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CVP Sam George: How Azure IoT enables business resilience

Businesses around the world have been harnessing the Internet of Things (IoT) to reduce operational expenses, power breakthrough customer experiences, and create new revenue streams. Now, faced with the unprecedented challenges of our times, businesses are also harnessing IoT to create safer workplaces as employees return to work, reduce expenses to weather downturns, reduce environmental impact and help with sustainability goals, and remain competitive as IoT becomes a standard way of operating a business.

Microsoft is a recognized leader in IoT. Our mission is to simplify IoT and make it available to every organization on the planet, regardless of size or technical capability. And we haven’t stopped there; we simplified IoT with no code and low code offerings like Azure IoT Central that customers and partners can use without any cloud solutions development skills.

At Microsoft, we deeply understand the value of embracing tech intensity, of using data and AI to address challenges and identify opportunities. Azure IoT plays a leading role in this transformation with an edge and cloud methodology that instills confidence in organizations’ ability to act on the insights presented to them.

Azure IoT is uniquely positioned as a fully open, flexible platform that spans industry applications and simplifies the development process. This week at Microsoft Ignite, we shared the latest from Azure IoT and how partners and customers are using these innovations in amazing ways.

RXR Realty builds on Azure IoT to increase safety

When faced with the question of what is needed to enable a safer, sustainable return to the workplace, New York-based RXR Realty looked at how they could quickly pivot the work they were doing around smart buildings to support a holistic end-to-end approach that spans an employee’s entire day—from waking up, to entering the office building and having a productive day, to going home. The result was the RxWell program, a connected environment solution built on Azure IoT, which was developed and deployed in under six months through partnership with Microsoft, McKinsey, and Infosys.

RXR Realty knew that for every one office worker that returns to the office, it drives five service jobs, such as food service and childcare providers, therefore helping stimulate the local economy. Azure technology allowed them to quickly build an edge-to-cloud solution that merges physical and digital assets, giving office workers the tools and peace of mind to navigate the workplace in safety. This technology helps manage employee rotations and enable touch-free building and elevator access.

Additionally, real-time analytics deliver insights into occupant density, air quality, humidity, and population health, enabling businesses and their workers to make informed decisions and navigate office buildings safely and confidently. Read the RXR Realty customer story and watch the Microsoft Mechanics—How We Built It video featuring RXR Realty to get a demo-rich, technical breakdown of the RxWell solution.

GE Aviation digitally models and observes aircrafts with Azure Digital Twins

As connected solutions continue to grow, companies are looking for ways to create richer models of entire connected business environments. Companies are currently able to use Azure Digital Twins to design and build sophisticated digital replicas of assets, environments, and business systems that can be used across connected environments including, smart buildings, utilities, factories, farms, railways, and entire cities.

Many of our customers and partners are already benefiting from Azure Digital Twins. Using Azure Digital Twins, GE Aviation can model digital representations of individual aircrafts and their components to track asset performance, monitor component usage, and view maintenance history. In a world where it’s not always possible to send someone on site, these insights allow GE Aviation to observe the plane inside and out and mitigate issues before they occur—helping get essential supplies and goods to our doors.

“Azure Digital Twins allows us to fuse vital data—whether it’s from our Asset Records system, our EMS system or another—into the asset-centric point of view needed for the new Asset Lifecycle product we’re creating to show an asset’s state at any point in time. Azure Digital Twins also provides an out-of-the-box ability to track changes for properties or relationships between components over time for advanced analytics. This proves valuable for supporting airlines in making critical maintenance decisions, such as whether or not to keep parts on the wing longer, while also helping reduce their maintenance burden, costs, and the amount of downtime or out-of-service-time for an aircraft.”—Nate Hicks, Sr. Product Manager at GE Aviation’s Digital Group

Azure Digital Twins, currently in preview with general availability coming soon, will bring many new capabilities plus the scale, reliability, and broader market availability necessary for customers to build production-ready solutions. Partners can use its flexible integration capabilities to bring together any service and data points from edge devices, as well as any business system—even from outside Azure. Its use of an open modeling language, Digital Twins Definition Language (DTDL), allows companies to create custom models of any connected environment while maintaining compatibility with other parts of the Azure ecosystem.

