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Microsoft announces $1.5B digital transformation plan for Italy, including its first cloud datacenter region

Five-year investment plan includes technology investments in cloud services, digital skilling and re-skilling programs, local partnerships for business innovation, and a new Sustainability Alliance

MILAN – May 8, 2020 – Microsoft Corp. today announced a $1.5 billion, five-year investment plan in Italy, marking a significant commitment to support local innovation and growth, including the intent to bring Microsoft’s first datacenter region to the country. The plan “Ambizione Italia #DigitalRestart” builds on the strategic initiative “Ambizione Italia“ launched in 2018 and will create new opportunities by empowering people and organizations and supporting economic growth. Microsoft will deliver access to local cloud services, expand its partnership with Poste Italiane, launch digital skilling and smart-working programs, accelerate business’ restart by providing access to AI Hubs and programs for SMBs, as well as support the country by launching a Sustainability Alliance.

Microsoft’s investments in Italy span a 35-plus-year history with more than 10,000 partners and 350,000 professionals. The plan marks a major milestone toward delivering its enterprise-grade cloud services globally, totalling 61 regions announced, with Microsoft Azure available in over 140 countries.

“I am proud to announce our $1.5 billion investment plan for Italy. This plan will support those working across the country to sustain and rebuild businesses, to explore new entrepreneurial opportunities and help solve some of the country’s most difficult challenges, all while meeting critical security and compliance needs. We see enormous potential to accelerate innovation within the national ecosystem through cloud services, AI and digital skilling. Our mission is to empower the people and organizations of Italy to achieve more,” said Jean-Philippe Courtois, executive vice president and president, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations.

“Once again, Italy is confirmed to be a hub for attracting investment, innovation and development. The ‘Ambizione Italia #DigitalRestart’ plan will help accelerate the digital transformation of our country. Microsoft’s initiative, with cloud services and digital smart-working programs dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises, will certainly help Italy move even faster in this direction. The new Sustainability Alliance that Microsoft aims to bring is also of utmost importance to the national Green New Deal,” said Giuseppe Conte, prime minister of Italy.

“We need to orient the country toward digital and technological transformation by addressing three challenges: digitalization, innovation and ethical and sustainable development,” stated Paola Pisano, minister, Technological Innovation and Digitalization. “Artificial Intelligence presents a real and tangible opportunity to revolutionize our country, and we have a duty to invest and play a leading role in its development, to ensure we don’t fall behind. This means designing, developing and experimenting with artificial intelligence solutions and applying them to administrative processes and production processes, to assess and correctly address their potential impact on society.”

Expanding technology partnership with Poste Italiane and bringing Microsoft’s cloud to Italy

Microsoft and Poste Italiane, the largest service distribution network in Italy, are extending their partnership to foster innovation among developers, startups, enterprises and public administration. The two companies will launch a joint plan to develop a new digital skilling project for the Poste Italiane workforce and a joint initiative for skilling in the country. Poste Italiane will also accelerate its own digital transformation with the latest Microsoft solutions.

“We’re going to play an important role in Italy’s digital transformation and future development. The strengthened collaboration with Microsoft is aligned with our Deliver 2022 strategic plan. By leveraging advanced cloud services, we can empower public and private companies to innovate, providing greater opportunity for the country’s growth,” said Matteo Del Fante, CEO and GM, Poste Italiane.

The new datacenter region in Milan will provide companies with access to Microsoft’s enterprise-grade cloud services. Microsoft Azure is an ever-expanding set of cloud services that offers computing, networking, databases, analytics, AI and Internet of Things (IoT) services. Microsoft 365 is the world’s productivity cloud that delivers best-of-breed productivity apps integrated through cloud services, delivered as part of an open platform for business processes. Dynamics 365 and Power Platform are the next generation of intelligent business applications that enable organizations to grow, evolve and transform to meet the needs of customers.

Hundreds of customers and partners in Italy are already driving business transformation with Microsoft’s cloud services, including Barilla, CNH Industrial, Eni, Generali, Invitalia, Luxottica and Snam. According to joint research conducted by Politecnico di Milano School of Management and Microsoft Italia, establishing a datacenter region of this size in Italy may generate more than 10,000 job-related opportunities and an estimated $9 billion in direct and indirect business impact by the end of 2024. This forecast encompasses datacenter construction and operations as well as opportunities for businesses and the technology ecosystem.

Microsoft offers more than 90 certifications and spends $1 billion every year on cybersecurity to address security at every layer of the cloud. Microsoft’s Italy datacenter region will continue to help companies comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and will also help customers store data at rest in Italy.

“In this time of change, it is important to create private and public collaboration and join forces among companies. This plan creates a platform for growth for millions of Italians. The new datacenter region will provide intelligent and secure services, and we will continue to partner with our customers to reimagine their business models creating more innovative companies,” said Silvia Candiani, general manager, Microsoft Italy.

