Kurt Shintaku's Blog

The general availability of a new reduced-cost compute offering is now available for the Azure Batch service. Low-priority VMs can be specified for Azure Batch pools and are available at a 60% to 80% discount compared to regular on-demand VMs.

• Low-priority VMs have a huge discount, are available in all regions for all VM series. They are allocated from surplus capacity, so available may vary and they can be preempted.
• Interrupt tolerant workloads and jobs can leverage low-priority VMs to realize huge cost savings.

Azure Batch manages complexity. Batch pools can contain both on-demand and low-priority VMs, the number of VMs of each type can be changed at any time, interrupted tasks and automatically re-queued, preempted VMs are automatically replaced if available to maintain capacity.

Read the docs page for more on Azure Batch.

Visit the Azure pricing page for Pricing on Azure Batch.

At Ignite, we pre-announced Azure Reserved VM Instances (RIs) which will enable customers to reserve virtual machines on Azure for 1 year or 3 year terms and provide significant cost savings. Key benefits include:

• Cost savings—customers can save up to 82% over pay as you go prices with RIs combined with Azure Hybrid Use Benefit (AHUB) for Windows VMs and up to 72% on all VMs. Customers can improve budgeting and forecasting because RIs are purchased in 1- and 3-year terms with a single up-front payment.
• Simplicity and flexibility—customers select only three items: region, VM series, and term, reducing purchasing complexity. If customers decide at any time during the term that they need to exchange or cancel reservations, that’s easy too.
• Prioritized compute capacity—customers request virtual machine capacity in their desired region or series to ensure the resources are available when—and where—they need them. Customers can now plan, implement, and execute against desired workloads by optimizing datacenter capacity around the globe.

Azure RIs are expected to become available for purchase before end of 2017.

Learn more about Azure Reserved VM Instances on Azure.com

Bing now includes a FactCheck badge & automatically displays research from Snopes, Politifact, and other well-researched sources, under Bing search results of questionable validity that may be potentially "Fake News".

Read more about this feature on the Bing Blog:

• BLOG: Bing adds Fact Check label in SERP to support the ClaimReview markup
  https://blogs.bing.com/Webmaster-Blog/September-2017/Bing-adds-Fact-Check-label-in-SERP-to-support-the-ClaimReview-markup

Join us for a free Microsoft webinar on Interactive Price Analytics and learn more about this fascinating topic. At the end of it, you will be able to use our new solution right out-of-the-box, or work with a Microsoft solution partner to you customize the solution further, to meet your business specific needs.

Every business needs data-driven insight into its pricing. But getting at true price effects is tricky. How much of that turkey did you sell because you discounted, and how much because it was Thanksgiving?

First, you need data scientists. They will tell you to run many experiments, but you’d need to hire engineers to build a system for that.  And you can only change a few prices once a month. There are price stickers to change and promotional materials to print. Can’t we just look at our sales history?

As it turns out, now you can. The Interactive Pricing Analytics mitigates the two worst pitfalls of modeling price sensitivity from historical data: confounding and data sparsity. It can be installed into your Azure subscription in four clicks. In the solution dashboard, you can see optimal pricing recommendations, item elasticities at a finely granular level, estimates of related-product effects such "as cannibalization", forecasts given current prices, and model performance metrics.

Direct interaction with the pricing model in Excel lets you simply paste your sales data there and analyze your prices without the need to integrate the data into the solution database first, simulate promotions and plot demand curves (showing demand response to price), and access dashboard data in numerical form.

• DATE/TIME:
  Tues, September 12, 2017
  10am – 11am PT
• REGISTRATION: (Free)
  https://info.microsoft.com/interactive-price-analytics-12sep17.html

To learn more about this free seminar, check out the following:

• BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT: “Free Microsoft Webinar on Interactive Price Analytics, Now Available on Azure”
  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/machinelearning/2017/09/06/free-microsoft-webinar-on-the-interactive-price-analytics-solution-now-available-in-azure/

Microsoft acquired Cycle Computing, a leader in cloud computing orchestration, to help make it easier than ever for customers to use High-Performance Computing (HPC) and other Big Computing capabilities in the cloud.

The cloud is quickly changing the world of Big Compute, giving customers the on-demand power and infrastructure necessary to run massive workloads at scale without the overhead. Your compute power is no longer measured or limited by the square footage of your data center.

Azure has a massive global footprint and, more than any other major cloud provider. It also has powerful infrastructure, InfiniBand support for fast networking and state-of-the-art GPU capabilities. Combining the most specialized Big Compute infrastructure available in the public cloud with Cycle Computing’s technology and years of experience with the world’s largest supercomputers, we open up many new possibilities.

