Tue. Mar 19th, 2024
Microsoft

Microsoft seems to be sharing a number of Azure-specific announcements a few days ahead of the kick off of its Build 2019 developer conference. The main event doesn’t kick off until next Monday morning in downtown Seattle, but Microsoft plans to announce a new database and blockchain service Thursday while getting ready for Microsoft Build. Microsoft today announced an interesting update to its database lineup with the preview of Azure SQL Database Edge, a new tool that brings the same database engine that powers Azure SQL Database in the cloud to edge computing devices, including, for the first time, Arm-based machines.

Azure SQL Database Edge highlights:

  • Support for Arm and x64-based interactive devices and edge gateways.
  • Low latency analytics on the edge by combining data streaming and time-series, with in-database machine learning and support for graph data.
  • Industry-leading security capabilities that Azure SQL Database offers to protect data at rest and in motion on edge devices and edge gateways. Manage security policies and updates from a central management portal such as Azure IoT Central.
  • Ability to develop applications once and deploy anywhere by having a common programming surface area across Azure SQL Database, SQL Server on-premises and Azure SQL Database Edge.
  • Support for both cloud-connected and fully disconnected edge scenarios. Gain a cloud-scale by connecting edge scenarios to Azure. Enable fully disconnected edge scenarios with local compute and storage.
  • Supports Business intelligence with Microsoft Power BI and other BI tools.

Rounding out the early-bird announcements, Azure will be introducing a new IoT service that will help companies to more easily add new types of devices to their networks without having to write new software each time a new class of device is added.

As we have seen, Cloud services continue to be the engine behind Microsoft’s resurgence over the past few years, and while we’re still not sure how large a role Azure revenue is playing in that comeback, it’s definitely one of Microsoft’s stronger assets.

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