Skilling, business support and education programs to grow Italian job opportunities

“Ambizione Italia #DigitalRestart” also includes an important focus on skilling an estimated 1.5 million students, professionals and unemployed citizens over the next three years with our partner Fondazione Mondo Digitale and the Partner Academy Program. Microsoft is also forming an Advisory Board comprising CEOs of leading companies to identify priorities for empowering people development, as well as sharing their expertise and best practices for new skilling and employability initiatives. To enable SMBs’ productivity and innovation for all Italian businesses, Microsoft and selected partners, including Borsa Italiana, Cariplo Factory, Confindustria, EY, OGR Tech, Politecnico di Milano, Poste Italiane, Sace, UniCredit, and Vodafone Italia, will also create digital programs for local businesses with a specific focus on SMBs, offering Microsoft’s cloud services to an estimated 500,000 companies and startups in Italy. Finally, Microsoft announced new “AI Hubs” in Italy to help companies in key strategic sectors get started in AI with dedicated local resources from Microsoft, its partners, and researchers from top universities, innovation centers and startups.

Supporting Italy’s Sustainability Alliance

Microsoft and local stakeholders will launch a Sustainability Alliance committed to delivering technology solutions that help public and private sectors create solutions to improve sustainability in Italy. The Sustainability Alliance will support the national New Green Deal Plan and will contribute to an open innovation ecosystem on sustainable topics. This alliance will help address the most urgent climate and environmental needs to support Italy’s sustainable future.

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

For more information, press only:

Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications, (425) 638-7777, rrt@we-worldwide.com

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://news.microsoft.com. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-public-relations-contacts.

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Extending Minecraft into the real world with Azure Cosmos DB

This post is part 1 of a two-part series about how organizations use Azure Cosmos DB to meet real world needs and the difference it’s making to them. In part 1, we explore the challenges that led service developers for Minecraft Earth to choose Azure Cosmos DB and how they’re using it to capture almost every action taken by every player around the globe—with ultra-low latency. In part 2, we examine the solution’s workload and how Minecraft Earth service developers have benefited from building it on Azure Cosmos DB.

Extending the world of Minecraft into our real world

You’ve probably heard of the game Minecraft, even if you haven’t played it yourself. It’s the best-selling video game of all time, having sold more than 176 million copies since 2011. Today, Minecraft has more than 112 million monthly players, who can discover and collect raw materials, craft tools, and build structures or earthworks in the game’s immersive, procedurally generated 3D world. Depending on game mode, players can also fight computer-controlled foes and cooperate with—or compete against—other players.

In May 2019, Microsoft announced the upcoming release of Minecraft Earth, which began its worldwide rollout in December 2019. Unlike preceding games in the Minecraft franchise, Minecraft Earth takes things to an entirely new level by enabling players to experience the world of Minecraft within our real world through the power of augmented reality (AR).

For Minecraft Earth players, the experience is immediately familiar—albeit deeply integrated with the world around them. For developers on the Minecraft team at Microsoft, however, the delivery of Minecraft Earth—especially the authoritative backend services required to support the game—would require building something entirely new.

Nathan Sosnovske, a Senior Software Engineer on the Minecraft Earth services development team explains:

“With vanilla Minecraft, while you could host your own server, there was no centralized service authority. Minecraft Earth is based on a centralized, authoritative service—the first ‘heavy’ service we’ve ever had to build for the Minecraft franchise.”

In this case study, we’ll look at some of the challenges that Minecraft Earth service developers faced in delivering what was required of them—and how they used Azure Cosmos DB to meet those needs.

The technical challenge: Avoiding in-game lag

Within the Minecraft Earth client, which runs on iOS-based and Android-based AR-capable devices, almost every action a player takes results in a write to the core Minecraft Earth service. Each write is a REST POST that must be immediately accepted and acknowledged to avoid any noticeable in-game lag.

“From a services perspective, Minecraft Earth requires low-latency writes and medium-latency reads,” explains Sosnovske. “Writes need to be fast because the client requires confirmation on each one, such as might be needed for the client to render—for example, when a player taps on a resource to see what’s in it, we don’t want the visuals to hang while the corresponding REST request is processed. Medium-latency reads are acceptable because we can use client-side simulation until the backing model behind the service can be updated for reading.”

To complicate the challenge, Minecraft Earth service developers needed to ensure low-latency writes regardless of a player’s location. This required running copies of the service in multiple locations within each geography where Minecraft Earth would be offered, along with built-in intelligence to route the Minecraft Earth client to the nearest location where the service is deployed.

“Typical network latency between the east and west coasts of the US is 70 to 80 milliseconds,” says Sosnovske. “If a player in New York had to rely on a service running in San Francisco, or vice versa, the in-game lag would be unacceptable. At the same time, the game is called Minecraft Earth—meaning we need to enable players in San Francisco and New York to share the same in-game experience. To deliver all this, we need to replicate the service—and its data—in multiple, geographically distributed datacenters within each geography.”

The solution: An event sourcing pattern based on Azure Cosmos DB

To satisfy their technical requirements, Minecraft Earth service developers implemented an event sourcing pattern based on Azure Cosmos DB.

“We originally considered using Azure Table storage to store our append-only event log, but its lack of any SLAs for read and write latencies made that unfeasible,” says Sosnovske. “Ultimately, we chose Azure Cosmos DB because it provides 10 millisecond SLAs for both reads and writes, along with the global distribution and multi-master capabilities needed to replicate the service in multiple locations within each geography.”

