Urheberrecht: Nvidia wegen Rechtsverletzung beim KI-Training verklagt
Drei Autoren haben wegen der unerlaubten Nutzung ihrer Werke für das KI-Training eine Urheberrechts-Sammelklage gegen Nvidia eingereicht. (KI, Urheberrecht)
Quelle: Golem
Drei Autoren haben wegen der unerlaubten Nutzung ihrer Werke für das KI-Training eine Urheberrechts-Sammelklage gegen Nvidia eingereicht. (KI, Urheberrecht)
Quelle: Golem
Nach dem Brandanschlag auf eine Stromleitung, der gegen Tesla gerichtet war, kommen die Reparaturen schnell voran. (Gigafactory Berlin, Elektroauto)
Quelle: Golem
Wer den Fernzugriff für seine Fritzbox aktiviert hat, findet im Protokoll derzeit womöglich fehlgeschlagene Anmeldeversuche vor. Ein Problem ist das in der Regel nicht. (Fritzbox, Netzwerk)
Quelle: Golem
Die erste funktionsfähige Kryptowährung ist ein Multimilliarden-Kosmos und gleichzeitig ein freies Softwareprojekt mit minimalistischen Strukturen. Eine Analyse von Stefan Mey (Wer hat das Sagen bei freien Projekten, Open Source)
Quelle: Golem
Youtuber haben das Steam Deck OLED auf Burn-in getestet. Der Effekt ist teils deutlich zu sehen – Die Frage ist, wie schnell das geht. (Steam Deck, OLED)
Quelle: Golem
Every day we see new and amazing things unfolding for individuals and businesses because of generative AI. Imagination is unlocked for content creators, time is saved on routine tasks, and the customer service experience is forever changed. The excitement is palpable but one thing that can temper all that excitement? A data strategy that doesn’t align with your AI aspirations.
A sound data strategy—how data is collected, stored, managed, analyzed, and used to achieve business goals—is the foundation of any successful AI project. We like to say data operates as the currency of AI, because the real magic and value from any AI technology or intelligent application happens when it’s applied to your own data.
When it comes to ensuring your data strategy supports your AI objectives, what works for one company may not work for another. Every company has different data sources, needs, and objectives, but there are some common elements to check.
For instance, is there alignment between your data vision and goals, business strategy, and AI use cases? Are there gaps or challenges across your data landscape, like siloed data, multiple reporting tools, and more? Is governance in place to ensure security, data quality, and compliance?
Choosing the right data platform, along with the right tools and services, is essential. And of course, we think the best choice is the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform, powered by Microsoft Azure, where you can seamlessly unify your data estate to efficiently manage your infrastructure, data, analytics, and AI solutions.
Here are just a few of the latest updates and resources we’re making available in Azure to fuel your innovation, connect your apps and data estate to your AI transformation strategies, and unlock the power of data as the currency of AI.
What’s new in data, AI, and digital applications
First on Azure: Mistral’s flagship model Mistral Large
This week we announced Mistral AI will bring its flagship model, Mistral Large, first to Azure and the Mistral AI platform. With Mistral Large on Azure, customers get the benefit of a highly performant and efficient large language model (LLM) that’s cost-effective. Mistral AI is just one of the latest ways we’re providing our customers with flexibility and options so they can decide which model is best for their business. Read more on the partnership.
Microsoft recognized as a Leader in 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Data Integration Tools and 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Container Management
For the third year in a row, Gartner has positioned Microsoft as a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Data Integration Tools. Data integration has become a critical operation as organizations seek to draw on vast data stores to empower decision making and fuel innovation. Learn more about our data integration capabilities and read the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Data Integration Tools report.
Cloud-native technologies like containers and Kubernetes are the future of application development. That’s why we’re honored to announce that Microsoft has been named a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Container Management. Learn more about our approach to integrating Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) with other Azure services. And read the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Container Management report.
Azure OpenAI Service: Assistants API, new models for fine-tuning, text-to-speech, and more
We recently announced several new capabilities, models, and pricing improvements, including the launch of Assistants API (preview), which makes it simple for developers to create high-quality, copilot-like experiences within their own applications. There are also new text-to-speech capabilities, model updates for OpenAI GPT-4 Turbo (preview) and GPT-3.5 Turbo, and new embeddings models. Also available are fine-tuning API updates, including a new model, support for continuous fine-tuning, and lower pricing. Explore what’s new in Azure OpenAI.
Microsoft Fabric is now HIPAA compliant
Microsoft Fabric, our comprehensive analytics solution for businesses in the era of AI, has earned new accreditations for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) including ISO 27017, ISO 27018, ISO 27001, and ISO 27701. These accreditations show our dedication to ensuring the best level of security, compliance, and privacy for our customers’ data.
Announcing native document support for personally identifiable information redaction and summarization
Redacting personally identifiable information (PII) from a document is often a manual process, which can be time-consuming, expensive, and inconvenient. To alleviate this challenge, we are excited to announce the availability of native document support in Azure AI Language, which automates PII redaction. It is available in public preview. You can apply for access to this feature today.
Achieving sustainable growth with Azure and FinOps best practices
This month we introduced two game-changing Microsoft Azure capabilities addressing the global priority to reduce IT carbon footprints and optimize cloud costs: Azure Carbon Optimization (preview) and Microsoft Azure Emissions Insights (preview). Discover how FinOps best practices can strategically guide your business through the intricacies of carbon emission reduction and learn more about Azure Carbon Optimization.
