Azure is designed to unify operations, simplify application development, and unify data management across distributed infrastructure.
As AI continues to redefine how businesses operate, organizations are facing new challenges and demands on their technology platforms. Today’s enterprises want systems that can process massive amounts of data to enable real-time insights while overcoming the challenges of operations, applications, data, and infrastructure tasks across cloud, edge, IT, and OT environments. Or on-premises.
This is where Azure’s adaptive cloud approach, enabled by Azure Arc, comes into play. Azure is designed to unify operations, simplify application development, and unify data management across distributed infrastructure to meet the needs of an AI-driven world.
At Microsoft’s Ignite conference, we announced new features that make it easier to use the power of Azure whenever you need it. These announcements include the preview of Azure Arc gateways, introduction of Windows Server management supported by Azure Arc, preview of Azure Container Storage supported by Azure Arc, Azure Monitor Pipelines, Azure Key Vault secret storage, and general availability of Azure IoT. ) is included. Operations, Fabric real-time intelligence, Azure Local introduction, etc.
Azure Arc, a key component of this approach, now supports more than 39,000 customers worldwide to connect servers, databases, and Kubernetes clusters directly to Azure. Azure Arc’s rapid growth shows that the cloud is more than just a place. This is a paradigm shift that will spread across all organizations. We’re excited to share how customers like LALIGA, Coles, Husqvarna, and Emirates Global Aluminum are leveraging an adaptive cloud approach to achieve their business goals.
Operate anywhere with AI-enhanced management and security
For one of our customers, LALIGA, one of the world’s largest soccer leagues, Azure’s adaptive cloud approach is critical to managing an infrastructure that enables real-time data processing across stadiums and digital platforms to deliver engaging fan experiences. I did it. LALIGA adopted Azure Arc to seamlessly manage both cloud and on-premises environments, process more than 3 million data points per game, and enable rapid AI-based insights. This integrated platform provides LALIGA with the flexibility and scalability to react to dynamic fan interactions and optimize operations, enabling it to continue to evolve with new technologies and market demands.
“The challenges we face can be solved through an adaptive cloud approach. I think we have the right tool: Azure Arc. This allows us to manage our infrastructure whether it’s in the cloud, on-premises, or at the edge.”—Miguel Angel Leal Góngora, LALIGA Chief Technology and Innovation Officer
Enabling operational resiliency and security across distributed systems is a fundamental requirement that helps maintain services and protect sensitive data.
Azure provides comprehensive tools to help simplify the operations and management of both infrastructure and applications, including configuration management and governance, resiliency and observability, built-in security and controls, and universal AI assistants like Copilot on Azure. . An essential part of simplifying cloud connectivity in data centers and edge sites is the new Azure Arc gateway In preview. Built based on customer feedback, this feature provides a streamlined approach to increase control over your network infrastructure by simplifying cloud connectivity and making it easier for teams to manage cloud connections.
We’re also simplifying access to: Windows Server management supported through Azure Arc. Customers with Software Assurance (SA) or active subscription licenses have access to certain Azure Arc-enabled management features at no additional cost. By connecting servers to Azure, customers can use more than 20 Azure services, including Azure Update Manager, Computer Configuration, and Azure Monitor, as well as Windows Server features such as Azure Site Recovery and Best Practices Assessment. These tools help you centralize and modernize management across hybrid, multi-cloud, and edge environments.
Simplify app development and accelerate innovation with Arc-enabled Kubernetes.
Leveraging cloud-native development to drive innovation is a core focus of modern infrastructure, and Microsoft’s adaptive cloud approach provides solutions to help developers do it more easily.
One of the key challenges developers face is maintaining application reliability even in disconnected or intermittent network scenarios. An important part of this solution is the new Azure Container Storage supported through Azure ArcCurrently in preview. Azure Container Storage allows developers to build containerized applications that work seamlessly across environments, regardless of where data is stored and despite intermittent connectivity. This feature automatically synchronizes data between local storage and cloud environments when connectivity is restored, allowing developers to confidently build scalable and robust edge solutions.
new Azure Monitor Pipeline It allows your team to efficiently collect and process large amounts of data, allowing you to quickly identify and resolve potential problems. This streamlined data pipeline is key to maintaining operational efficiency and scaling modern cloud-based applications across distributed environments.
Security is becoming increasingly complex as systems span the cloud, data centers, and the edge. Azure Key Vault secret storage It provides a powerful solution for managing secrets within a Kubernetes cluster, providing features such as automatic rotation of secrets for increased security. This modern cloud security approach helps keep sensitive information safe across Linux and Windows environments and provides a reliable and scalable way to protect applications and workloads.
