Microsoft took advantage of its Microsoft Ignite 2018 conference in Orlando, Florida, to present a plethora of announcements about its Cloud, AI and IoT (Internet of Things) features contained in Azure. The Internet of Things is obviously a central sector for the renowned company that wants to stand out in this highly competitive market.
Azure Digital Twins to launch in October
Azure Digital Twins provides the companies with the tools to create their own digital twins of their machines, infrastructures or products. The objective is to facilitate the visualization of “the relationships between the processes that connect people, places and services,” according to the firm’s press release.
In other words, this means helping developers to understand the equipment in factories and connected buildings better. To do this, Microsoft provides test and analytical tools for predicting asset behavior without making any physical changes. This new service, which is already available on other IoT platforms, should help Microsoft attract interested businesses.
Microsoft Azure Digital Twins will be launched in its preview mode on October 15th, 2018.
Microsoft also announced Azure Sphere and Azure IoT Central
The second major announcement of the Microsoft Ignite 2018 conference is the launch of Azure Sphere. This cybersecurity solution based on components certified by Microsoft is now available in public beta, and accredited microcontrollers distribution have begun.
The IT giant also announced the worldwide availability of Azure IoT Central, a program to help companies get started in the Internet of Things industry. Another new feature is that Azure IoT Central now supports Google’s Android.
Microsoft Ignite 2018 also talked about the Microsoft artificial intelligence
In particular, the company presented updates to Azure Machine Learning, a product that allows data scientists and developers to build and train “artificial intelligence models more quickly.” Upgrades include automated machine learning to identify the most efficient algorithms, model optimization for FPGA chips, and a new SDK in Python.
Finally, the professional skills development kit for Cortana is now available, Microsoft Ignite 2018 announced. Companies can develop their own custom applications based on the Microsoft’s voice assistant. The idea is to use Microsoft’s natural language comprehension services to help companies increase their productivity.