ENGIE helps decarbonize energy production with Azure Time Series Insights

The emergence of connected environments also means the continued generation of large volumes of data as assets are connected and brought together. To truly see the benefits, companies require comprehensive analytics across large-scale IoT data sets. ENGIE Digital, a European provider of renewable energy, integrated Azure Time Series insights with Azure IoT Edge to deliver a robust data and AI-driven analytics platform across hundreds of renewable energy sites. This enabled them to support historical data analysis and keep pace with large volumes of data while generating contextualized insights, Azure Time Series Insights ensures they always have the latest data at hand.

Azure Time Series Insights Gen2 is a powerful, fully managed IoT analytics platform created to help contextualize and turn IoT data into actionable insights. Features made generally available in July included multi-layered, scalable storage options for both highly interactive analytics over a short time span and advanced analysis of decades worth of historical data. Rich semantic modeling also enables the analysis of billions of events across millions of IoT sensors to identify trends and anomalies, conduct root-cause analysis, and deliver insights for operational excellence.

AT&T builds cellular-enabled guardian module with Azure Sphere

Security continues to be a key investment area for Microsoft as it is imperative that every IoT device is secured by design.  Accordingly, we are very pleased to share the news from Microsoft Ignite that AT&T and Microsoft are teaming up to enable enterprises to seamlessly connect machines and equipment to the cloud with highly secure global network connectivity. The new, cellular-enabled guardian module shows how Microsoft is empowering customers to achieve more, and in turn, to deliver innovation and opportunity to their customers. Check out the full announcement blog post to see opportunities created.

In addition to all the great customer and partner announcements, we announced the following product innovations:

Azure IoT Hub on-premises in Azure Stack Hub

While customers and partners love the power and productivity Azure IoT Hub brings in the cloud, they also asked for support on-premises. We are bringing Azure IoT Hub on-premises in Azure Stack Hub. This is another industry first from Azure IoT and enables customers to take advantage of Azure IoT Hub in occasionally connected or fully disconnected environments, such as manufacturing shop floors, remote industrial sites, and more. We are putting the finishing touches on preview, which will be available in October.

Azure Defender for IoT with CyberX capabilities

IoT security is fundamental and needs to be addressed throughout the ecosystem as organizations’ assets, data, brand, and overall reputation are on the line. Building on this security momentum and research that shows 97 percent of companies highlight security as a concern when adopting IoT, we are expanding upon our existing industry-leading IoT security offerings.

First, we rebranded Azure Security Center for IoT to Azure Defender for IoT. Already generally available, this offering integrates seamlessly with Azure IoT Hub to proactively monitor IoT and IoT Edge devices and cloud solutions and provide security recommendations and alerts.

Next, we are bringing the availability of Azure Defender for IoT CyberX capabilities, which incorporates agentless technology from our recent acquisition of CyberX and offers new capabilities for securing unmanaged brownfield devices used in operational technology environments. The combination of on-device, agent-based monitoring with the new agentless CyberX capabilities makes Azure Defender for IoT one of the most fully featured and sophisticated security offerings in the industry.

And finally, we continue to partner with industry to refine the IoT Security Maturity Model (SMM) in the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC). This establishes a consistent approach for matching security investments with need, addressing areas including governance, processes, technologies, and operations—for which Microsoft co-authored and edited the Practitioner’s Guide.

New Azure IoT Central capabilities

Azure IoT Central is our IoT application platform that builds on top of the Azure IoT platform. It’s an easy, cost-effective way to build, manage, and operate IoT solutions. Go from idea, to proof of concept (PoC), to enterprise scale in weeks with one of the most advanced IoT application platform in the industry.

At Microsoft Ignite, we announced a set of important new Azure IoT Central capabilities including:

  • New Azure IoT Central application template for video analytics—Use this new application template to quickly and easily develop and scale AI-powered video analytics solutions through Intel AI Modules. Leverage existing IP cameras with Azure Media Services and Azure Storage to store and stream relevant portions of the live video feed and live video analytics.
  • Continuous data export—Send filtered and enriched data from your devices in near real-time to cloud destinations unlocking business insights with IoT data. The new data export capability allows you to re-use destinations, send only specific streams of data, and enrich your data with data from your Azure IoT Central application.
  • Use Jobs to interact with devices—The Jobs experience in Azure IoT Central has been redesigned with a new wizard that allows you to create, run, and save jobs. The UI includes rich charts and interactions for monitoring the progress and completion of jobs across a fleet of devices. Next month, we’ll be releasing additional capabilities that include job schedules and batches.
  • Command-line interface (CLI) improvements—The Azure IoT Central CLI extension has a new set of commands including az iot central user, az iot central api-token, and az iot central device compute-device-key for generating device SAS keys used during provisioning.
  • Raw data views—Use the new raw data view to inspect telemetry in real-time as it flows from your devices.
  • File upload—Azure IoT Central now supports uploading media and other files directly from connected devices.