SQL Server enabled by Microsoft Azure Arc now offers Azure SQL migration assessment
As a first step in enabling an end-to-end migration to put your data to work, empower innovation, and be AI ready, SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc now offers Azure SQL migration assessment as a built-in capability. Arc SQL Server continuously assesses the SQL Server estate and provides readiness and optimal Azure SQL size recommendations.
New migration service in Azure Database for PostgreSQL (preview)
The new migration service in Azure Database for PostgreSQL simplifies the process of moving PostgreSQL databases from anywhere to Azure, offering both offline and online migration options from an on-premises server, Amazon Web Service Relational Database Service (AWS RDS) for PostgreSQL, Azure Virtual Machines (VMs), and Azure Database for PostgreSQL-Single Server. Advantages of Azure Database for PostgreSQL-Flexible Server include cost-effective scaling and performance, improved control and customization, enhanced security features, and more.
Azure SQL Database Hyperscale outpaces Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL by up to 68% in performance and value
We partnered with Principled Technologies on a commissioned study to compare Microsoft Azure SQL Database Hyperscale performance with other cloud databases in the market. The study clearly shows that Azure SQL Database Hyperscale easily manages the most critical workloads, outpacing Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL by up to 68% in both performance and value. Read the report from Principled Technologies.
Microsoft Azure Migrate and Modernize program expansion includes Oracle Exadata migration
Offers for Oracle workloads within Azure Migrate and Modernize have been extended to support customers migrating on-premises Oracle Exadata environments to Oracle Database@Azure. In addition, Exadata support is available in both Assess and Plan (pilot and proof of concept) and Migrate and Modernize phases. Microsoft partners and customers are both invited to learn more about Azure Migrate and Modernize and Azure Innovate.
Customers fueling transformation with data
NETZSCH Group creates single source of truth with Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform
Around the world, companies across a range of diverse markets rely on machinery and instrumentation developed by German-based holding company NETZSCH Group. The company recently began exploring how AI and IoT data could provide new avenues for growth. Because the company operated its three main business units independently, its old system was not made for big data, was not designed for anything AI-based, and wasn’t scalable. Needing to unify its siloed data as part of its AI journey, the company adopted the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform (MIDP). Using several Azure services, including Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Databricks, and Azure Machine Learning, the company unified its data and reduced the number of reporting tools from 12 to 1: Power BI. The company is now looking to use its modernized data estate and Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform to drive new avenues of growth. Read the full story.
ASOS uses Azure AI Studio to surprise and delight young fashion lovers
With the recent prevalence of generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, ASOS recognized a triple opportunity to expand its business model, enrich its technology infrastructure, and meet the modern tech expectations of its young customers. ASOS used Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI prompt flow with ChatGPT language models to rapidly develop and test an Azure OpenAI-powered customer experience that helps customers discover new looks.
Cognizant makes performance management more effective and meaningful with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning
Cognizant wanted to take performance management to new heights by making it more intelligent, more meaningful, and even more effective. Already familiar with the power of AI and machine learning, Cognizant set out to enhance its solution by focusing on improving the value and effectiveness of manager feedback to ensure all employees received feedback that was meaningful, easy to comprehend and actionable.
Astronomer delivers business-critical data with Microsoft Azure
Organizations depend on data to power their applications, run critical processes, produce analytics, and deliver AI. However, teams often struggle to deliver data reliably, scale their use of data, and implement governance and control. Astronomer, a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, provides a modern, enterprise-ready data orchestration platform powered by Apache Airflow. They are bringing this solution to Azure as a native service available to all Azure customers.
Datex debuts flexible supply chain software based on the Microsoft Azure Stack and Azure Integration Services
Datex delivers third-party logistics providers a comprehensive range of warehouse management solutions catering to their specific needs. To enhance scalability and dependability for fluctuating demands and expanding client requirements, Datex developed Wavelength, an enterprise low-code application platform (LCAP), utilizing Azure Stack and Azure Integration Services. This approach provided Datex with increased capability and adaptability, along with inherent scaling for various operational volumes.
Credit Europe Bank NV enhances customer experience with Azure, leaving legacy infrastructure behind
Dealing with its aging infrastructure, Credit Europe Bank NV chose Kubernetes Service and Azure AI services to upgrade their legacy infrastructure and revolutionize the IT operations and customer experience. It introduced features like real-time forex trading, soft tokens, and a swift, mobile-based customer onboarding process. With a modernized banking platform, enhanced security measures, and plans to further expand within the Microsoft ecosystem, the bank is set to grow and scale even further.
Skill up with these learning resources
Enable chat history with Azure AI Studio and Azure Cosmos DB
Deliver improved user experiences by providing easier access to past conversations. This feature empowers developers to build advanced chatbots leveraging custom data for informed responses and multimodal integration.
New resources for digital natives on Azure and Microsoft for startups
Visit our new digital natives on Azure site, a great resource and hub including use cases, customer stories, programs, blogs, event information, and learning paths. Also, check out Microsoft Learn for Startups. It’s packed with tools to help power startups with Microsoft technology, from getting up and running in the Microsoft Cloud to ensuring security and compliance for customers.
Official Azure Cosmos DB learning resources
Building intelligent apps with Azure Cosmos DB and want to better understand capabilities like vector search and how to implement RAG pattern, along with improved elasticity, and greater scale? Check out the Microsoft Learning resources for Azure Cosmos DB.
