This year, Microsoft Ignite 2023 took place in Seattle, Washington from November 12 to 15, 2023 and it was such a wonderful experience to meet and interact with nearly 5,000 of you in person, and many more online across the globe. One common theme stood out throughout the event: the potential of AI is becoming reality, and it’s happening right now. One news roundup even called Microsoft’s vision for AI an “everyday reality.” 1 Read more about the economic impact of AI in business and industries in a recent IDC study that Microsoft commissioned.
However, as many organizations like yours are eager to innovate with AI for various use cases, it is also very important, if not more, to have a solid IT foundation that can support that ambitious AI vision—from a cost, performance, and security perspective. The last thing companies want is to make a big investment in AI and machine learning initiatives too soon, without the bandwidth, guardrails, or necessary performance in place to support it.
At the heart of your IT estate lies strategic investments you have in business-critical workloads like Windows Server and SQL Server that are and have been the foundation of many organizations for more than 30 years now. The question then becomes—how do you modernize these foundational technologies to make you ready to leverage the full power of AI, that will allow you to adopt AI in a secure, responsible way and gain an edge over the competition?
Catch up on sessions from Microsoft Ignite
Whether you missed some of the sessions at Ignite or just want a recap of all things Windows Server and SQL Server, we’ve got you covered. In this blog, we’re going to showcase the main Ignite sessions for Windows Server and SQL Server, where we had various announcements, demos, and customer testimonials.
Windows Server
What’s New in Windows Server v.Next: In this session, we provide a preview of what’s coming next for Windows Server, a platform that enables IT professionals and developers to modernize their applications and enable hybrid use cases. The topics covered were Active Directory, File Server, Storage, Hyper-V, Security, and more.
SQL Server
Get superior price and performance with Azure cloud-scale databases: In this session, you can learn how to improve performance with the latest capabilities for Azure SQL Databases, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, and SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc for hybrid and multi-cloud. You’ll learn how customers enabled ongoing innovation by migrating to Azure Database for MySQL. This session will cover tactical ways to get the most from your applications with the databases that are easy to use, deliver unmatched price and performance, support open-source, and enable transformative AI technologies.
Next steps to modernize Windows Server and SQL Server
Ready to take the next step in modernizing your Windows Server and SQL Server? Here are some quick resources to get started:
- Upgrade to the latest versions of Windows Server to take advantage of the latest capabilities. Learn more about Windows Server 2022 and SQL Server 2022.
- Looking to migrate to Azure? Take the first step with Azure Migrate and Modernize, our offering that has programs, offers, support, free tooling, and expert guidance to confidently migrate to Azure.
- Join the discussion on our Windows Server Tech Community and SQL Server Tech Community.
1 ITProToday, Microsoft Ignite 2023 Envisions AI as an Everyday Reality, November 16, 2023.