New Azure IoT Edge capabilities

Azure IoT Edge is a leading edge compute offering in the industry, offering unparalleled production readiness and security. At Microsoft Ignite, we announced a set of breakthrough new capabilities including:

  • Nested Azure IoT Edge preview support enables customers to deploy Azure IoT Edge nodes across networks organized in hierarchical layers, such as ISA-95 network topologies, adhering to strict networking requirements to ensure a secure environment from real-time production all the way to the cloud.
  • Azure IoT Edge security with enclaves are now generally available, enabling deployment and execution of Trusted Applications in devices suitably equipped with trusted execution environments.
  • Edge Compute Node protection profile for IoT device security certification combines industry standard definitions and practices to enable how IoT stakeholders create and consume device security claims.
  • Industry-leading monitoring with the latest release of Azure IoT Edge enables rich monitoring of Azure IoT Edge fleets and applications at scale by emitting a rich set of metrics from IoT Edge system modules. Our new monitoring support easily integrates with existing monitoring solutions and even enables local monitoring for offline use cases.

Unified Azure Certified Device program and final certification for IoT Plug and Play

A unified Azure Certified Device program expands on previous Microsoft certification offerings that validate IoT devices meet specific capability needs and work great on Azure. This program helps device builders increase visibility of their products while making it easy for solution builders and customers to find the right device for their IoT solutions via the Azure Certified Device Catalog.

Certifications currently available include: Azure Certified Device, IoT Plug and Play, and Edge Managed. The Final IoT Plug and Play certification, announced in August, helps reduce time to market for device builders. Additionally, Azure IoT platform services and SDKs for IoT Plug and Play will be generally available by the end of this month.

View our developer documentation for more information, and join the companies already beginning to prepare and certify their devices for IoT Plug and Play.  Also, read the full technical blog to learn more about these certifications and others in development.

Accelerate technical skills with Azure IoT Developer Specialty certification and new learning content

Part of empowering tech intensity in our customers and partners is providing the tools and resources for individuals to successfully use advanced digital technologies, such as machine learning and IoT, so they can see projects through to realization. The Azure IoT Developer Specialty certification is a great first step to support developers in gaining technical knowledge, advancing their career, and becoming recognized as experts on their journey to building innovative new solutions.

Developers looking to start their IoT learning and certification journey can find free online courses at Microsoft Learn. They can also prepare for certification with the new Internet of Things Event Learning Path on GitHub. This series of five video-based modules explores topics including IoT device connectivity, IoT data communication strategies, use of AI at the edge, data processing considerations for IoT data, and IoT solutioning based on the Azure IoT reference architecture.

We encourage you to explore these new releases and innovations in depth, and learn more about how Azure IoT can help with  business resilience and staying agile for the future of connected ecosystems. We also recommend checking out these

Microsoft Ignite sessions:

Additional IoT learning resources:

Azure. Invent with purpose.

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New training resources for educators worldwide

As the world and our education systems continue to evolve, the role of technology to enable learning, whether in classrooms or at home, continues to be of great importance for educators, leaders, parents, and students alike. Every day we experience, see, and hear triumphant stories of the human character and celebrate the heroes in education who courageously push beyond boundaries to create new opportunities for students to learn and grow. And like never before, investment of resources and time into peer support, coaching, professional development, and training is critical for education leaders, educators, faculty, and staff.

As we continue to work to empower every student on the planet to achieve more, I am excited today to share three professional development resources to support educators on their journey.

Get training with Microsoft Store

Microsoft Stores have undergone massive transformation and are now extending support through live virtual training events. Geographical borders no longer limit the training support that Microsoft Store teams can provide.

  • Students, educators, and parents are invited to explore and attend virtual workshops and training sessions of interest.
  • Microsoft Store education trainers also engage on a 1:1 basis to provide customized training sessions to schools and institutions to help adopt technology faster, more effectively, and more cohesively. These trainers speak more than 20 different languages and the training can be customized to customer needs. The best way to take advantage of this offer is to work with the local Microsoft account teams.

