Interesting updates from Microsoft Ignite 2023

This November, technologists from around the world come together for Microsoft's flagship annual event, Microsoft Ignite. 

Microsoft announced more than 100 new updates across every facet of their technology portfolio.

Here are three updates that caught our eye!

1. Microsoft Azure is rapidly expanding to deliver purpose-built cloud infrastructure. 

This includes:

• Introducing the first Microsoft custom AI accelerator, Azure Maia 100; it’s designed to run cloud-based training and inferencing for AI workloads such as OpenAI models, Bing, GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT.
• Introducing the first Microsoft in-house processor built on ARM architecture, Azure Cobalt CPU, designed for Microsoft Cloud. 
• Adding the latest NVIDIA innovation to Azure AI infrastructure portfolio, including the latest NVIDIA H200 Tensor GPUs to the ND Virtual Machines Series.
• Making Azure Boost generally available! This system offloads virtualization processes to purpose-built software and hardware.
  
  

2. Microsoft Azure AI, data, and application innovations are helping turn AI ambitions into reality.

Innovations include:

• Dall-E 3 is now available in preview in Azure OpenAI Service. Assistants API will simplify building agent-like experiences in their apps.
• GPT-4 Turbo with Vision will soon be available in preview in Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Studio. Developers can enable applications to see, understand, and make inferences from visual inputs and text-based prompt instructions.
• Azure Cognitive Search has become Azure AI Search. Vector search and semantic ranker (formerly semantic search) in Azure AI Search are now generally available.
• Azure Machine Learning and Azure AI Studio now feature Prompt flow.
• Kubernetes AI Toolchain Operator is now available in preview; Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager is now generally available
• .NET 8, the next milestone in enterprise development, is now generally available; GitHub Copilot Chat will become available this month, bringing natural language as the new universal language for software development.
  
  

3. Microsoft Copilot has received excellent feedback and is rapidly expanding.

According to the Work Trend Index Special Report, Copilot makes people more productive and creative and saves time, with 77% of respondents saying they don’t want to give it up after testing it.

Just some of the exciting things in store for Copilot:

• Microsoft have introduced Microsoft Copilot Studio, which brings together a set of powerful conversational capabilities, from Custom GPTs, generative AI plugins, and manual topics.
• The Copilot Studio integration with Microsoft 365 is now available in Preview!
• Copilot is being made more accessible – Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise will now simply become Copilot. When signed in with an Entra ID, customers using Copilot in Bing, Edge and Windows will receive the benefit of commercial data protection for free.
• Copilot can be personalized, used on Teams (with Intelligent recap) and in Outlook, allowing you to create meeting prep summaries, navigate bulky email threads effortlessly with email thread analysis, and simplify meeting scheduling.
• The Microsoft Loop app is now generally available and built for the new way of working, with a flexible canvas for collaboration between people and generative AI to create a center of gravity for your projects and a space for your team and Copilot to think, plan, and create together.
   

Are you ready for Microsoft innovation?

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