With an event sourcing pattern, instead of just storing the current state of the data, the Minecraft Earth service uses an append-only data store that’s based on Azure Cosmos DB to record the full series of actions taken on the data—in this case, mapping to each in-game action taken by the player. After immediate acknowledgement of a successful write is returned to the client, queues that subscribe to the append-only event store handle postprocessing and asynchronously apply the collected events to a domain state maintained in Azure Blob storage. To optimize things further, Minecraft Earth developers combined the event sourcing pattern with domain-driven design, in which each app domain—such as inventory items, character profiles, or achievements—has its own event stream.

“We modeled our data as streams of events that are stored in an append-only log and mutate an in-memory model state, which is used to drive various client views,” says Sosnovske. “That cached state is maintained in Azure Blob storage, which is fast enough for reads and helps to keep our request unit costs for Azure Cosmos DB to a minimum. In many ways, what we’ve done with Azure Cosmos DB is like building a write cache that’s really, really resilient.”

The following diagram shows how the event sourcing pattern based on Azure Cosmos DB works:

Event sourcing pattern based on Azure Cosmos DB workflow diagram.

Putting Azure Cosmos DB in place

In putting Azure Cosmos DB to use, developers had to make a few design decisions:

Azure Cosmos DB API. Developers chose to use the Azure Cosmos DB Core (SQL) API because it offered the best performance and the greatest ease of use, along with other needed capabilities.

“We were building a system from scratch, so there was no need for a compatibility layer to help us migrate existing code,” Sosnovske explains. “In addition, some Azure Cosmos DB features that we depend on—such as TransactionalBatch—are only supported with the Core (SQL) API. As an added advantage, the Core (SQL) API was really intuitive, as our team was already familiar with SQL in general.”

Read Introducing TransactionalBatch in the .NET SDK to learn more.

Partition key. Developers ultimately decided to logically partition the data within Azure Cosmos DB based on users.

“We originally partitioned data on users and domains—again, examples being inventory items or achievements—but found that this breakdown was too granular and prevented us from using database transactions within Azure Cosmos DB to their full potential,” says Sosnovske.”

Consistency level. Of the five consistency levels supported by Azure Cosmos DB, developers chose session consistency, which they combined with heavy etag checking to ensure that data is properly written.

“This works for us because of how we store data, which is modeled as an append-only log with a head document that serves as a pointer to the tail of the log,” explains Sosnovske. “Writing to the database involves reading the head document and its etag, deriving the N+1 log ID, and then constructing a transactional batch operation that overwrites the head pointer using the previously read etag and creates a new document for the log entry. In the unlikely case that the log has already been written, the etag check and the attempt to create a document that already existed will result in a failed transaction. This happened regardless of whether another request ‘beats’ us to writing or if our request reads slightly out-of-date data.”

In part 2 of this series, we examine the solution’s current workload and how Minecraft Earth service developers have benefited from building it on Azure Cosmos DB.

Get started with Azure Cosmos DB

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Bid high, lose, try again. Amazon continues to push for a JEDI re-do

Many years ago when I was on active duty as a Marine officer in the 1980s, I went through cold weather training carrying a 1950s-era sleeping bag and “waterproof” clothing from the 1970s. At the time, I could have gone down to the local store and bought gear that would have kept me warm and dry, but alas that wasn’t yet in the USMC supply system. I was not happy about this. Also, I was cold and wet.

So when it comes to making sure the U.S. Military has the latest and best technology available, I’m a huge supporter, and the Department of Defense’s (DoD) decision to source a Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract to deliver the latest advancements in enterprise cloud could be a great step forward. But only if Amazon gets out of the way.

We received notice on Tuesday that Amazon has filed yet another protest – this time, out of view of the public and directly with the DoD – about their losing bid for the JEDI cloud contract. Amazon’s complaint is confidential, so we don’t know what it says. However, if their latest complaint mirrors the arguments Amazon made in court , it’s likely yet another attempt to force a re-do because they bid high and lost the first time.

The only thing that’s certain about Amazon’s new complaint is that it will force American warfighters to wait even longer for the 21st-century technology they need – perpetuating Amazon’s record of putting its own interests ahead of theirs.

This latest roadblock is disappointing but not surprising. As my colleague Jon Palmer made clear in a recent blog, Amazon wants a do-over on JEDI . As Jon wrote, “Amazon would have you believe that it lost the award because of bias at the highest levels of government. But Amazon, alone, is responsible for the pricing it offered. As the government explained in its brief: ‘AWS and Microsoft each had a fair chance to build pricing for the entire procurement, based on their overall business pricing.’ Amazon did build its pricing for the entire procurement, and it wasn’t good enough to win.”

From the DoD’s independent Inspector General’s report, to the court’s granting of a preliminary injunction, to refusing to even give the DoD a chance to address court’s narrowly scoped concerns, you have to ask, “When will enough be enough for Amazon? When will they say that they’ve been heard?”

This latest filing – filed with the DoD this time – is another example of Amazon trying to bog down JEDI in complaints, litigation and other delays designed to force a do-over to rescue its failed bid. Think about it: Amazon spent the better part of last month fighting in court to prevent the DoD from taking a 120-day pause to address a concern flagged by the judge and reevaluate the bids. Amazon fought for a complete re-do and more delay. Amazon lost. The judge granted the DoD’s request for a timeout in the litigation to address her concerns.