Official SQL Server learning resources
Prepare for the SQLBits conference on March 19 to 23, 2024 by leveraging our free Microsoft Learn resources on the official SQL Server Microsoft Learn Collection to help you better understand how to improve performance with the latest capabilities for Azure SQL Databases, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, and SQL Server enabled by AZ Arc Explore SQL Server. Visit the official SQL Server Microsoft Learn Collection.
A code-first experience for building a copilot with Azure AI Studio
In addition to a rich UI-driven experience perfect for low-code developers and learners, Azure AI Studio provides a code-first experience for pro developers who want to build custom functions, integrate with other services, and experiment with various features. Using the Azure AI command-line tool (CLI) or language-based libraries (SDK), developers can use a code-first experience to build applications that integrate models with AI services, manage resources involved in their solution(s), and safely and responsibly deploy solutions.
Microsoft Fabric Learn Together weekly series
Get caught up on this valuable learning series by watching sessions on demand. Sessions range from getting started with end-to-end analytics, to using Apache Spark in Fabric, working with Microsoft Azure Delta Lake tables, Microsoft Azure Data Factory pipelines, data ingestion, and more.
Get ready for the Microsoft Fabric Analytics Engineers exam
Thinking about taking the exam for the new Microsoft Fabric Analytics Engineer role? Take our new DP-600 practice exam featuring 50 sample questions to find out if you are ready and to see what areas you need to focus on to ace your exam. Try the practice exam on Microsoft Learn.
New Virtual Training Day tracks to accelerate your understanding of Azure Data and AI
Attend the newest virtual training day events for migrating and securing SQL Server, implementing a data lakehouse with Microsoft Fabric, and data fundamentals designed to build skills and get advice from experts.
Want to learn something new? We have more shows to help!
Explore Azure AI with The AI Show
Join Seth Juarez and friends to explore cutting-edge Azure AI developments and engage in insightful conversations with AI experts. The new channel hosts live episodes, on-demand segments, and provides seamless access to the latest content.
Watch on-demand: Make Azure AI Real
Microsoft Reactor’s Make Azure AI Real series is a collection of livestreams focused on AI technical labs from Microsoft experts. Learn how to use Microsoft AI tools and services, such Azure OpenAI Service, responsible AI, and more. You will also get insights into the latest AI trends and best practices. Watch on-demand and discover how to make AI real for your projects and goals.
New episode: Azure Innovation Podcast Featuring M12, Microsoft’s venture capital fund
Episode 3 features a chat with Michael Stewart, a Partner at M12, Microsoft’s venture capital fund. Get a unique perspective on how startups are spearheading AI innovation and standing out in a crowded market.
Opportunities to connect
KubeCon Paris: March 19 to 22, 2024, Paris
Microsoft Azure is a Diamond sponsor of KubeCon Europe, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s (CNCF) flagship conference for Kubernetes and open-source technology. Join us in Paris, France, March 19 to 22, 2024 to learn about the latest developments in cloud-native and AI. Azure will also be hosting a pre-day event focused on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for customers and partners on March 19, 2024.
Microsoft Fabric Community Conference: March 26 to 28, 2024
There’s still time to register for the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference in Las Vegas March 26 to 28, 2024 and see firsthand how Fabric and the rest of our data and AI products can help your organization prepare for the era of AI. You’ll hear from leading Microsoft and community experts from around the world and get hands on experiences with the latest features from Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Azure Databases, Azure Databricks, Azure AI, Microsoft Purview, and so much more. Use discount code MSCUST to get $100 off.
Microsoft JDConf 2024: Virtual Java developer conference March 27 to 28, 2024
This enriching two-day event March 27 to 28, 2024 will feature a selection of live sessions from leading voices in the Java community and Microsoft teams. We’re organizing separate live streams targeting three major regions: Americas; Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); and Asia-Pacific. This ensures that no matter where you are, you can be a part of Microsoft JDConf at a time that works best for you.
Azure Cosmos DB Conf 2024: April 16, 2024
This year’s theme is “Building the Next Generation of AI Apps with Azure Cosmos DB.” Tune into our April 16 livestream to watch sessions from Microsoft experts and community members and learn why Azure Cosmos DB is the database for the era of AI. You won’t want to miss it.
POSETTE: An event for Postgres 2024: June 11 to 13, 2024
Formerly called Citus Con, POSETTE is a free, virtual developer event Jun 11 to13, 2024. The name POSETTE stands for Postgres Open-Source Ecosystem Talks Training and Education. The event features four livestream opportunities to hear from open-source users, Azure database customers, and experts in PostgreSQL and Citus. Come learn what you can do with the world’s most advanced open-source relational database—from the nerdy to the sublime.
What’s new?
Jessica shares insights on technology transformation along with important updates and resources about the data, AI, and digital application solutions that make Microsoft Azure the platform for the era of AI. Find Jessica’s blog posts here and be sure to follow Jessica on LinkedIn.
The post What’s new in Azure Data, AI, and Digital Applications: Data operates as the currency of AI appeared first on Azure Blog.