Explore the Microsoft Educator Center

Over the past several decades, Microsoft built deep connections with the educator communities that we serve around the world. It is our goal to nurture and empower them with learning resources and training. With their support and feedback, we created the Microsoft Educator Center, which offers a vast variety and depth of technology learning resources.

As our worldwide community of educators continues to grow and become stronger, Microsoft recently announced the newest cohort of over 20,000 Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Experts. These educators demonstrated exceptional ability to spark their students’ creativity and improve learning outcomes with Microsoft technologies. They are always looking to connect with other inspiring educators across the globe and are excited to share their ideas with others. Many of their ideas are reflected in the Microsoft Educator Center.

In particular, I wanted to highlight the newly released Learning Path on Hybrid Learning Strategies for Success. It is comprised of four courses that are organized around student grade level and will resonate with every educator and faculty member:

Work with a Global Training Partner

Clearly, when it comes to teaching and learning, one size does not fit all. We realize the complexity of having different education systems, approaches to curricula, and languages around the world. So in addition to the Microsoft Store and the Microsoft Educator Center online learning resources, we developed an exclusive network of Global Training Partners (GTP). These training organizations are qualified and ready to co-create locally relevant professional development strategies and execute curated face-to-face, blended, and online training sessions across the globe. The Global Training Partners program currently includes 370 companies that serve over 70 countries. 

I just had a chance to spend this week with some of these trainers over a series of virtual readiness events at our annual Global Training Partner Summit and was blown away by the innovation and energy they are bringing into discussions. I would encourage any educator or education leader to visit the Find a trainer page where you can find a Microsoft-trained and certified partner in your location who is able to work hand-in-hand with any educational institution to craft a plan that best supports specific and relevant training needs.

To recognize the outstanding impact these Global Training Partners are driving throughout the world, we introduced Global Training Partner of the Year awards in each of the major geographical regions. This year they went to the following:  

Together, we continue to face tremendous challenges and opportunities, witnessing the rise of the “new normal” in teaching and learning. I hope that the resources I shared will help educators and faculty provide improved and inspiring learning for all students worldwide. Thank you for allowing Microsoft to be a part of your success.

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NextGen Network report on ‘How AI Can Work for Humanity’ launches

Whether it is being used to analyze the human immune response to COVID-19 or map the spread of wildfires, artificial intelligence (AI) has proven itself to be a powerful tool for tackling the kinds of challenges that have been thrust into the spotlight this year. However, as the use of AI becomes more widespread, it is also becoming clear that, without action to ensure AI will be used responsibly, it could create problems of its own, disrupting jobs, threatening social and economic inequality and potentially undercutting progress on human rights.

As the use of AI grows, a broad discussion is needed about how to realize its full potential in a way that also addresses the challenges it creates. And, as the ones who will live and work with this technology for years to come, the voice of young people must be at the forefront of these discussions. Launching today, the NextGen Network report How AI Can Work for Humanity seeks to elevate the perspectives of young people around the world, helping them inform the debate on how AI can be used responsibly. The report includes three core recommendations:

  • Governments must take the lead in putting into practice new frameworks for responsible AI.
  • Countries must work together to drive greater international co-operation on AI and create an international framework for responsible AI use.
  • Organizations of all kinds should put a set of values at the center of how AI is deployed to ensure its use is human-centered, accountable and transparent.

Broadening the conversation on AI

The mission of the NextGen Network is to provide a platform for young people to help shape decisions on technology. The report and today’s launch event with Věra Jourová, EU Commissioner for Values and Transparency, and Sarah Bird, Responsible AI lead for Azure AI at Microsoft, provide an opportunity for young people to share their ideas on how the technology should be developed and used.

NextGen member Enrique Zapata, the data and new technologies lead at the Latin American Development Bank, explained why it’s so important for young people to be part of these discussions: “Our generation, as well as generations Z and A will be the ones living the impact of AI in our lifetimes. It is critical that our voice, values and expectations are taken into account as the main inputs for the future use of digital technologies, even more than those of previous generations, which already had their chance.”

The report is the product of six workshops and a poll of young people from 13 different countries. It finds that the group is positive about the impact that AI will have in general and its ability to drive breakthroughs in healthcare and environmental sustainability. But it also highlights concerns about potential disruption to the world of work, as well as the impact of AI on income inequality and human rights.