And now Amazon is at it again, trying to grind this process to a halt, keeping vital technology from the men and women in uniform – the very people Amazon says it supports. Why do this? Is it because the DoD won’t completely unwind the JEDI procurement process to the beginning? Again, we don’t know the content of Amazon’s complaint, as it avoids the public scrutiny of a court filing. But we do know that the changes DoD have made based on the judge’s ruling do not allow Amazon to undo its earlier business decision to bid high, which resulted in their loss. It does not allow Amazon to completely re-do its pricing, especially now that it knows Microsoft’s price and has a target to shoot at. And it does not allow Amazon to tilt the playing field in its favor.

Amazon may make a lot of noise about bias and interference, but the DoD’s independent Inspector General made it clear that the department established and followed a proper procurement process. And no one forced Amazon to bid high in the procurement. Amazon alone made the choice to bid high, but now wants to find a way to avoid the consequences of its own bad business decisions.

At the end of the day, putting the customer first is a good business strategy and one where Amazon has traditionally excelled. In this case, I think about the customer not as a singular “DoD” but as the individual soldier, sailor, airman or Marine who wants and deserves the very best tools to do their job. And the best way Amazon can put these customers first is to stand down on its litigation, stop asking for a do-over and let JEDI proceed.

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Recap of May 2020 edition of Inside Xbox, including kickoff of Xbox 20/20 look at the future

Everyone here at Xbox is excited to share more about the games and experiences coming in the next generation. Earlier this week, we shared our plans for Xbox 20/20, our new reoccurring series that will be rolling out over the course of the year. We kicked it off today with an episode of Inside Xbox that included a very special First Look at Xbox Series X Gameplay event which highlighted 13 new titles coming to Xbox Series X in the launch window from a variety of our development partners from across the globe. Many of these titles are brand-new properties that are being shown for the very first time, kicking off the new generation in a very exciting way.

We’ve always made a point to showcase great work from developers large and small from around the world, and this is just the beginning. Hundreds of titles are already in development for Xbox Series X thanks to our amazing partner community. We’ll be sharing a lot more in the coming months in our Xbox 20/20 series, not only from those partners but from Xbox Game Studios as well.

We’re also happy to share that all of the games included in today’s show will be Xbox Series X Optimized, meaning they are built to take advantage of the powerful Xbox Series X features that make games look and feel incredible, including 4K resolution at up to 120 frames per second, DirectStorage, hardware-accelerated DirectX raytracing, super-fast load times and much more. Putting the power of the console in the hands of developers to decide what’s best for their games is one of our core beliefs and we’re excited for this first look at how they are choosing to leverage the Xbox Series X.

You’ll also probably note that some of the titles below have asterisks next to their names. This means that these games are confirmed to take advantage of Smart Delivery, ensuring you’ll only have to buy that game once knowing you’ll get the best version of that game for whichever Xbox console you’re playing on. Today, we confirmed 9 more titles leveraging this tech for a great customer experience adding to the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and all Xbox Game Studios titles.

For a full recap of what was shown, read on below or watch the replay of Inside Xbox episode above when the VOD is available.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla* (Ubisoft): In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, become Eivor, a legendary Viking raider on a quest for glory. Explore a dynamic and beautiful open world set against the brutal backdrop of England’s Dark Ages. Raid your enemies, grow your settlement, and build your political power in the quest to earn a place among the gods in Valhalla.

Bright Memory Infinite (Playism): Bright Memory: Infinite is an all-new lightning-fast fusion of the FPS and action genres, created by FYQD-Studio. Combine a wide variety of skills and abilities to unleash dazzling combo attacks. Bright Memory: Infinite is set in a sprawling, futuristic metropolis in the year 2036. A strange phenomenon for which scientists can find no explanation has occurred in the skies around the world. The Supernatural Science Research Organization (SRO) has sent agents out to various regions to investigate this phenomenon. It is soon discovered that these strange occurrences are connected to an archaic mystery – an as-of-yet unknown history of two worlds, about to come to light…

Call of the Sea* (Raw Fury): Call of the Sea is a first-person adventure puzzle game set in the 1930s that tells the story of Norah, a woman on the trail of her missing husband’s expedition. The search takes place on a strange but beautiful island in the South Pacific, filled with secrets waiting to be unearthed. It is an otherworldly tale of mystery, adventure, and self-discovery.

Chorus* (Deep Silver): Discover Chorus, an immersive single-player experience that tells a mature and dark tale of redemption. Take control of Nara, an ace pilot with a haunted past and Forsaken, her sentient starfighter, as they embark on a personal, redemptive journey to challenge a relentless foe and take down the dark cult that made her. This is a true evolution of the space combat shooter.

DiRT 5* (Codemasters): Ushering in the next generation of racing, DiRT 5 writes a new chapter in the legacy of DiRT – bolder and braver than ever before. New features, new innovations and a fresh approach make DiRT 5 a hub of amplified off-road racing, style and culture, where no two races are ever the same.

Madden NFL 21 (Electronic Arts): EA Sports’ Madden NFL is the defining experience for simulated NFL action, enabling fans to play out their NFL fantasy on the virtual gridiron. For more than three decades, since the original release of John Madden Football in 1988, Madden NFL has continued to evolve and innovate to deliver an even more authentic and fun experience for players. The storied franchise continues with Madden NFL 21, which will make fans feel next level on Xbox Series X. Visit ea.com/nextlevel for more information.