Quelle: Azure
In the rapidly evolving world of technology, generative AI stands out, especially in its potential to transform the lives of people with disabilities. The past year has witnessed unparalleled advances in this domain, catalyzing significant breakthroughs in accessibility. The excitement surrounding generative AI is not just about the convenience it offers to the general populace, but also its profound impact on enhancing productivity and enabling individuals with disabilities to engage more fully in their preferred activities. This sentiment is at the heart of the advancements made possible by cutting-edge tools like Microsoft Copilot, which exemplify the transformative power of generative AI in making technology truly inclusive.
The application of Azure AI in enhancing accessibility is both broad and impactful, with Microsoft Copilot leading the charge. Here are six notable examples where Azure AI is making a difference:
1. Microsoft Copilot—The assistive tool for everyone
Copilot, powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, is at the forefront of this revolution, embodying the essence of assistive technology designed for everyone. The philosophy underpinning Copilot and similar generative AI tools is simple yet profound: accessibility is about adaptation to the individual’s needs. Through natural language processing capabilities, Copilot enables users to effortlessly request or generate adaptations specific to their requirements. Whether it’s simplifying complex documents or assisting someone who is colorblind in navigating color-coded charts, Copilot stands as a testament to the inclusive potential of generative AI. To learn more, watch this video on Copilot and Accessibility.
2. Seeing AI—Vision assistant, powered by Azure
Made with and for the blind community, this mobile app assists with daily tasks from understanding your surroundings, to reading the mail, to identifying products. Leveraging the power of Microsoft Azure GPT-4 Turbo with Vision, Seeing AI is able to generate highly detailed descriptions of photos. Users can also employ natural language capabilities to chat with Seeing AI and ask questions about a photo or document. Download Seeing AI here.
3. AI-powered audio descriptions
With the advancements in GPT-4 Turbo with Vision, Azure AI unlocks huge opportunities in video accessibility for blind and low-vision individuals. The enhanced computer vision capabilities now allow for more detailed and accessible video descriptions. If you’re interested in using computer vision to expand accessibility of videos in your organization, please fill in this form to express interest in our upcoming solution accelerator.
4. Alternative and augmentative communication (AAC)
Azure Neural Voices, utilized by AI for Accessibility grantee Cboard, brings natural voices to their open-source picture board communication app. This development, alongside the use of Azure OpenAI to refine sentence structure, opens up new possibilities for personalized communication.
5. Mental health support chatbots
The deployment of Azure OpenAI in creating mental health chatbots, exemplified by iWill in India, showcases the potential of AI in delivering crucial services to underserved populations. iWill uses a combination of AI, human-in-the-loop, and content safety filtering to ensure AI is used responsibly for vulnerable users with mental health concerns.
6. Accessible AI development in Microsoft Azure AI Studio
Microsoft is committed to making AI development accessible to all developers, regardless of their abilities. This commitment is reflected in the design and development of Azure AI Studio, which was created with accessibility as a foundational principle. As the disability community often says, “nothing about us without us”. By empowering developers with disabilities to take part in AI development, we hope to enable the next wave of AI-driven accessibility solutions—built by people with lived experience—that can benefit even more individuals.
Customer inspiration: NaturalReader
NaturalReader, a Canadian AI text-to-speech service provider, has significantly enhanced educational accessibility for millions of students worldwide by leveraging Azure AI to develop more authentic, natural-sounding voices and a convenient mobile app. This innovation not only doubled its global sales from 2022 to 2023 but also attracted several Ivy League colleges as customers. By addressing the challenges faced by students with learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, NaturalReader has made educational materials more accessible and engaging, helping to break down barriers to learning. The company’s success in improving voice quality and accessibility at scale, with a notable increase in daily users and app downloads, underscores the transformative impact of Azure AI on educational technology and the broader mission of making education accessible to all.
Human inspiration: Paralympian Lex Gillette
Team USA Paralympian Lex Gillette sat down with Microsoft to discuss how technology helps him in his daily life. He is the current world record holder in the long jump, a five-time Paralympic medalist, a four-time long jump world champion, and an 18-time national champion. He is the only totally blind athlete to ever eclipse the 22-foot barrier in the long jump. As Lex prepares for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, we are excited to follow his journey. Learn more about Lex Gillette’s journey on the Microsoft Cloud Blog.
Join us at the Microsoft Ability Summit
To delve deeper into the intersection of Azure AI and accessibility, we invite you to join us at the Microsoft Ability Summit on March 7, 2024. This free event will feature discussions on various aspects of AI and accessibility, including sessions on AI development, co-design projects with EY, and innovative applications of AI in bridging the disability divide.
Generative AI is not just a technological advancement; it’s a pathway to empowerment and inclusivity. As we continue to explore and expand the capabilities of tools like Microsoft Copilot, the horizon of what’s possible keeps broadening. The transformative impact of Azure AI on accessibility is a powerful reminder of technology’s potential to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives, particularly those who face the greatest challenges in accessing and utilizing digital tools. Join us in this journey towards a more accessible and empowered future, where technology truly makes the impossible possible.
Ready to help improve the world of accessibility? Check out the Accessibility Innovation Toolkit to help you think about accessibility and create a framework for innovation featuring tops, case studies, datasets, and research.
The post 6 ways generative AI helps improve accessibility for all with Azure appeared first on Azure Blog.