Coles operates more than 1,800 stores across Australia, including 850 Coles Supermarkets branches. Striving to create a seamless experience for millions of customers both offline and online, the retailer continues to invest in innovative technologies such as AI and computer vision. Coles uses Azure Machine Learning to train and develop edge AI models and run these models locally in stores. By leveraging Azure’s adaptive cloud approach, the company reports that it has achieved its goal of increasing the speed at which it can deploy applications to its stores by six times.
“We look forward to working more with Microsoft over the next 12 months to build Azure Machine Learning workloads for the edge so we can seamlessly test and deploy new models and ensure the auditability of our models and their different versions over time. It will. “Azure’s automated machine learning tools have been really useful to us and have reduced our data annotation time for model training by 50%.”—Roslyn Mackay, Head of Technology Innovation, Coles Group
Integrate data from edge to cloud for AI-driven insights
In a recent Forrester survey commissioned by Microsoft, respondents reported that, on average, 46% of data captured by their organizations is currently transferred to the cloud, and that they expect that number to increase to 68% in just two years. Azure Arc allows organizations to more consistently manage and secure connected devices across distributed environments, ensuring data integrity at all levels.
GA Azure IoT Operations It further enhances this capability by simplifying the process of collecting, managing, and processing data from IoT devices. Additionally, G.A. Fabric real-time intelligence Collect signals at the edge for transformation, visualization, tracking, AI, and real-time operations in the cloud. This complements Fabric’s existing suite of insights and analytics capabilities, including OneLake and Power BI. These services help give enterprises the ability to fully leverage AI across their distributed assets.
Husqvarna is a world leader in outdoor products for forestry, parks, lawn and garden care, as well as light industrial equipment and diamond tools. Husqvarna’s business goals include doubling the number of connected devices currently on the market, doubling sales of robotic lawn mowers and increasing market share of electric solutions. All of this requires a highly effective global supply chain. Husqvarna sees its Azure IoT operations as a critical component of its defining platform by providing new capabilities to build a data-driven global supply chain and improve processes in ways previously difficult to achieve. For Husqvarna, the ability to leverage data on a global scale allows it to develop a stronger, more efficient supply chain, reduce costs and improve the efficiency of delivering goods to customers.
Innovation through blended infrastructure
Microsoft’s vision for the future of distributed infrastructure is focused on fundamentally redefining what cloud infrastructure means by seamlessly blending the cloud and customer experiences. Rather than treating the cloud as a separate entity, Microsoft’s approach integrates customer environments with cloud services, allowing enterprises to scale technology operations across data center, edge, and public cloud environments.
The cornerstone of this vision is Azure local. Azure Local is an Arc-enabled infrastructure purpose-built for local data processing and mission-critical workloads, bringing cloud-like capabilities to your on-premises environments. This solution allows organizations to manage workloads that require low latency and powerful performance while leveraging the scalability and resilience of the cloud.
Azure Local’s architecture is built to support near-real-time processing requirements and can help provide customers with more options for their compliance needs, including distributed or disconnected scenarios.
Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA), headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, has grown rapidly from small regional smelters to a vertically integrated aluminum supplier serving more than 400 customers ranging from aerospace, automotive and consumer goods, and is now the world’s largest premium aluminum supplier. We are a manufacturer. To support both field operations and a wide range of cloud-based solutions, including digital manufacturing platforms, EGA is now moving one-third of its server base to the cloud using Azure, and another third using hybrid and one using Azure Local. Integrate leading public and private clouds from providers.
After bringing the power of the cloud to its operational footprint, EGA has achieved 10-13x faster AI response times, reduced latency, and 86x lower costs for AI video and image recognition compared to building AI models independently at the edge. % savings.
“The Microsoft Azure hybrid cloud provides not only Infrastructure as a Service capabilities, but also many software and platform features that open up new possibilities not previously available in on-premises environments. One of its core capabilities is running real-time AI data analytics in operations. For example, we used to manually inspect only 2% of the anodes, which are large blocks of carbon used in the aluminum smelting process. We now inspect 100% of all anodes using vision AI based on neural machine learning models running at the edge (using Azure Local). “This model allows us to standardize inspection processes by automatically recognizing defects in real time, beyond what the human eye can see.”—Carlo Khalil Nizam, Chief Digital Officer, EGA
Looking Ahead: Join us in shaping the future of adaptive cloud
Microsoft’s commitment to an adaptive cloud approach doesn’t just address today’s challenges. It’s about preparing your organization to succeed in the AI-driven world of tomorrow. We are excited to partner with you to redefine what is possible in a distributed environment through continuous innovation.
Want to learn more about our roadmap and how Azure supports innovation across industries? Check out our Microsoft Ignite sessions and blogs to learn more about the latest announcements, hear from experts, and learn how an adaptive cloud approach can help you. Let’s build the future together.