Scarlet Nexus* (Bandai Namco Entertainment): Take on the role of Yuito Sumeragi, a new recruit to the OSF aiming to become an elite psionic like the one who saved him as a child. Armed with a talent in psycho-kinesis, explore the futuristic city of New Himuka and uncover the mysteries of a Brain Punk future caught between technology and psychic abilities in Scarlet Nexus.

Scorn (Ebb): Scorn is an atmospheric first-person horror adventure game set in a nightmarish universe of odd forms and somber tapestry. It is designed around the idea of “being thrown into the world”. Isolated and lost inside this dream-like world, you will explore different interconnected regions in a non-linear fashion. The unsettling environment is a character itself. Every location contains its own theme (story), puzzles and characters that are integral in creating a cohesive world. Throughout the game you will open up new areas, acquire different skill sets, weapons, various items and try to comprehend the sights presented to you.

Second Extinction* (Systemic Reaction): Second Extinction is an intense 3 player cooperative shooter, where your goal is to wipe out the mutated dinosaurs that have taken over the planet. Teamwork is vital as you adopt the role of one of the survivors, using a unique combination of weapons, abilities and skills to take on the vast number of enemies. Fight through a maelstrom of bullets, bombs, teeth, claws and gore, it’s up to you to reclaim Earth!

The Ascent* (Neon Giant / Curve Digital): The Ascent is a solo and co-op action RPG set in a cyberpunk world. The mega corporation that owns you and everyone, The Ascent Group, has just collapsed. Confusion and chaos ensue, security and order are in disarray, and without protection, everyone is left to fend for themselves. Stop gangs and hostile corporations from taking over and discover what really happened in this explosive sci-fi shooter.

The Medium (Bloober Team): The Medium is a next-gen psychological horror game from Bloober Team, the makers of Blair Witch, Observer, and Layers of Fear. You play as Marianne, a medium living in two worlds: the real and the spirit one. Haunted by a vision of a child’s murder, you travel to an abandoned hotel resort, which many years ago became the stage of an unthinkable tragedy. There you begin your search for difficult answers. The Medium’s soundtrack is a collaboration between two composers – Bloober Team’s Arkadiusz Reikowski and Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame – reflecting the game’s most important theme: duality.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2* (Paradox Interactive): What Monster Will You Be? Enter the World of Darkness and rise through vampire society. Experience Seattle – a city full of alluring, dangerous characters and factions. In this sequel to the cult classic, your choices, plots and schemes will change the balance of power.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon* (SEGA): Just announced today, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, an explosive new entry point in the acclaimed Yakuza series, will be releasing as a launch title on Xbox Series X. We are also excited to announce that Yakuza: Like a Dragon will support Xbox Series X Smart Delivery immediately on release. This means that players who purchase the Xbox One version of Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be entitled to a free upgrade to the Xbox Series X version. Cross-save functionality between Xbox One and Xbox Series X is also supported, so no matter when players decide to upgrade, they never have to start over from rock bottom.

And if a first look at next-gen gameplay, trailers and sneak peeks from this wide variety of partners across the globe and industry wasn’t enough, we heard from Ubisoft, Deep Silver, Bloober Team, and more about what they’re doing with their games on Xbox Series X.  

We hope you enjoyed the show, and we’ll be sharing more about the next entry in the Xbox 20/20 series soon!

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5 Mother’s Day ideas – whether you’re together or apart

1. Capture and create family video, automatically.

The easiest way to create a video is to let the Microsoft Photos app do it for you. In Photos, select Create > Video remix and select the photos and videos you want to include. Or open an album and select the Play button to create a video automatically. You can even add music and video effects. Don’t forget to post and share with extended family and friends too!

2. Help the kids create something fun.

  • Create gift coupons. Lend mom a helping hand with custom coupons good for tasks that go above and beyond everyday household chores. Good for help around the yard, folding laundry, washing dishes, vacuuming the house, cleaning their room, or help with a house project of mom’s choosing.
  • Put their imagination on display. Help your little ones put on their own version of a Broadway play. Create their own “Mom: The Musical” using their wild imaginations or a mad-libs style template in Microsoft Word for inspiration. They can even create and print tickets for admission.

3. Create ‘honey-d❤️’ certificates.

Give her the gift of your time using simple custom coupons good for chores, errands, or projects you’ll do for her. Get inspired to cover the basics like household chores or yard work—or go above and beyond to do something using your unique skills and talents. Good with computers? Offer to organize and back up files. Got a green thumb? Plant her favorite fruit or vegetable. Finally hang that art you bought years ago in the den or color coordinate her closet. Don’t hold back on your generosity!

4. Put together a family photo slide show.

Grab your favorite family photos, put them into PowerPoint for free online, and create a masterpiece for all to see using a family photo album template. You could even make one of the slides your family tree. Narrate during the slide show, and share loving and funny stories of mom over the years, or just add her favorite music to play during the whole show. Relive that favorite family vacation or the day you were born. Celebrate and share who she was before she became mom.