Quelle: Azure
Enterprise customers are increasingly adopting multiple cloud providers—per a recent Gartner Survey, By 2027, over 90% of enterprises will adopt multicloud models, up from 80% in 2023, for differentiated capabilities and interoperability and to mitigate vendor lock-in risks.1 The intentional drivers for this trend include data sovereignty, which refers to the legal requirement to store data within a specific geographic location, and cost optimization, which allows businesses to select the most cost-effective cloud provider for each workload. The other intentional drivers include product selection, geographical reach, while the unintentional drivers include shadow IT, line of business (LOB) owner-driven cloud selection, and mergers and acquisitions.
This multicloud strategy demands enterprise cloud architects to design and enable hybrid clouds that can connect, operate, and govern multiple cloud environments securely and efficiently.
Microsoft Azure has long anticipated such an evolution and has been building and evolving its networking services, such as Azure ExpressRoute and Azure Virtual WAN and management and orchestration solutions, such as Azure Arc, to provide seamless, multicloud connectivity as well as centralized management of multicloud resources.
With Azure’s multicloud enabled networking and management services, Azure enterprise customers can evolve their enterprise cloud network architecture from hybrid cloud to hybrid multicloud and with Azure as their “hub” cloud while the other connected clouds as their “spoke” clouds.
Azure Arc for multicloud orchestration and management
Azure Arc is a hybrid and multicloud management solution, enabling customers to take advantage of Azure management services (Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Update Management, Azure Monitor, and more) no matter where the environment is running. Since its launch in November 2019, Azure Arc is being leveraged by thousands of enterprises to manage their servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases, and applications across on-premises, multicloud, and edge environments, providing customers with a single way to manage their infrastructure. Azure Arc’s most recent advances and developments are described in this latest Azure Arc blog post.
Microsoft is investing more in this space with the goal of making it easy for customers to discover, visualize, and manage their multicloud estate. These additional Azure Arc multicloud capabilities are leveraged by other services such as Azure Virtual WAN and Defender for Cloud, so customers can easily connect and secure their multicloud environments.
Azure networking services for enabling multicloud connectivity
Azure networking services span the full breadth of cloud networking capabilities, features, and functions, covering cloud network virtualization and segmentation, private, high-performance hybrid networking, secure application delivery, and network security, and they serve as the important building block for an enterprise cloud architecture and means for enterprise cloud consumption.
While these services help enterprises optimally leverage Azure with highest security, performance, and reliability, enterprises can now leverage Azure’s network services and management tools to access, interconnect, and consume workloads across other clouds.
For connectivity to and from other CSPs (AWS, GCP, OCI, Alibaba), Azure offers three fundamental services offered with a wide range of speeds and feeds.
Direct internet peering
Azure VPN and Virtual WAN
Azure ExpressRoute
Figure 1: Azure as a hub cloud
Direct internet peering with other CSPs
Many workloads depend on cross cloud connectivity over Public IP. Microsoft operates one of the largest wide area networks in the world. With more than 200 edge point of presence (PoPs) and more than 40,000 peering connections, Microsoft is deeply connected to other clouds and service providers providing best in class Public IP to Public IP connectivity. Microsoft connects to AWS and GCP in 50 different locations across the world with multiple terabits of capacity in some locations. All the traffic between other clouds and Microsoft is carried within Microsoft global backbone until it is handed off or back to the destination CSPs network. Traffic between other clouds and Microsoft goes via dedicated private network interconnect (PNI). This private network interconnect is built on high availability architecture, providing both low latency and higher reliability.
Microsoft is also working with other cloud and service providers to build next-generation solutions, which would increase the capacity significantly, reduce the time to provision capacity, and remove the single location dependency. Recently we announced our partnership with Lumen on Exa-Switch program.2 This technology is built to deliver high-capacity networks while reducing the time to deliver the capacity between clouds and service providers.
Azure VPN and Virtual WAN for multicloud connectivity
One of the most common and prevalent ways to interconnect resources between public clouds is over the internet using a site-to-site VPN. All public cloud providers offer IPSec VPN gateway as a service and this service is widely used by Azure customers to set up a private cloud-to-cloud connection. As an example, interconnecting resources in Azure Virtual Networks using Azure VPN Gateway and AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPCs) using AWS virtual private gateway is described in this how to guide by Azure.
Azure Virtual WAN is an Azure native networking service that brings many networking, security, and routing functionalities together to provide a single operational interface for Azure customers to build a managed global transit cloud network, interconnecting and securing customers’ Azure Virtual Networks and on-premises sites using various network connectivity services such as site-to-site and point-to-site VPN, virtual network (VNet) connections, ExpressRoute, and Azure Firewall.
Using Azure Virtual WAN’s site-to-site VPN, Azure customers can connect VPCs in other CSPs to the Azure Virtual WAN Hub. While this type of VPN connection currently needs to be set up manually, Azure Virtual WAN is extending and enhancing this site-to-site VPN connection service to enable managed multicloud VPN connections for VWAN hub.
In addition, Azure Virtual WAN integrates and supports many independent software vendors (ISV) partners’ software defined wide area network (SDWAN) and VPN services under the Network Virtual Appliance (NVA) in VWAN hub partner program and the combined solutions can be used to build multicloud connections between Azure and other CSPs such as AWS and GCP. Some of these partner offers are described in the multicloud partners solution section below.
Azure ExpressRoute service for multicloud
Azure ExpressRoute lets you extend your on-premises networks into the Microsoft Cloud over a private connection via a connectivity provider (ExpressRoute Provider Model) or directly (ExpressRoute Direct model). ExpressRoute has a constantly growing ecosystem of connectivity providers and systems integrator partners. For the latest information, see ExpressRoute partners and peering locations.
