Microsoft Ignite is here and there is much to talk about. During the first day keynote Microsoft brought news of a strategy that focuses on Digital Transformation for business. They showcased examples that covered how companies like BMW is managing vehicles remotely using Azure and Azure IOT. Also highlighting Facebook that recently rolled out Office 365 to all employees, so that they can use office products from any mobile device they are using. Adobe also announced Azure as their preferred platform for their product offerings that they deliver to their consumers.
Innovation
In a nutshell the Microsoft strategy is clearly innovative, striving to make an impact with a cloud first strategy. Their offering doesn’t fall short and includes Data and Intelligence Technologies, Internet of Things, Docker and Containers and more.
They are in it to win it! Now with 34 Azure Regions globally, and a named leader in 17 Gartner quadrants for cloud-based products.
Also today they announced the availability of Windows 2016 and SCCM 2016, but I feel that this wasn’t really news since there were some many rumors about this pre-event.
This approach seems to focus strong on some statistics that Microsoft mentioned. Making sure their strategies focus on the future of the workforce, that they are adaptable and offering what the new generation of the workforce will be looking for.
The New Workforce
Microsoft stated that in the Year 2020 the following is expected:
- 50% of the workforce will be millennials
- 43% of the workforce will be freelancers
- 5 billion smart, connected devices will be shipped annually
- 44 zettabytes of our data will be in storage
While I am not sure where these statistics originated the thing that I was most intrigued by was that we are moving into a generation of freelance workers. To me this means that we are moving into a time where a large percentage of people are entrepreneurs looking for technology options suitable for their needs regardless of the size of the business. These offerings will likely be cloud-based and typically provide enterprise grade technology to businesses of any size, and that’s what entrepreneurs will want.
Make Sure you Visit the Expo Hall!
There are so many new products and offerings that you will hear about in the Expo hall this week. Here is some of the news that has made it my way through varying social media sources, and I can guarantee there is so much more. So make sure you take some time to learn what other companies are offering.
Hyper-V News
Hyper-V has also become a stronger player in the world of virtualization. At Ignite, Tintri is previewing a new option for customers looking to move from VMware to Hyper-V conversion toolkit to make the migration process seamless for customers and their data.
Disaster Recovery News
If your organization is looking for a disaster recovery option even for your cloud-based platforms, then there are products that have offerings to look into for your enterprise. One example is Zerto, who is now offering a “one-to-many” replication for protecting multiple workloads across different data center sites and enterprise-class disaster recovery with Microsoft Azure.
What other company news has you excited about what is next in technology?
What are the Attendees saying after Day 1?
Phoummala Schmitt (@exchangegoddess) interviewed several attendees to find out what they thought of Microsoft Ignite Day1. The group included @TiberGreg and @InvalidCanary and several others. Download Quicktime to view or, if you are already on a Apple device catch the conversation here.
Their feedback overall for Day 1 was a “Thumbs Up”
Concluding Thoughts
Ignite opened with a strong and confident message which has me excited about what is next. Something I haven’t felt from them in some time, but now has me looking forward to their cloud offerings. Also I also looking forward to learning more about what is new with Office 365 and Exchange 2016. More to come!