5. Apart but want to show you care?

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It’s World Passwordless Day: Check out smarter ways to protect your accounts

As the world continues to grapple with COVID-19, our lives have become increasingly dependent on digital interactions. Operating at home, we’ve had to rely on e-commerce, telehealth, and e-government to manage the everyday business of life. Our daily online usage has increased by over 20 percent. And if we’re fortunate enough to have a job that we can do from home, we’re accessing corporate apps from outside the company firewall.

Whether we’re signing into social media, mobile banking, or our workplace, we’re connecting via online accounts that require a username and password. The more we do online, the more accounts we have. It becomes a hassle to constantly create new passwords and remember them. So, we take shortcuts. According to a Ponemon Institute study, people reuse an average of five total passwords, both business and personal. This is one aspect of human nature that hackers bet on. If they get hold of one password, they know they can use it pry open more of our digital lives. A single compromised password, then, can create a chain reaction of liability.

No matter how strong or complex a password is, it’s useless if a bad actor can socially engineer it away from us or find it on the dark web. Plus, passwords are inconvenient and a drain on productivity. People spend hours each year signing into applications and recovering or resetting forgotten usernames and passwords. This activity doesn’t make things more secure. It only drives up the costs of service desks.

People today are done with passwords

Users want something easier and more convenient. Administrators want something more secure. We don’t think anyone finds passwords a cause to celebrate. That’s why we’re helping organizations find smarter ways to sign in that users will love and hackers will hate. Our hope is that instead of World Password Day, we’ll start celebrating World Passwordless Day.

Animated Image: People reuse an average of five passwords across their accounts, both business and personal (Ponemon Institute survey/Yubico). Average person has 90 accounts (Thycotic). Fifty-five percent would prefer a method of protecting accounts that doesn’t involve passwords (Ponemon Institute survey/Yubico). Sixty-seven percent of American consumers surveyed by Visa have used biometric authentication and prefer it to passwords. One-hundred million to 150 million people using a passwordless method each month (Microsoft research, April 2020).

Since an average of one in every 250 corporate accounts is compromised each month, we know that relying on passwords isn’t a good enterprise defense strategy. As companies continue to add more business applications to their portfolios, the cost of passwords only goes up. In fact, companies are dedicating 30 to 60 percent of their support desk calls to password resets. Given how ineffective passwords can be, it’s surprising how many companies haven’t turned on multi-factor authentication (MFA) for their customers or employees.

Passwordless technology is here—and users are adopting it as the best experience for strong authentication. Last November at Microsoft Ignite, we shared that more than 100 million people were already signing in using passwordless methods each month. That number has now reached over 150 million people. According to our recent survey, the use of biometrics for work accounts is set to double this year, with nearly a quarter of companies already using or planning to deploy biometrics soon, signaling an increased desire to ditch the eight-character nuisance.

We now have the momentum to push forward initiatives that increase security and reduce cost. New passwordless technologies give users the benefits of MFA in one gesture. To sign in securely with Windows Hello, all you have to do is show your face or press your finger. Microsoft has built support for passwordless authentication into our products and services, including Office, Azure, Xbox, and Github. You don’t even need to create a username anymore—you can use your phone number instead. Administrators can use single sign-on in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) to enable passwordless authentication for an unlimited number of apps through native functionality in Windows Hello, the phone-as-a-token capabilities in the Microsoft Authenticator app, or security keys built using the FIDO2 open standards.

Of course, we would never advise our customers to try anything we haven’t tried ourselves. We’re always our own first customer. Microsoft’s IT team switched to passwordless authentication and now 90 percent of Microsoft employees sign in without entering a password. As a result, hard and soft costs of supporting passwords fell by 87 percent. We expect other customers will experience similar benefits in employee productivity improvements, lower IT costs, and a stronger security posture. To learn more about our approach, watch the CISO spotlight episode with Bret Arsenault (Microsoft CISO) and myself. By taking this approach 18 months ago, we were better set up for seamless secure remote work during COVID 19.

For many of us, working from home will be a new norm for the foreseeable future. We see many opportunities for using passwordless methods to better secure digital accounts that people rely on every day. Whether you’re protecting an organization or your own digital life, every step towards passwordless is a step towards improving your security posture. Now let’s embrace the world of passwordless!

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Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us at @MSFTSecurity for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

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Meet Jeff Ma, new leader of Microsoft for Startups

Today, we are proud to announce that Jeff Ma has joined Microsoft as General Manager of Microsoft for Startups supporting our global efforts around the world. If you have ever seen the hit movie 21, you already know part of his story. Based on their mastery of mathematics and probability, Jeff and his fellow MIT friends were able to win millions in Las Vegas through their ingenious approach to card-counting which inspired the film. Since then Jeff has launched four successful companies including CircleLending (sold to Virgin) Citizen Sports (sold to Yahoo) and tenXer (sold to Twitter.)

Beyond his work as a founder, Ma is a best-selling author and speaker who has applied his deep understanding of analytics to help professional sports teams like the San Francisco 49ers and the Portland Trail Blazers and media powerhouses like ESPN and Major League Baseball Advanced Media make better decisions using data.

We had the chance to catch up with Jeff and ask him a few questions.

Jeff Ma Headshot

Can you tell us what led you to Microsoft for Startups?

As a four-time founder myself, I understand and have deep empathy for the startup journey and what founders need to build a successful business. The prospect of working with startups with the incredible backdrop of Microsoft was extremely exciting.