The report seeks to add to the global discussion about how to use AI responsibly. This discussion is advancing in many parts of the world, with the EU Commission having recently launched its white paper on AI, the New Zealand government publishing its Algorithm Charter and the UK Government creating its Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation. These developments take place alongside many fruitful conversations happening elsewhere. The hope is that the ideas represented in this report can help catalyze further discussion and translate this into positive action.

The breadth of geographical representation and wide range of backgrounds of those feeding into the report was designed to help foster a more international conversation around AI. In doing so, the Network hopes to broaden the conversation around AI and help address concerns that have been raised that the current discussion on AI may be dominated by a narrow group of countries and people in a way that could hinder efforts to ensure responsible use. NextGen member Henri Brebant, graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School, stressed the need for this diverse and global conversation, stating that “only a global conversation on AI ethics can generate the momentum that is needed.”

NextGen perspectives on next generation technology

The report is the first of its kind from the NextGen Network, a partnership between the Aspen Institute and Microsoft. The Network was launched in 2018 to provide a forum for young people from around the world to discuss issues of technology and society. Currently active in Mexico, India, UK, France, Germany, and Central and Eastern Europe, the Network brings together people from the fields of science, business, government and journalism as well as civil society, creating a diverse conversation. The Network also looks to create spaces for young people to interact with leaders from across government, business and civil society, providing a platform for an intergenerational conversation on how to ensure technology can be used for the benefit of society.

The opportunity to share ideas with others is often why young people join the Network. Suhasini Vira, NextGen member and founder of the Clean Hands Initiative, said she “got involved in the Network because of its focus on creating spaces for thought-provoking, structured and open conversations about the role of technology in society.”

Similarly, Charlotte Douglas, NextGen member and post-doctoral researcher at the Francis Crick Institute, said that “engaging in the NextGen network gave me this incredible opportunity to meet like-minded individuals and passionately discuss the impact of digital technologies and how the conversation regarding these technologies is growing and expanding globally.”

Learn more about the NextGen Network here and get the report here.

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Telstra-Microsoft partnership signals new generation digital foundations for Australian businesses

Companies collaborate on one of Australia’s largest digital twin, emissions reduction initiatives, and drive transformative operational models

Australia with city lights from space at night
Telstra-Microsoft partnership signals new generation digital foundations for Australian businesses.

SYDNEY and REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 25, 2020 — Microsoft Corp. and Telstra have extended their long-standing strategic partnership to focus on accelerating the development and release of innovative and sustainable cloud-based solutions across multiple industries driving efficiency, amplifying decision making capability and enhancing customer experiences.

The partnership is founded on Telstra and Microsoft’s shared understanding that cloud, combined with 5G, will enable intelligent devices to be securely deployed on a much greater scale. Combining Microsoft Azure and Telstra’s network also supports Australian developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) as they develop solutions that leverage AI, low latency and increased resilience.

This will help enterprises build end-to-end digital processes and enable completely new transformative business models that leverage data to accelerate smart decision making, maximise business opportunities and grow revenues. Telstra and Microsoft will partner to:

  • harness IoT, Edge, AI and digital twin capability to develop important new industry solutions in areas such as asset tracking, supply chain management, telematics and smart spaces;
  • leverage Azure as preferred cloud for Telstra’s ongoing internal digital transformation.
  • explore and pursue technology and data-driven solutions to advance our sustainability and climate commitments and
  • build ground-breaking, nationally important solutions that leverage the Telstra Data Hub.

The companies will partner on digital twins for Telstra customers as well as for Telstra’s own commercial buildings and selected other infrastructure – which when fully deployed will be one of the largest Azure-based digital twins in Australia. Telstra’s digital twin will map physical environments in an online virtual setting, to create models that provide at-a-glance understanding of what is happening in the real world, and support improved what-if scenario planning.

Telstra is working with Microsoft as its preferred cloud provider for ongoing internal digital transformation. Azure will provide the digital foundations for Telstra’s strategic plan to streamline and simplify operations, transitioning from legacy and on-premises applications to modern cloud-based solutions.

Telstra CEO Andrew Penn said the strategic partnership brought together the best strengths of the two organisations.

“We already have a longstanding relationship with Microsoft and have worked together in areas that are market-leading to create unique experiences for our customers. Over the past 18 months, we have exclusively launched Xbox All Access for Australian gamers, were the first to launch Telstra Calling for Office 365, the only native Teams voice calling plan in Australia, which we recently expanded to include Microsoft Business Voice for SMB customers; and co-collaborated on Telstra Data Hub to help industries better manage their data securely.”

