New previews for Azure OpenAI Service, AI dashboards in Azure Machine Learning and a web application routing add-in for Azure Kubernetes Service were among the biggest Azure announcements from Microsoft during this year’s Build conference aimed at developers.

Below are spotlights on the general availability release milestones of 10 of the most interesting Microsoft technologies for IT pros and developers in Azure.

1. Single-Node Azure Stack HCI
Azure Stack HCI is a line of partner-built hardware products that organizations can use to run Azure services along with Azure VM workloads. The new single-node configuration is ideal for businesses with smaller budgets, little physical space or lower processing needs overall.

2. Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform
The Intelligent Data Platform promises to “fully integrate databases, analytics and governance,” according to Azure Data chief Rohan Kumar in a blog post.

The platform is meant to speed up the process of turning data from disparate sources into actionable intelligence.

3. Azure Container Apps
The general availability of Azure Container Apps, Microsoft’s serverless container service, means it just got a little easier to create microservice applications without a lot of infrastructure overhead. Auto-scaling is built in, as well as support for myriad application types. Developers can write code using the languages they’re already familiar with.

4. .NET MAUI
Microsoft has touted .NET MAUI (short for multi-platform app UI) as the cross-platform .NET model of developers’ dreams — essentially, the next evolution of Xamarin.Forms.

Originally expected to launch last November, .NET MAUI is finally seeing daylight, bringing compatibilities with Blazor and C#.

5. Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio Code
Developers now have a new tool in their arsenal for quickly spinning up Microsoft Teams apps for Web and mobile.

The Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio Code “saves developers time by automating configuration across portals, cloud resource templates and continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) workflows,” according to Microsoft.

6. Azure DCsv3 VMs with Intel Software Guard Extensions
The DVsv3 series of Azure virtual machines (VMs) is designed specifically to keep data in the public cloud secure. The integration with Intel Software Guard Extensions means that users can take advantage of “application-level isolation for granular security control,” Microsoft said back in November, when it was still in the public preview stage.

7. Azure Communication Services Mobile UI Library
The APIs in Microsoft’s Azure Communication Services umbrella are designed for developers of interactive or collaborative apps that work with Microsoft Teams. The now-available Mobile UI Library delivers ready-made UI components for mobile app developers to reduce development time.

8. Azure App Service Landing Zone Accelerator
The Accelerator combines documentation and automation to make it “easier to move enterprise apps from an on-premises environment to Azure App Service,” says Microsoft.

9. Service Bus Explorer in Azure Portal
According to Microsoft, Azure Portal users can now “specify a Service Bus namespace and then send messages to a queue or topic in that namespace, as well as receive or peek at messages from a queue or a subscription.”

10. MySQL Flexible Server ‘Business Critical’ Tier
The old “Memory Optimized” tier for the Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server product is no more. As of Build, it’s now called the “Business Critical” tier. New capabilities include “1.5x faster performance than Azure Database for MySQL Single Server deployment.”

Addition: Azure Spring Apps
This one isn’t a general availability launch, but a rebrand. Microsoft is renaming Azure Spring Cloud, a managed service that it jointly developed with VMware, to Azure Spring Apps. The new name sets the stage for Microsoft to expand on the family of “Spring”-branded solutions.

The post Microsoft Build 2022: 10 Biggest Azure Announcements appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Today, at Microsoft Build Conference 2022, Microsoft Dev Box, a new cloud service that provides developers with secure, ready-to-code developer workstations for hybrid teams of any size, was announced.

Microsoft Dev Box empowers developers to focus on the code only they can write, making it easy for them to access the tools and resources they need without worrying about workstation configuration and maintenance.

“Dev teams preconfigure Dev Boxes for specific projects and tasks, enabling devs to get started quickly with an environment that’s ready to build and run their app in minutes. At the same time, Microsoft Dev Box ensures unified management, security, and compliance stay in the hands of IT by leveraging Windows 365 to integrate Dev Boxes with Intune and Microsoft Endpoint Manager”, says Anthony Cangialosi of Microsoft Developer Division.

Transforming the developer workstation

Contemporary dev workstations come with a plethora of challenges. New developers can spend days setting up a working environment and weeks before they make their first commit.

Senior developers often work across multiple projects that can bring conflicting dependencies and bog down their dev workstation. And we’ve all made a change that unexpectedly left us with a broken environment.

With Microsoft Dev Box, dev teams create and maintain Dev Box images with all the tools and dependencies their devs need to build and run their applications. Teams can include their application source code and nightly built binaries, enabling devs to immediately start running and understanding the code without having to wait for long re-builds.

Developers stay in control of their Dev Boxes with a developer portal that enables them to create and delete their Dev Boxes for any of their projects.