Before I was even approached about the position, I was speaking with a friend about Microsoft’s resurgence in the past few years. We discussed how under Satya’s leadership the company’s culture has evolved in a meaningful way. By culture, I mean the cumulative effect of what people within the company do and more importantly how they do it. When I began to meet with people within the company, I was struck by their commitment to diversity and inclusion. The level of investment in supporting traditionally underrepresented communities was something that really resonated with me on a personal level.

What exactly does the Head of Microsoft for Startups do in role?

My responsibility will be to lead our Microsoft for Startups efforts in the 140 countries it services around the world. I’ll also work closely across the company to ensure that startups have pathways to learn about and leverage the best that Microsoft has to offer.

Is there a specific area that you’re passionate in supporting?

Earlier this year, Microsoft for Startups partnered with PitchBook and All Raise to launch a report that looked at the latest data and trends for gender diversity in the VC ecosystem. Analyzing 2019 data, the report delved into current investment trends across the US, looking at how valuations, investment sizes, time to exit and other measures differ by gender, as well as the impact women have as investors on the entrepreneurial gender gap. I’m looking forward to exploring how we can improve the equation for female founders in a substantive way.

What will be at the top of your list of action items?

From a technology standpoint, we currently offer startups up to $120k of Azure cloud credits as well as access to powerful tools like GitHub Enterprise and Visual Studio – I’ll be looking at ways we can expand that portfolio. On the business side, we offer a streamlined path for startups to sell alongside Microsoft. In the past year alone startups in the program are on track to secure over a $1BN dollars in sales opportunities. Particularly in today’s environment, I will be working with the team to make it dead simple for startups to connect their innovative solutions with Fortune 1000 companies.

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Leading businesses reveal the power of combining human ingenuity with AI

Businesses of all sizes are experiencing exceptional disruption and change as they grapple with strategies to stabilize and return to growth. In this new environment, human ingenuity, innovation and adaptability will be critically important.

As a result of COVID-19, businesses’ digital transformation is accelerating more rapidly than ever before. As Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, recently observed during our earnings announcement, “We’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.”

However, as people move to distributed working and companies move essential workloads to the cloud, what isn’t instantly apparent is the growing role artificial intelligence (AI) is playing at the heart of digital transformation. For some organizations, its use had already accelerated. Others are looking at bringing forward the benefits AI can deliver.

AI is helping us discover, learn, ideate and make decisions. It’s making business operations more efficient, enhancing product and service development, and enabling new customer experiences. In industries like health care, it’s helping improve patient outcomes and save lives.

Before the pandemic, most of our customers were addressing a similar challenge: How do they ensure their people have the right skills and mindset to thrive in a world where AI is driving real business impact?

Co-workers at Mott MacDonald
Mott MacDonald personal assistant Laura Smith talks with civil apprentice Shey Sewell.

To learn more, Microsoft carried out a major international research project* focusing on AI and skills, and discovered the most successful organizations are as focused on developing the skills of their people as they are with deploying new AI-powered technology.

The business environment has changed significantly over the past few months, but the insights we gathered from our research, and the roadmap they provide, still hold true.

The core finding: “In this new environment, companies will need ingenuity to help restart their businesses,” says Azeem Azhar, AI industry expert and founder of the Exponential View. “In the context of new rules for engaging with customers, partners and stakeholders, innovative and adaptable organizations will do better. This research identifies that AI-leading firms are better positioned because they are investing more in a wide range of skills and are more focused on how new technology can augment their workers.”

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Teachers: Looking for new ways to grow? Join the new class of Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and we want to take time to say thank you to educators.

Are you a teacher looking for new ways to grow professionally and engage your students? If you’d like to connect with a global educator community, learn new ways to innovate with tech tools, and share best practices, we’d love to have you join the Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Expert program.

Microsoft supports a thriving community of educators who are working together to change students’ lives and build a better world. The Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Expert program was created to help you learn, grow, and connect.

We’re looking for self-driven educators who are passionate about teaching and learning, who inspire students with creative thinking, and who enjoy working collaboratively. MIE Experts get access to free professional and career development opportunities and certification programs. They share their learning by playing leading roles in regional training sessions, giving presentations at conferences, writing blogs, engaging in social channels, and more. Resourceful and entrepreneurial, they relish the role of change agent and work to achieve excellence in education using Microsoft technologies and innovative teaching practices. 

If you want to join this diverse and exciting community, please follow these four easy steps to nominate yourself. 

Step 1: 

Be sure that you have joined the Microsoft Educator Center  and completed your profile. You will need to download your transcript, link it to a shareable location, then share that link with us as part of the nomination process. You can find your transcript by going into your profile on MEC. 

Step 2: 

Ensure that you have successfully passed two hours of courses on the Microsoft Educator Center and earned your Certified MIE badge. You must be a Certified MIE to become (or stay) a MIE Expert. 

Step 3: 

Create a two-minute video or Sway  that answers the following four questions in a manner that creatively expresses what makes you a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert.