Azure currently offers a native multicloud connectivity service to interconnect Azure and Oracle Clouds. While this native service was built to support Azure customers that want highspeed, secure connections between their Oracle applications on Oracle Cloud and Azure Cloud, this type of native multicloud highspeed interconnection service to other CSPs is currently being planned.
Meanwhile, many of the ExpressRoute partners offer innovative multicloud interconnect service offers such that Azure customers could cross-connect Azure ExpressRoute with other CSP’s highspeed private connection services. Some of these partner offers are described below by the partners themselves.
Azure partner solutions for enabling multicloud connectivity
Alongside Azure native network services there are a number of Azure Networking ISV, Cloud Exchange Platform (CXP), and Marketplace Partners that offer many innovative services that are able to fulfill the diverse multicloud networking needs of our enterprise customers.
While this blog does not cover all of the ISV and CXP partners (see Azure marketplace for a full list of multicloud ISV and CXP solutions), here are some partners in no particular order, that offer multicloud networking solutions that are leveraged by a number of our customers to build connectivity between their workloads in Azure and workloads in other CSPs.
Aviatrix
The Aviatrix Secure Cloud Networking Platform enables Azure customers to securely interconnect workloads in Azure with workloads in other CSPs and on-premises workloads. Aviatrix solves common customer challenges around optimizing cloud costs for data transfer, accelerating M&A customer onboarding, and providing distributed security enforcement with consistent policies across multicloud environments.
Learn More
Aviatrix and Microsoft Azure | Aviatrix.
Alkira
For customers using Azure, Alkira offers an elegant approach for onboarding cloud applications onto their network. Alkira achieves this through its Cloud Exchange Point (CXP) hosted in Azure, which not only helps onboarding VNETs in Azure but it can also onboard workloads running in other CSPs.
Learn more
Alkira Cloud Network as a Service.
Prosimo
Prosimo’s Full Stack Cloud Transit is built for enterprises to connect networks, applications, platform as a service (PaaS), and users into a unified network fabric across public and private clouds. The solution provides a transformative set of tools to rapidly adopt native services from cloud service providers and elevate them to meet the sophisticated requirements for enterprises with advanced networking features such as overlapping IP addresses, service insertion, and namespace segmentation. The solution is delivered as a service yet under the enterprise’s own control, with an elastic scaling approach that meets their operational flexibility and compliance needs.
Learn more
Simplify your cloud operations in Azure with Prosimo.
Arrcus
Azure cloud customers can use Arrcus FlexMCN solution to build secure connectivity with micro-segmentation between their workloads in Azure VNets to other CSPs such as AWS and ensure a consistent network policy across clouds. Arrcus FlexMCN solution allows segment routing-based traffic engineering (SR-TE) to deliver application aware performance and route optimization.
Learn More:
Arrcus Flexible Multi-Cloud Networking (FlexMCN™).
Cisco Systems
Cisco enables control and security while driving agility and innovation across multicloud and hybrid environments. Catalyst SD-WAN’s Cloud OnRamp simplifies, automates, and optimizes cloud connectivity while ensuring secure connections to Azure. It leverages built-in automation with Azure Virtual WAN for interregional, branch to cloud, and hybrid-cloud/mulitcloud connectivity.
Learn more
Cisco SD-WAN Cloud OnRamp.
Equinix
Equinix Fabric Cloud Router makes it easy to connect applications and data across different clouds—solving the hard problems enterprises face today.
Cloud-to-cloud—gain the performance benefits of a private network without the hassle and costs of a physical router, spin up routing virtually with reliable, high bandwidth connections between multiple cloud providers and avoid backhauling traffic.
Learn More
Equinix Fabric Cloud Router.
Megaport
The Megaport platform enables private access from Azure to hundreds of services across the globe including AWS, Oracle, Google, and IBM Cloud. Common multicloud architectures for Azure include connectivity to your private data center environments, as well as cloud-to-cloud peering with other hyperscalers and cloud service providers. Easily connect at one of more than 850 Megaport-enabled data center locations to ensure your network is no longer a cumbersome but necessary evil, but a simple and flexible way to drive innovation across your business.
Learn More
Common Multicloud Connectivity Scenarios – Megaport Documentation
Learn more about Azure’s multicloud networking services
In conclusion, as enterprises increasingly adopt a multicloud strategy, Azure, along with its ecosystem partners, provides flexible solutions for connecting and consuming cloud resources from other CSPs. Azure’s multicloud networking services, such as ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN, and Azure Arc, enable seamless, secure, and high-performance connections between Azure and other CSPs. Additionally, Azure’s partner solutions offer innovative services to meet the diverse multicloud networking requirements of enterprise customers. By using Azure as the hub cloud of their enterprise cloud architecture, customers can benefit from Azure’s multicloud capable networking and management services to transform their enterprise cloud network architecture from hybrid cloud to hybrid multicloud.
1 Forecast Analysis: Enterprise Infrastructure Software, Worldwide. January 12, 2024. Gartner ID: G00797127.
2Lumen, Google and Microsoft create new on-demand, optical interconnection ecosystem, Lumen.
The post Azure multicloud networking: Native and partner solutions appeared first on Azure Blog.
