Ahead of its 2019 Build developer conference, Microsoft announced a slew of updates across its Azure cloud, cognitive services, blockchain, intelligent edge, and HoloLens 2.
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Satya Nadella likes to drive home that Microsoft’s future will be built upon the “intelligent cloud and intelligent edge.”
In advance of its annual Build developer conference next week, the tech giant laid out its next steps of that vision across the key emerging technology areas it’s invested heavily in: artificial intelligence, mixed reality, cloud and data services, and the Internet of Things. Here’s a rundown of all Microsoft’s pre-Build announcements.
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Fresh off the unveiling of the much-improved HoloLens 2 at Mobile World Congress, Microsoft is expanding its Mixed Reality Developer Program along with releasing a new HoloLens 2 Developer bundle. The HoloLens 2 Development Edition will come with a HoloLens 2 headset, $500.00 in Microsoft Azure credits, and three-month trials of both Unity Pro and the Unity PiXYZ Plugin for CAD data. The idea is to give developers not only the mixed reality device itself, but the cloud services and 3D development environment to build new apps and experiences for it.
In addition to Unity, Microsoft also announced Unreal Engine 4 streaming support and native platform integration for HoloLens 2, available to devlopers by the end of May.
Azure AI and Machine Learning
Microsoft’s AI ambitions span its entire infrastructure and product portfolio, but it all comes back to Microsoft Azure. The company previewed a number of new services and tools expanding Microsoft’s cloud-based AI capabilities for developers and data scientists.
The company is launching a new Azure Cognitive Services category called “Decision” to help build more sophisticated AI-based decision-making processes into applications.