Most importantly, Cycle Computing will help customers accelerate their movement to the cloud, and make it easy to take advantage of the most performant and compliant infrastructure available in the public cloud today.

…

Business Insider thought the announcement was a pretty big deal.  Read below to understand why.

• BUSINESS INSIDER: Microsoft just made a brilliant acquisition in the cloud wars against Amazon, Google
  http://www.businessinsider.com/microsofts-acquires-cycle-computing-away-from-amazon-google-2017-8

Read the announcements here:

• BLOG: Microsoft acquires Cycle Computing to accelerate Big Computing in the cloud
  https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2017/08/15/microsoft-acquires-cycle-computing-accelerate-big-computing-cloud/
• BLOG: Next Steps for Cycle Computing: Joining Microsoft to bring new Big Compute and Cloud HPC capabilities to Azure
  https://cyclecomputing.com/cycle-computing-joining-microsoft/

The Azure Virtual Network service enables you to securely connect Azure resources to each other with virtual networks (VNets). A VNet is a representation of your own network in the cloud and you can also connect VNets to your on-premises network.

Join Lex Thomas as he welcomes back Ryan Berry to the show as they discuss new features and updates for Azure Virtual Network in part one of this two part series.

• [04:43] What is Azure Resource Manager and how does it affect setting up an Azure Virtual Machine?
• [11:28] How does Azure’s Hybrid Cloud possibilities impact organizations and their willingness to adopt cloud computing?
• [14:40] How can organizations connect to Azure? What options are available?

VIEW HERE:

• Your Private Network in the cloud: (Part 1) Azure Virtual Network Overview and Set-Up

Learn more about  Microsoft Premier Support Services.

• Send your comments or questions to the "Taste of Premier" Podcast show!
• Subscribe to our podcast via iTunes, Windows Phone Podcast Marketplace or RSS

In response to feedback for a more predictable feature update model, we are moving to a new twice-yearly release cadence called the Semi-Annual Channel that replaces the Current Branch (CB) and Current Branch for Business (CBB). 

As we announced in April, Windows has aligned with Office 365 ProPlus, targeting releases in March and September, to simplify IT deployment cycles.  Both feature releases will be serviced for 18 months from the date of release.  The Creators Update marks the first of our Semi-Annual Channel releases.  The first aligned feature release will come this fall with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and a corresponding Office 365 ProPlus release.

Common terminology

As part of the alignment with Windows 10 and Office 365 ProPlus, we are also adopting common terminology to make it as easy as possible to understand the servicing process.  The two most important terms to understand include:

• Semi-Annual Channel: These are the twice-per-year feature update releases, targeting March and September, designed for the broad population of general-purpose PCs used throughout organizations.  Each of these releases will be serviced for 18 months from the date of release.  (The Semi-Annual Channel replaces the Current Branch [CB] and Current Branch for Business [CBB] concepts.)
• Long-Term Servicing Channel: These are less frequent releases, expected every 2-3 years (with the next one expected in 2019), designed for special-purpose PCs, such as those used in point-of-sale systems or controlling factory or medical equipment.  Each of these releases will be serviced for 10 years from the date of release.  (The Long-Term Servicing Channel replaces the Long-Term Servicing Branch [LTSB].)

Why the new model?

The new Semi-Annual Channel update cadence and lifecycle model provides commercial customers with greater predictability and simplicity to take advantage of the latest capabilities and integrated security, as quickly as is practical for their organization.  This predictable release cycle enables enterprises to plan combined servicing of Windows and Office and create deployment plans tailored to their needs.

For more information about how to implement a servicing process for Windows, refer to the detailed TechNet article.

Read the announcement here:

• BLOG: Windows as a service: Simplified and Aligned
  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/windowsitpro/2017/07/27/waas-simplified-and-aligned/

Gartner has recognized Microsoft as a Leader in the new CCP Magic Quadrant Report for 2017. In addition to being positioned as a Leader, Microsoft was placed highest for Ability to Execute.

Each year, Gartner evaluates vendors in the enterprise file sync and share market (now Content Collaboration Platforms). It then looks at a variety of key features and functionality across 13 areas, including simplicity and usability, security and data protection, analytics, user productivity and other.