Quelle: Azure
Discover the AI innovations empowering lives on and off the athletic track
Human sighted guides are instrumental in supporting blind athletes. They offer comprehensive instructions on adaptations, training, and methodologies. Today, much like a guide, Azure OpenAI Service is helping power Microsoft apps that help people accomplish their goals, no matter how large. Copilot for Microsoft 365 can automate tasks and generate content, Microsoft Translator can bridge linguistic barriers, and tools like Seeing AI can read documents and describe immediate surroundings making it easier than ever to navigate the world. For Paralympian Champion long jumper Lex Gillette, technology with accessible design helps him thrive on and off the field.
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Refusing to let blindness limit ambitions
At the age of eight, Gillette faced a life-altering challenge when he was diagnosed with recurrent retinal detachments. Despite undergoing numerous surgeries, Gillette lost his sight entirely. With the support of his mother, educators, and mentors, Gillette adapted to his new way of living, refusing to let his blindness limit his ambitions. He turned to sports, where he found not only an outlet for his energy and competitiveness but also a platform to showcase his extraordinary abilities.
In the Paralympic world, guides use audible cues, enabling athletes to better gauge their run-up and take-off points, and they provide safety protocols and injury prevention strategies to ensure athletes can train effectively while minimizing risks. Under the guidance of his coach, Brian Whitmer, he learned to run and jump without the ability to see, using the sound of his coach’s voice.
“Athletes with sight are able to see other successful sprinters,” explains Gillette. “When you can’t see you’re reliant on your guide to help you understand what you need to do with your body to get better results.”
With a career boasting multiple Paralympic medals in the long jump, including silver medals across five consecutive Paralympic Games (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020), Gillette has solidified his status as one of the most accomplished athletes in the field. He holds the world record in the T11 (totally blind classification) long jump category and has earned numerous championships and accolades in both national and international competitions.In 2016, Lex Gillette was in sixth place when he took his starting position for the long jump. He had already started sprinting when he realized that the sound of the enthusiastic crowd was prohibiting him from hearing his guide. He could have chosen to start over. But he chose to persevere.
“I had a decision to make,” says Gillette. “I could have stopped running. Gone back and waited for them to be quiet.”
Instead, Gillette jumped. He went from sixth place to winning the silver.
Empowering through Microsoft AI innovation
Today, Gillette has set a goal for himself of helping other individuals achieve their dreams, whether that’s through athletics or entrepreneurship. And he believes AI can help.
Microsoft and Azure AI offer a range of accessibility solutions to create more inclusive experiences. Solutions include speech transcription and captioning, content readers, translation services, voice assistants, facial recognition, and computer vision. These AI-powered tools can help individuals with disabilities better access and engage with digital content, whether it’s through speech-to-text transcription, image captioning, or text-to-speech translation.
It’s not necessarily the sight that determines our success. It’s our ability to see the vision.Lex Gillette
Sight School Inc. is dedicated to empowering all ages with visual impairments through adaptive sports, community engagement and advocacy for an independent and inclusive life.
One of the primary objectives of Sight School is getting visually impaired individuals involved in physical activity. “In a perfect world, everyone would be able to go into a gym to work out, without needing to be tethered to another individual: How many pounds you’ve placed on the squat rack; how many miles you’ve run on the treadmill; how many calories you’ve burned, and how to navigate to the smoothie bar.”“Technology,” says Gillette, has been the great equalizer for us.”
Through AI, Gillette can understand his surroundings in ways previously inaccessible to him. Technology can provide verbal descriptions of his environment, such as airport departure screens. Translation apps allow him to communicate with athletes halfway across the globe, identify healthy recipes, manage mobile banking, and hear a visual description of a photo starring him and his young son.
Furthermore, Gillette has found a powerful tool for living more autonomously and engaging more deeply with the world, showcasing the transformative potential of technology in the lives of individuals with visual impairments.
“I like showing the world that with the right tools and resources literally anything is possible.”
Lex Gillette shares 7 things he wants you to know about AI accessibility tools at Microsoft
Seeing AI is designed to help visually impaired people better understand their surroundings. Utilizing the power of AI, it can narrate the world around the user, reading out texts from documents, identifying products via their barcodes, recognizing friends and their emotions, and describing scenes, objects, and colors.
Copilot for Microsoft 365 integrates AI across Microsoft’s productivity suite to automate tasks, generate content, and provide analytical insights, essentially acting as an intelligent assistant that helps users with their work across various applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Microsoft Teams supports speech-to-text transcription and captioning for meetings and calls, powered by Azure Cognitive Services, making it easier for people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing to participate in online communication.
Outlook, Microsoft Edge, and PowerPoint include a read-aloud feature, powered by Azure Cognitive Services, that uses text-to-speech technology to read web pages, documents, and emails aloud.
Microsoft Translator is a translation service that supports speech-to-speech, text-to-speech, and optical character recognition (OCR) to enable communication across different languages and formats in Microsoft Teams or Outlook.
Windows Hello uses facial recognition technology, powered by Azure Face API, to allow users to log in to their devices with their face, making it easier for people with mobility disabilities to access their devices.
Microsoft Windows and Xbox include voice assistants powered by speech-to-text technology, which can be used by users of all abilities to control the device and access information and services through voice commands.
Learn more about AI tools for accessibility
Learn more about AI for accessibility at the Ability Summit and read how Microsoft is advancing accessible technology from Chief Accessibility Officer, Jenny Lay-Flurrie: Advancing accessibility with AI technology and innovation.
