly reports today! *Starting December 1, 2025, Security Activities will issue monthly partner performance reports, and beginning January 1, 2026, partners not meeting requirements will be paused from nominating new claims.Azure Kubernetes Service Automatic: Fast and frictionless Kubernetes for all
AKS Automatic simplifies Kubernetes by offering a fully managed, opinionated experience that abstracts away from infrastructure complexity, while keeping the full power of Kubernetes at your fingertips. Learn how production-ready clusters and automated infrastructure operations can accelerate your time to delivery and simplify operations for you! Check out the announcement blog here!Join the Movement at Azure Dev Summit!
Azure Dev Summit is a chance for you to join a community of developers, architects, and tech leaders building with Azure, .NET, and Microsoft AI. This isn’t just another conference. It is a Microsoft-sponsored celebration of innovation, learning, and connection — and we’re bringing some of the most inspiring voices in tech to the stage. Find out more about the speakers at Azure Dev Summit and make sure to register! https://azuredevsummit.com/Partner Blog | Azure updates for partners: October 2025
AI is reshaping industries—and fast. Partners like you are at the center of this transformation, helping customers modernize, innovate, and scale with confidence. To help you stay ahead, we’re launching the Azure Partner Update, a recurring update designed to keep you up to date with the latest developments and accelerate your business. Expect curated insights, bold perspectives, and the latest tools to help you lead with cloud solutions and AI and build what’s next. Spotlight One of this month’s top updates is the reimagined Microsoft Marketplace, now a trusted central source for cloud solutions, AI apps and agents for customers, and a scale engine for partners. Marketplace continues to evolve as an extension of the Microsoft Cloud, connecting your innovations directly to customers where they work. The new AI Apps and Agents category empowers customers to discover AI solutions that integrate seamlessly with Microsoft products, creating new paths for partners to reach buyers and scale impact. We also announced several technical updates designed to make cloud deployments faster and more flexible: Broadcom’s VMware licensing changes now enable Azure VMware Solution (AVS) customers to bring their own VMware Cloud Foundations license, giving them more control and potential cost savings. Azure AI Foundry continues to advance, and now features GPT-5-Codex, gpt-realtime, and new browser automation tools that make it easier to build and deploy intelligent applications. AKS Automatic has reached general availability, simplifying Kubernetes management and reducing time to production. Oracle Database@Azure now spans 23 regions, expanding global reach and resilience for your customers. New integrations across data sources, CI/CD capabilities, and agent automation within Fabric were introduced at FabCon. Continue reading hereEpisode 001 of the new Series in Cloud & Hosting Partner Online Meetings starts in four hours
Hi, yes, after 17 years and 166 episodes of the Cloud & Hosting Partner Online Meeting we have a reset, a restart, a rewire, a new chapter. As many of you know I took redundancy from Microsoft about 2 months ago and nothing can hold me back from wanting to help the Microsoft Partner Community. "I'm back" 😎. In just four hours from now we start with Episode 001 of the new series and here is the agenda It's not too late to register. Just click https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/4a9991d2-4d76-4c73-b02a-ec3d010d6305@3f10d240-96cd-405f-8075-e66a8c526be5. See you online soon. Regards, PhilHelp customers boost productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot—15% savings through Dec. 31
We’ve extended our promo offer of 15% off partner net on Microsoft 365 Copilot for 10–2,400 seats for eligible new customers through December 31, 2025, with annual commitment required and monthly billing available. Use the Microsoft partner offer kit to package licenses, services, and training—and accelerate AI adoption while capitalizing on excitement around GPT-5 coming to Copilot. Make the most of this promo—package your “Getting Started” offer and move now. Discount: 15% off partner net price. Window: October 1–December 31, 2025. Eligibility: New customers with qualifying Microsoft 365 prerequisite licenses; 10–2,400 seats per subscription. Seat additions: Seats can be added any time during the annual term (up to 2,400) at promo price if the initial purchase was within the promo window. Term and billing: Annual commitment; monthly billing option available (+5% vs. annual upfront). Renewal: After the one-year term, pricing reverts to standard rates. Reduce/cancel window: Changes and cancellations are allowed within 168 hours of purchase or renewal (prorated refund where applicable); no reductions below 10-seat minimum allowed after that window. Verification: Eligibility and promo application is visible in Partner Center at checkout and reflected in the Get promotions API and Global Promo Readiness Guide. Co-terming: Supported when the underlying Microsoft 365 licenses were purchased from you; aligns Copilot end date with an existing Microsoft 365 subscription. Nonprofit/EDU/GCC: Nonprofits are eligible for 15% discount via CSP nonprofit SKU (no minimum, no seat cap). Partner next action: Pair this pricing with a fixed-fee “Getting Started” services bundle (planning, setup, success metrics, and initial licenses) to lock in 12 months of value and momentum. Learn how to go to market with this promoPartner Blog | Partner Center Technical Corner: September 2025 edition
Welcome to the September edition of Partner Center Technical Corner. This month, we’re highlighting new investments in partner enablement, essential security enhancements, and a recap of recent releases. As always, you’ll find the latest roadmap and key Partner Center resources at the end of this post. Advancing partner success: SMB growth and AI transformation Empowering SMB growth through Azure and Security designations: The introduction of dedicated small and medium-sized business (SMB) paths for Solutions Partner designations in Azure and Security marks a pivotal shift for smaller partners. Instead of being measured against enterprise-scale benchmarks, partners now have access to thresholds and scoring models that reflect the realities of SMB operations. Progress is visible in the Insights Workspace, and expanded incentives, like Azure Migrate & Modernize and Azure Innovate, are now directly tied to designation attainment. For partners, this means that innovation and customer impact are recognized at every scale, and the path to growth is clearer than ever. For more information, visit: Solutions Partner for Security Solutions Partner for Azure SMB paths to Solutions Partner designations Continue reading article here