We feel this recognition is a further indication of our commitment to our customers by ensuring that OneDrive provides the best file sharing and collaboration capabilities, including:

• Best with Office 365—OneDrive is included with your Office 365 subscription, and is the only solution that enables you to edit and co-author from within Office across the browser, mobile and desktop apps, along with intelligent discovery and insights powered by the Microsoft Graph.
• Support for a broad range of file types—In addition to Office files, OneDrive now supports over 270 file types, including Adobe Photoshop (PSD), Illustrator (AI), Acrobat (PDF), as well as 3D formats and DICOM images.
• Security and IT confidence—OneDrive leverages Microsoft security capabilities such as Data Loss Prevention (DLP), eDiscovery, Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) and Data Retention controls with consistent management across Office 365.
• Deployment flexibility—Customers can choose their deployment model—cloud, hybrid or on-premises—and leverage no-cost, Microsoft FastTrack deployment, adoption and migration services.
• Cloud leadership and compliance—With 100+ global datacenters and Microsoft’s global network edge—combined with compliance standards, including ISO 27001, FISMA and EU Model Clauses—we offer customers trusted enterprise-grade compliance and security.

Read the announcement on the Office blog here:

• Microsoft OneDrive recognized as a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Collaboration Platforms
  https://blogs.office.com/en-us/2017/07/27/microsoft-onedrive-recognized-as-a-leader-in-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-content-collaboration-platforms/

Get your own complimentary copy of the Gartner Content Collaborations Platforms Magic Quadrant report below.

• Gartner Content Collaborations Platforms Magic Quadrant report
  https://aka.ms/gartnerccpreport

Web developers take heed!  Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 is no longer being invested in & Microsoft Edge will be replacing IE11 as the OS browser for all Windows versions in the future.

Get involved with the summit today!

Microsoft Edge Web Summit is a free conference presented by the engineers building Microsoft Edge.

The main track consists of 14 jam-packed technical sessions, covering everything from performance, accessibility, and test guidance, to brand-new tools and APIs for building Progressive Web Apps on Windows, adding payments and biometric authentication to your sites, and building modern layouts with new CSS features like CSS Grid.

This year, we’re introducing a new Hallway Track, where you can meet with engineers from across Microsoft to solve real problems today, and build invaluable connections for the future. Looking to reduce a troublesome performance issue? Struggling with best practices for accessibility? Eager to get started with WebVR? Curious about Bash on Windows? We’ve got you covered. The Hallway Track connects you one-to-one with Microsoft engineers throughout the day for tangible results you can take back to your site or app.

A full lunch will be served along with light breakfast and dinner options. Refreshments will be available throughout the day.

• DATE:
  Sept 13, 2017
• LOCATION:
  Block 41 – Bert & Tot Gallery
  Seattle, WA (Belltown)
• REGISTRATION:
  https://summit.microsoftedge.com/

It’s been a little sketchy on the details on how Workplace Analytics is licensed so I thought I’d share what our PM has said is the general costs (sans Volume Discount) of the new technology.

Workplace Analytics is available for enterprise level organizations (5,000+ seats) and costs $6/license/mo for enterprise SKUs (with the exception of E5 customers, which is $2/license/mo).

Workplace Analytics is not included in E5 because we made a strategic decision to deliver the Workplace Analytics value in a different fashion.  The pricing reflects an investment in our customers that are invested in the Microsoft innovation cycle.

We understand that this is a significant departure from the typical licensing model, but Workplace Analytics is a unique solution that will significantly enhance the value of Office 365 by augmenting the layer of intelligence surrounding Office 365 products.

– Nathan Barrett, Office Product Marketing Manager (https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/MyAnalytics/Microsoft-Workplace-Analytics/td-p/84884)

GETTING STARTED WITH WORKPLACE ANALYTICS
If you’d like instructions on how to get started with Workplace Analytics, there’s a page that goes over exactly that:

• Getting started with Workplace Analytics
  https://support.office.com/nl-nl/article/Get-started-with-Workplace-Analytics-05d19452-b41f-430d-a4b6-4cac8bbacbb1

METRICS FOR WORKPLACE ANALYTICS
Additionally, Metrics used to measure Workplace Analytics are listed and defined at the following web site:

• Metric descriptions and glossary for Workplace Analytics
  https://support.office.com/en-US/article/Metric-descriptions-and-glossary-for-Workplace-Analytics-bdb79fd3-dac8-4101-83ed-8221e79a0318

WORKPLACE ANALYTICS COMMUNITY
There is a new community site for folks interested in asking questions about Workplace Analytics specifically. 

• Workplace Analytics TechCommunity
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Workplace-Analytics/bd-p/WorkplaceAnalytics