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Al

More Microsoft Cloud announcements came out last week.  I can't keep up with all this goodness!!

Information released last week covers the following topics:

• Azure IoT Suite Announcement
• Azure App Service powers the creation of intelligent web and mobile apps
• Availability on Demand: Hybrid Cloud without the Hassle
• Azure Site Recovery: Protect VMWare and Physical Servers in Public Preview
• Azure Backup Generally Available with Lowered Pricing
• Azure API Management Premium simplifies high availability and massive scale for APIs
• ExpressRoute for Office 365
• Azure SDK 2.5.1
• Node.js Tools for Visual Studio

Get more details on the blog post - https://blogs.technet.com/b/stbnewsbytes/archive/2015/03/26/cloud-platform-release-announcements-for-march-26-2015.aspx

We announced a few months ago that we were adding MDM capabilities to Office 365 as an added value to our customers.  This capability is now generally available (GA)!!  It's rolling out for our commercial customers and will make it to the Government Community Cloud soon.  Just to reiterate, existing Office 365 customers are getting some pretty sweet MDM capabilities for NO ADDITIONAL COST!!

Read more about the features and watch a short video on the Office Blog announcement post: https://blogs.office.com/2015/03/30/announcing-general-availability-of-built-in-mobile-device-management-for-office-365/

UPDATE: Some new TechNet content on Intune vs. O365 MDM capabilities: https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn957912.aspx

• Azure Search Generally Available
• Azure DocumentDB to Become Generally Available
• Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) Now Available in Open Licensing
• Azure Media Services Now Fully Integrated with Azure CDN
• Media Encoder Premium for Azure Media Services in Public Preview
• Azure Active Directory Dynamic Membership For Groups
• Automatic Password Change for Social Media Shared Accounts
• March Update to Microsoft Intune
• Latest Version For Azure SQL Database Now Generally Available in Asia and Improved Data Recover Objectives For V12 in All Regions
• Compute-Intensive A10 and A11 Virtual Machine Instances Now Generally Available
• Remote Desktop app for Windows Phone Now Supports Gateway and Remote Resources

https://blogs.technet.com/b/stbnewsbytes/archive/2015/03/05/cloud-platform-release-announcements-for-march-5-2015.aspx

Holy cow!  Bet you didn't see this coming!  Who's up for saving a ton of money by using Azure as your DR site?  Using VMware?  Not a problem!  Check out the Azure Blog entry for more details on the features in the preview:

https://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2015/03/26/announcing-the-preview-of-disaster-recovery-for-vmwarephysical-servers-to-microsoft-azure-with-asr/

Microsoft has released Azure App Service, a new cloud service that lets developers build web and mobile apps for any platform and any device.  It's basically a set of building blocks that a developer can choose from to quickly create an application and even integrate it easily with other cloud solutions or on premises systems.

Check out the announcement on the Azure blog: https://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2015/03/24/announcing-azure-app-service/

If you have an idea for an app, check out this page that lets you get started right away for free: https://tryappservice.azure.com/

The next preview release of Azure AD Connect is out and available.  If you don't know what that is, it's a replacement solution for DirSync, the tool that synchronizes your organization's AD information with Azure AD.  Azure AD is the back end identity store for Office 365, CRM Online, Azure and so much more.  This new version supports an in place upgrade from DirSync, attribute filtering by service, multiple forests and more.  There is also a new "Pilot" mode that would let you test it out for a sub group of your directory before converting everything over.

To learn more and find a link to the download, read this Active Directory Team Blog post: https://blogs.technet.com/b/ad/archive/2015/03/24/azure-ad-connect-preview-2-is-available.aspx

Microsoft is pleased to announce that the Preview of Office 2016 is now available for download and evaluation.  There are some great new features in Office 2016, ranging from security to deployment to new features.  Read the blog post for more details and to find a link to the Preview.

https://blogs.office.com/2015/03/16/announcing-the-office-2016-it-pro-and-developer-preview/

Microsoft is pleased to announce the availability of Rethinking Enterprise Storage: A Hybrid Cloud Model (ISBN 9780735679603), by Marc Farley, as a free download! You can download the PDF version of this title here (120 pages; 3 MB). The EPUB format is here and the MOBI format is here.  (These are direct download links)

Rethinking Enterprise Storage: A Hybrid Cloud Model describes a storage architecture that some experts are calling a game changer in the infrastructure industry. Called the Microsoft hybrid cloud storage (HCS) solution, it was developed as a way to integrate cloud storage services with traditional enterprise storage.

The author, Marc Farley, works at Microsoft on hybrid cloud storage solutions as a senior marketing manager. The book includes a Foreword by storage industry expert and noted blogger Martin Glassborow, better known in the industry as Storagebod.

The book includes seven chapters:

Chapter 1  Rethinking enterprise storage
Chapter 2  Leapfrogging backup with cloud snapshots
Chapter 3  Accelerating and broadening disaster recovery protection
Chapter 4  Taming the capacity monster
Chapter 5  Archiving data with the hybrid cloud
Chapter 6  Putting all the pieces together
Chapter 7  Imagining the possibilities with hybrid cloud storage

In this update: Azure Search Generally Available, Azure DocumentDB to Become Generally Available, Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) Now Available in Open Licensing, Azure Media Services Now Fully Integrated with Azure CDN, and more!

https://blogs.technet.com/b/stbnewsbytes/archive/2015/03/05/cloud-platform-release-announcements-for-march-5-2015.aspx