Developers can create Dev Boxes to experiment on a proof-of-concept, keep their projects separate, or even parallelize tasks across multiple Dev Boxes to avoid bogging down their primary environment.

For devs working on legacy apps, they can maintain Dev Boxes for older versions of an application to quickly create an environment that can reproduce and diagnose critical customer issues as they emerge.

Microsoft Dev Box supports any developer IDE, SDK, or internal tool that runs on Windows. Dev Boxes can target any development workload you can build from a Windows desktop and are particularly well-suited for desktop, mobile, IoT, and gaming. You can even build cross-platform apps using Windows Subsystem for Linux.

And because Microsoft Dev Boxes are hosted in the Microsoft cloud, you can access them from anywhere: Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, or your web browser.

Microsoft Dev Box ensures developers always have the right tools and resources based on project, task, and even role. When building Dev Boxes, dev teams select from a range of SKUs to define the right level of compute for each project and instantly scale up aging physical hardware.

Thanks to Azure Active Directory integration, teams can rapidly onboard new team members by assigning them to Azure Active Directory groups that grant access to the Dev Boxes they need for their projects.

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V Bionic’s team were announced winners today, 24th May 2022 at the opening of Microsoft Build 2022, TechEconomy.ng can report.

Tiernan Madorno, Microsoft Joy Officer, and Donovan Brown, Microsoft Partner Program Manager, hosted the show and introduced each of the World Championship judges–Linda Lian, CEO/Founder of Common Room; Kat Norton, Founder and Chief Excel Officer of Miss Excel; and Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming. 

The judges were tasked with selecting the World Champion based on an assessment of the solutions’ technology, accessibility and inclusion, marketability as a business idea, and potential for making an impact as the three regional teams provided in-depth presentations on their solutions.

V Bionic won the grand prize for ExoHeal, a modular exoskeletal hand rehabilitation device that utilizes neuroplasticity and Azure technology to provide adaptive and gamified rehabilitation exercises to people with hand paralysis.

The team won USD50,000 in Azure credits, a cash prize of USD100,000, and a mentoring session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella. 

Watch the show to experience the moment when V Bionic was crowned the champion! 

V Bionic aims to ease the hardships faced by people with disabilities by integrating robotic technology with the human body through bionic solutions.

Specifically, ExoHeal combines robotics and neuroscience to offer affordable and 30% faster rehabilitation to patients with hand paralysis.

This is achieved by incorporating the concepts of neuroplasticity into a rehabilitation routine that utilizes a robotic exoskeletal hand and a smartphone application to offer interactive and gamified therapy.

Although it began as a personal endeavor, the team gradually came together through referrals and attending various competitions and events.

Zain A. Samdani, Founder and CEO, initially came up with the idea for ExoHeal, and after researching it and developing the initial prototypes, he realized that a team was necessary to work on different aspects of the project to create a solution that truly addresses the needs of patients with paralysis

Faria Zubair, Head of Design, improved the design and transformed the prototype to make it feel like a second skin.

Asfia Jabeen Zubair, Operations Manager, provided her ability to deal with people and patients and secured the input and advice of a scientific society comprised of neuroscientists

Ramin Udash, CTO and application developer, contributed his expertise in building robotics and applications

The team recently started to integrate the devices with mobile apps to improve user navigation. They were introduced to Azure at a hackathon in Saudi Arabia and have been fascinated with the technology since.

V Bionic is currently developing their final prototype for clinical testing scheduled for the third quarter of 2022. 

These extensive clinical trials will provide better insights and assist in gaining the necessary FDA and ISO certifications required for a class 2 medical device. The team is also developing the app in collaboration with physiotherapists and neuroscientists in India and Saudi Arabia to ensure that its functionality will meet user needs. After successfully bringing the hand paralysis rehabilitation device to the , the team has plans to expand to other parts of the body starting with the arms and eventually the legs.

“Our journey has taught us how a simple device can so greatly change the lives of others. The smiles and joy it has brought and that which it has yet to bring give purpose to our work. Knowing that we have what it takes to instill change in the world gives meaning to our existence. V Bionic is not just a team, it’s a family who cares to help families overcome the difficulties of life through technology,” said Zain A. Samdani and Asfia Jabeen Zubair.

This year, thousands of students from over 160 countries applied their passion and purpose to develop tech solutions to impact their communities in the 20th annual Imagine Cup.

The competition began in September 2021, and from all the projects submitted in four social good categories, Earth, Education, Healthcare, and Lifestyle, our global judges selected 48 teams to compete in the World Finals in March.

The top three winners in each category were chosen, and finally, the top regional winners advanced to pitch their projects at the World Championship during Microsoft Build this morning for the chance to become the next World Champion. 

Registration for the 2023 competition is now open.

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