Microsoft delivers wave of innovation at TechEd Europe

BARCELONA, Spain, Oct. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Tuesday at TechEd Europe, Microsoft Corp. announced new cloud services, mobility solutions, APIs, tools and an expanded ecosystem of partner solutions, all designed to help IT professionals and developers compete and thrive in today's mobile-first, cloud-first world.

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"Today's enterprise is always on, and IT professionals and developers are under constant pressure to keep up with the demands of the business," said Jason Zander, corporate vice president of Microsoft Azure, Microsoft. "We are using the power of our cloud platform -- Azure, Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics -- to deliver technology solutions that empower IT professionals, developers and end users to do more."

Azure innovations to help streamline operations and enhance security

At TechEd Europe, Microsoft announced several cloud services to help intelligently automate and streamline IT operations, including these:

• Azure Operational Insights brings together Azure, HDInsight and Microsoft System Center to gather and analyze machine data across cloud environments and turn it into actionable insights that inform business decisions. Available in preview in November 2014.
• Azure Batch allows customers to deploy massive scale-out jobs, with access to thousands of cores, to solve complex problems with just a few clicks and no infrastructure investment. Available in preview.
• Azure Automation automates time-consuming tasks across Azure and third-party environments, reducing the risk associated with repetitive manual processes. Generally available.

Microsoft also announced a number of security enhancements, generally available now, to Azure Virtual Machines and Cloud Services, including these:

• Support for multiple network interface cards (NICs) so customers can bring their own networking and security appliances such as load balancers and firewalls
• New Network Security Groups that enable customized security boundaries for network access and provide greater control over traffic flow
• Microsoft Anti-Malware for Virtual Machines and Cloud Services, a free service that provides real-time threat protection

Comprehensive enterprise mobility management for nearly any device and data

Microsoft also announced management, security, privacy and compliance enhancements for the Enterprise Mobility Suite and Office 365. These new capabilities give IT the ability to enforce policies, protect corporate assets, and empower today's always-on and on-the-go workforce.

• Microsoft Intune updates. These updates will enable customers to comprehensively manage Office mobile apps, wrap management technology around their own line-of-business applications, enable more secure mobile app viewing and provide powerful conditional access features that allow better control of corporate resources with conditional access features. Available within the next few months.
• Built-in Mobile Device Management (MDM) for Office 365. New, built-in Intune MDM capabilities for Office 365 on iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices will provide administrators with policy-driven device management and the ability to wipe corporate data to prevent unauthorized access and use -- all while preserving personal data. Available in the first quarter of 2015.
• Azure Active Directory (AD) Premium updates. Azure AD Application Proxy, generally available by the end of 2014, will make it possible to publish on-premises applications to external users via the cloud. Azure AD Connect, available in preview by the end of 2014, will make it easier to connect on-premises assets to the cloud and synchronize directories to Azure AD.
• Extending Data Loss Prevention (DLP) technology across Office 365. Over the next few months, DLP capabilities will be added to SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business to provide protection for sensitive content across Office 365. In addition, in 2015, Office apps will support DLP notifications to provide users with helpful prompts related to information protection.

Office 365 APIs and tools for developers

Microsoft also introduced new APIs and tools that allow developers to access the Office 365 API and create new, data-rich productivity applications using the platforms, tools and devices of their choice.

• New Open APIs for Office 365. These REST-based APIs for mail, files, calendar and contacts will empower Android, iOS, Windows or Web developers to leverage over 400 petabytes of Office 365 content to deliver enhanced productivity to the millions of Office 365 subscribers. Available now through the Microsoft API Sandbox for Office 365.
• New mobile software development kits (SDKs) for native app development. These SDKs make it easier for developers to use Office 365 APIs to create applications for any platform using tools and languages they're familiar with. A new iOS SDK for Xcode is available in preview. Android and Visual Studio SDKs are generally available.
• Office 365 App Launcher. Office 365 App Launcher provides a single, customizable place in Office 365 where people can access their favorite apps. Developers can use App Launcher to increase visibility of their apps alongside apps such as Outlook, Yammer and OneDrive.

In addition, Visual Studio Online customers in Europe can elect to use the Azure Amsterdam Region for their projects and store their data closer to home.

An expanded ecosystem of cloud partners

Microsoft continued to deliver new partner-powered cloud solutions, including:

• An expanded Cloud OS Network, with partner support now available in over 100 countries, gives customers broad access to hybrid cloud solutions.
• A new Azure Certified for Application Services program, part of Azure Certified, which covers managed APIs and data services. Customers can now access over 50 solutions from more than 30 partners, through the Azure Marketplace, including New Relic, Cloudera, Hortonworks, CommVault, CoreOS, DataStax, NGINX and Veeam.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.