  1. Why do you consider yourself to be a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert? 
  2. Describe how you have incorporated Microsoft technologies in innovative ways into your classroom or your work with teachers. Include artifacts that demonstrate your innovation. Your examples should show that you have cultivated a strong modern teaching and learning environment. 
  3. How have you positively impacted the learning and growth of your colleagues? Have you reached beyond your classroom to coach/support other teachers in their growth? Please share examples.
     
  4. If you become a MIE Expert, how do you hope it will impact your current role in the next 12 months? 

Include a public URL of your video or Sway with your nomination materials. 

Once you have completed the steps outlined above, you’ll be ready to fill out this self-nomination form. Your nomination must be submitted by July 15, 2020. The announcement of the 2020-2021 cohort of MIE Experts will be made during the last week of August 2020. 

We look forward to welcoming you into the growing MIE Expert community and celebrating innovation in teaching and learning together. 

Join us in honoring amazing educators all over the world by using these templates to highlight a teacher that inspires you.

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Thoughts on today’s fully digital Microsoft Business Applications Summit

Today, we’re hosting the first-ever fully digital Microsoft Business Applications Summit. Just six weeks ago, the community expected we would be together this week in Dallas, Texas. Now, of course, we are looking forward to connecting with you virtually.

In these past weeks, every business has shifted focus to adjusting to new and unexpected challenges, and doing so at lightning speed. Our team has mobilized efforts to help organizations stay connected to customers and maintain business continuity. Big transformative initiatives that would have taken months or even years are being executed in a matter of weeks, or in some cases just a few days—especially in healthcare.

For instance, in the United States, a New York state “Tech SWAT” team, stood up a new self-screening and test scheduling solution built on Microsoft Power Apps in days. On the other side of the globe, the Australian Red Cross rolled out a new platform in less than a week to connect volunteers with people who are self-isolating—built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service.

This need to remain agile and rapidly adapt to change is a key focus for this year’s Summit. Across dozens of breakout sessions and networking events today, we’ll share and discuss how you can use technology to align your business to this “new normal.”

Helping you move business forward

A lot of organizations are still in crisis response mode, and that’s completely expected. During this time, we are supporting customers impacted by lockdowns, as well as organizations battling COVID-19 on the frontlines. At the same time, we’re looking ahead to how we help organizations move from crisis into rebuilding, when the time is right.

Different industries are impacted in different ways, and the challenges faced by a large multinational corporation look much different than the challenges of a small business. Responding to the current situation requires also laying the foundation for the future—thinking a few steps ahead to be ready to restart and reshape the business to move forward with confidence.

No matter what specific challenges you face, there are several ways we can help your organization respond.

First, it’s all about enabling people and teams to work from anywhere. Working from home isn’t an easy transition for a lot of people. That’s why it’s so important for your teams to have a shared, collaborative workspace to keep business moving. If your teams haven’t installed the Microsoft Dynamics 365 app for Microsoft Teams, now’s the perfect time to do so. Your sales and service teams can update and share customer records from within a Teams channel, and use bots to search for records or account details.

The next thing we’re doing to support organizations right now is helping them rapidly respond to changing business needs. Organizations need the agility to stand up crisis response solutions quickly, adapt their workflows to changing needs, save time and money with automation, and surface the insights and analytics to make critical decisions faster. The Microsoft Power Platform makes this all possible. Here in Washington, we worked with Swedish Health Services to quickly build a Power Apps solution that tracks critical inventory like masks and gloves, and an influx of patients who needed lifesaving care. The app places this lifesaving information right in the hands of the healthcare providers who need it most, supporting critical decision-making across the entire Swedish network of care facilities.

We’re also helping organizations maintain business continuity even in a volatile global environment, with solutions to sell, service, and deliver on customer expectations in a remote world. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, we’re enabling new types of workers to be remote, keeping people safe while keeping critical functions running. And with increased call volumes straining contact centers worldwide, Dynamics 365 Customer Service allows organizations to provide consistent, personalized support while working remotely. On top of that, solutions like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce keep customers engaged with your company, even when they can’t visit you in person.

Moving forward, businesses will need the agility to reshape the buying journey to better serve the needs of customers. IKEA Sweden is one organization doing just that—by equipping sales teams with tools to more smoothly take customers through the process of building and upgrading a kitchen. They are creating a collection of apps built with Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, collectively referred to as the IKEA Sales Tool, which enables the tracking of the sales process from the first meeting with the customer to the installation of the kitchen. Learn how the solution will help sales teams make the kitchen buying experience more personal.

Organizations also need to focus on ways to track customer health and improve long-term relationships. Chipotle Mexican Grill, one of the most popular chains of fast casual dining, is using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights to create more meaningful customer experiences. They chose our Customer Data Platform to unlock real-time, up-to-the-moment understanding of their customers to drive relevant and intelligent engagement. They can now leverage data across channels to better understand their customers’ needs, personalize offers and repivot messaging around delivery and take-out offers, and adjust media plans in real-time to serve ads on channels that are more widely used. Watch the demo at the Microsoft Business Applications Virtual Launch Event to see the solution in action.

These are just a few of the ways we’re supporting organizations around the world and in every industry. You can learn more about this work at Microsoft.com/together. We also encourage you to join us at today’s event, or access additional content on-demand after the event. When your team is ready, engage with the Microsoft Dynamics 365 community—ask questions, learn from qualified experts, and join the conversation.

We look forward to supporting you on your journey.