Effective May 23, 2023, utilization alerts for Microsoft Azure Reservations are available. What are Microsoft Azure Reservations? Reservations help organizations cut costs in Azure by committing to a 1-year or 3-year term for services such as virtual machine compute. Committing allows you to
Since April 26, 2023, Microsoft Centrally Managed Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server is generally available. What is Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server? Azure Hybrid Benefit is a licensing benefit that enables you to leverage your on-premises core-based SQL Server licenses, along
Since April 26, 2023, there are custom lookback periods available in Microsoft Azure Advisor. What are custom lookback periods in Azure Advisor? One of the key recommendations provided by Azure Advisor is right sizing, which helps optimize costs by identifying virtual machines that
Effective April 1, 2023, Microsoft revised and simplified the Azure Hybrid Benefit (AHB) use rights for Windows Server. For Windows Server, Microsoft eliminated the requirement that customers allocate licenses in packs of eight, eliminated the requirement that customers allocate 16 licenses before they begin
Announced March 6, 2023, Azure OpenAI Service will be integrated into Microsoft AI Builder, and is currently in preview. Azure OpenAI Service enables users to use a new low-code generative AI model and templates within Microsoft Power Automate and Microsoft Power Apps. AI Builder
Since February 14, 2023, Extended Security Updates (ESU) are available for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 environments on Azure. Organizations that need additional time to upgrade and modernize their Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 environments on Azure can obtain an additional year
Effective April 1, 2023, prices for Azure services in Euro increase by 11 percent to more closely align to Azure pricing in US dollars. Even after this adjustment, customers buying in Euro will continue to find Azure offerings highly competitive. Microsoft periodically assesses its
Effective January 24, 2023, Microsoft Indirect Enterprise Agreement (EA) customers can manage their billing account directly in the Azure Management Portal, and effective February 20, 2023, comparable features are no longer available in the Azure Enterprise Portal. For the announcement article with links to
In 2023, a list of Microsoft products will retire according to a schedule. Upon retirement, there will be no new security updates, non-security updates, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates. The retiring products, governed by the Modern Policy, in
Microsoft Risk Assessments are services designed to help your organization identify and mitigate security risks within Microsoft technology implementations as part of a Risk Assessment Program (RAP). With data being collected remotely, an expert analyzes the gathered data to create a findings report containing remediation recommendations and discusses it with
Microsoft Azure is a powerful cloud platform that offers a growing collection of integrated services for organizations. This guide will help you navigate Azure’s licensing landscape effectively, ensuring you can optimize costs and maximize the benefits of its services. What is Microsoft Azure? Microsoft Azure is a versatile cloud
In March of 2025, Microsoft announced meter price reductions in Copilot Studio, that make using custom agents for non-Microsoft 365 Copilot users more affordable. Also, deep reasoning capabilities join both Copilot Studio and Microsoft 365 Copilot that allow the AI to think longer about prompts and give better answers.