Datascape Podcast Episode 45: Recapping Microsoft Ignite 2020

Episode 45: Show Notes

Our good friend Warner Chaves joins us again today on the show, this time to discuss some favorite updates from the Microsoft Ignite 2020 virtual conference.

We start out hearing some pros and cons of the virtual aspect of the conference then dive straight into the amazing updates that Warner got to hear about. He talks about some new availability zones which amount to whole new data centres and what an achievement this is.

From there, we discuss Azure Arc; Microsoft’s new offering that allows organizations to leverage Azure infrastructure from their on-prem data centres.

We move onto the topic of centralization, discussing the new Backup Centre feature which allows a unified view of backup vaults.

Next up, Warner gets into more data-oriented updates, describing his love for Cosmos DB, and the benefits of its new serverless feature. He also describes a flexible server feature that will allow stop and start capability to PostgreSQL and MySQL.

Our conversation moves to Azure SQL Edge and its features thanks to being geared towards the IoT market, thereafter highlighting some Power BI updates, then shifting to describe the Photon engine for Databricks which recreates Spark in C++. Along with this, we talk about a new, portable Azure Stack, and some cognitive services updates – new AI capabilities like anomaly detector and spatial analysis which are cool but creepy too. Microsoft also has some ML updates designed to empower non-experts to leverage this powerful technology that we discuss today.

Wrapping up, Warner talks about some SaaS-like products from Microsoft, including the ability to embed Azure into your workplace application, and a dedicated healthcare cloud. Tune in today and hear about these exciting movements in the world of Azure!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Warner’s experience of the virtual aspect of the conference; pros and cons.
• The amount of new availability zones Azure has built and what a feat this is.
• How high the barrier for entry to cloud provider competitors is due to the expense of AZs.
• Understanding Azure Arc, Microsoft’s “hybrid strategy” for managing on-prem data centres.
• The need to wait some time to see whether this hybrid strategy will take off.
• Azure compared to Anthos, and what Azure Arc’s main sales pitch will look like.
• Warner’s favourites out of the updates and backups; first being the Backup Centre.
• Why Microsoft’s sign-in and authentication are completely broken.
• The best-in-class aspects of Cosmos and its new serverless update.
• Flexible server: PostgreSQL and MySQL deployment options, stop and start capability.
• How Azure SQ Edge differs from SQL due to being geared towards the IoT market.
• Power BI updates: usage cache for Synapse to further optimize performance.
• Updates to Databricks: recreating a Spark engine in C++ causing a 20X improvement.
• Discussing the rugged and portable Azure Stack.
• Cognitive services updates: cool AI capabilities like anomaly detector and spatial analysis.
• ML service updates: integration into Synapse, and intuitive parameters.
• A communication services announcement: embedding Azure into your application.
• Another Microsoft SaaS-like offering: a dedicated healthcare cloud.
• Why, of all the updates discussed, Warner is most excited to give Azure Arc a try.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Warner Chavez on Twitter
Datascape Email
Microsoft Ignite 2020
Satya Nadella on Twitter
Azure
AWS
Oracle
Anthos
Pythian.com
Skype
Cosmos DB
Synapse
Cassandra
MongoDB
Azure SQL Edge
Medium Walmart Post
Power BI
BigQuery
Looker
Databricks
Photon Engine
Azure Stack