Explore the Azure AI portfolio for solutions to help reimagine your business with generative AI.
Read 6 ways generative AI helps improve accessibility for all with Azure.
The post Paralympian Lex Gillette’s top 7 AI tools for accessibility appeared first on Azure Blog.
Quelle: Azure
AI transformation drives significant business value, as a recent study of over 2000 business leaders and decision-makers found:
For every USD1 a company invests in AI, it realizes an average return of USD3.50.
Organizations realize a return on their AI investments within 14 months.
92% of AI deployments take 12 months or less.
71% of respondents say their companies are already using AI.
Clearly, we’re witnessing rapid expansion of AI wherein organizations globally are unlocking productivity within their businesses, but also bending the curve on innovation by building on an open AI platform and partner ecosystem. These organizations are engaging Microsoft experts to build differentiated, intelligent applications and modernize existing, business-critical applications. These intelligent applications use real-time and historical data to deliver personalized and adaptable digital experiences with meaningful outcomes, that close the gap between the user’s current state and the desired outcome. New or modernized, when built on Microsoft Azure, these applications benefit from one of the largest interconnected networks on the planet, high availability, and trusted security and compliance.
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Forrester Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Azure App Innovation report chevron_right
Azure brings together capabilities for modern app development, cloud-scale data, and leading generative AI in one place. Customers see great value using these services together. In a recent Forrester Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Azure App Innovation report, customers were able to gain significant time savings of one to one and a half months when delivering new applications to the market, increase developer efficiency up to 25%, and reduce app downtime up to 25%. This leads to compelling business benefits such as beating competitors in the innovation race, capturing incremental revenue, minimizing lost revenue and fines from downtime, and increasing the engagement and retention of key talent.
ISV solutions help accelerate your AI transformation
While Azure provides the tools to build and modernize intelligent applications, it’s important to consider the broader tech stack. Independent Software Vendor (ISV) solutions complement Azure services by allowing you to meet specific use-case requirements, modernize existing tech stacks onto Azure, and mitigate the need to build new skillsets. If your organization routinely uses ISV solutions as part of the app infrastructure or development process, chances are that you can continue to use them even as you build new or modernize existing apps onto Azure. An example is apps built on Azure Spring Apps or Azure Red Hat OpenShift.
1. Azure Spring Apps Enterprise
Azure Spring Apps Enterprise is a fully managed service for the Spring Framework, built in collaboration with VMware. Building upon the Spring Framework and incorporating features from VMware Tanzu, Azure Spring Apps Enterprise helps accelerate development with ready-made, enterprise-conformant templates. Azure Spring Apps Enterprise offers full integration into Azure’s ecosystem and services, including fully managed infrastructure, built-in app lifecycle management, and ease of monitoring for app development and modernization. If you have existing apps in the Spring Framework, you can efficiently modernize them onto Azure while managing costs and enhancing the apps with AI. Here’s how to get started: Migrate Spring Boot applications to Azure Spring Apps.
2. Azure Red Hat OpenShift
Azure Red Hat OpenShift is a turnkey application platform. It is jointly engineered, operated, and supported by Red Hat and Microsoft. With Azure Red Hat OpenShift, you can deploy fully managed Red Hat OpenShift clusters without worrying about building and managing the infrastructure and get ready access to and integration with Azure tools, singular billing, integrated support and access to committed spend, and discount programs. This increases operational efficiency, time to value, and allows developers to refocus on innovation to quickly build, deploy, and scale applications. Get started through the Azure Red Hat OpenShift documentation.
Microsoft also supports pure third-party solutions as part of its ISV ecosystem, to complement native Azure services. While these solutions meet a diverse set of use-cases, ranging from analytics to storage, here’s one that’s likely common to many app development or modernization projects—HashiCorp Terraform.
3. HashiCorp Terraform on Azure
An infrastructure as code tool for provisioning and managing cloud infrastructure, HashiCorp Terraform on Azure allows you to define infrastructure as code with declarative configuration files that can be used to create, manage, and update infrastructure. If your organization currently uses Terraform, developers can use their familiarity with the tool to deploy and manage Azure infrastructure using familiar and consistent syntax and tooling. To support this, HashiCorp offers a library of pre-built modules for Azure services, including Azure AI, Azure Kubernetes Service, and Azure Cosmos DB. And as your developers build new modules, perhaps with GitHub Copilot, those modules can be templatized using HashiCorp Terraform for reuse within your organization, setting up your developer teams for greater productivity and velocity. To get you started, read the blog “Empowering AI: Building and Deploying Azure AI Landing Zones with Terraform.”
Build and modernize apps with Azure and our partner ecosystem
So, as you look through your app infrastructure and decide to modernize your existing apps, any Spring apps or Red Hat OpenShift apps can easily be moved to Azure, with HashiCorp Terraform on Azure to assist. While we have only looked at three solutions in this blog, your preferred vendors are likely part of the Azure ISV ecosystem. Microsoft’s ecosystem of partners also includes partners that specialize in offering services to build custom intelligent apps, with industry-specific experience.
Connect with experts from Azure who will be able to guide you on your app architecture that utilizes the appropriate technology and services— Microsoft or partner—for your needs.
The post Modernize and build intelligent apps with support from Microsoft partner solutions appeared first on Azure Blog.
Quelle: Azure