“Today’s announcement with Microsoft formalises the several streams of work we are already collaborating on. The global scale of Microsoft’s platform, tools, and applications, together with Telstra’s network solutions, reliability and leadership, will drive new and unique solutions for Australia,” Mr Penn said.

“In July, Telstra was certified carbon neutral in our operations. Significantly reducing emissions while the demand for connectivity and new digital technologies is rising rapidly is one of our biggest commitments, as well as one of our biggest challenges.  Microsoft and Telstra both have ambitious climate targets and share a commitment to a net zero carbon future.”

“The outputs from all workstreams will also help deliver more innovative products for customers across all segments of the market, and will aim to enhance customer experience and engagement, solve business challenges, and drive a new level of technology leadership. This is a great opportunity to drive further digital innovation to strengthen the Australian economy, and to build a sustainable, connected future so everyone can thrive,” Mr Penn said.

“The broad adoption of cloud and 5G technology will create new opportunities for businesses worldwide, including in Australia,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft.

“We’re expanding our partnership with Telstra and bringing together the power of Azure and Telstra’s network to build new solutions in critical areas like asset tracking, supply-chain management, and smart spaces, harnessing the latest advances in AI, digital twins, and mixed reality.”

# Notes to the Editor #

Focus areas of the extended partnership include, but are not limited to:

Digital twin, IoT and cloud: Telstra has selected Microsoft as a strategic partner in the design and build of a scalable and unified IoT platform leveraging Azure IoT that enables Telstra to simplify operations and significantly reduce time to market. Telstra is partnering with Microsoft to build a digital twin across its own commercial buildings with an initial deployment of five buildings including the flagship site at 242 Exhibition St in Melbourne. When fully deployed this represents one of the largest Azure-based digital twins in Australia. Once complete, the digital twin will allow Telstra to establish a digital nerve centre that promises enhanced transparency by modernising business processes and the work environment, enhancing digital interaction between personnel and enabling Telstra to improve operational efficiency.

Using its technology services provider, Telstra Purple, Telstra is working with Microsoft to provide an advanced digital twin solution for Downer Group’s asphalt plants. This ‘digital asphalt plant’; promises greater efficiency, reliability, and safety while at the same time increasing operational transparency and control. Through a collaborative design process, Telstra Purple and Downer identified the opportunity to leverage Microsoft Azure AI and edge services and Telstra’s Smart Spaces video analytics, to provide real time worker safety information directly to Azure Digital Twins. These ‘digital safety barriers’ identify and track dangerous activity across the plant. The companies envision the solution will be deployed in 33 asphalt plants across Australia.

Digital Foundation: Telstra is working with Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud provider for ongoing internal digital transformation. Azure will provide the digital foundations for Telstra’s strategic plan to streamline and simplify operations, transitioning from legacy and on-premise applications to modern cloud-based solutions.

Telstra is expanding its use of Azure for several critical IT applications, including the creation of a Digital Foundation for the ongoing modernisation of IT infrastructure, and also underpinning Data Hub, IoT and Digital Twin Capability. Azure will also help Telstra achieve its sustainability targets.

Sustainability: Addressing climate change is one of the defining challenges of the decade. Our sector has the potential to enable emissions savings more than seven times greater than the emissions we generate through providing our customers with low carbon products and services such as cloud computing.

Telstra and Microsoft are committed to exploring and pursuing technology and data-driven work to advance our sustainability and climate commitments. The initial focus will be on reducing emissions, circular economy, and remote work. We will work together to pilot real-time data reporting solutions such as Microsoft’s Sustainability Calculator that will deliver greater understanding of our joint carbon footprint to achieve further emissions reductions.

Armed with that insight the companies will be able to identify and support the development of more efficient products and processes.

Telstra Data Hub (TDH): Collaborating over the past year, Microsoft and Telstra have made significant progress with the Telstra Data Hub which enables many-to-many data interconnects to occur through a common platform. Designed to facilitate complex data sharing and permission scenarios, while alleviating the need to create multiple, bespoke point-to-point integrations required between systems, Telstra Data Hub has been built using the companies’ technologies to help customers realise the value of their data, to share their data across industry and act as the foundation for new AI models.

Early customers include the Queensland State government, who are evaluating how to securely gather the critical data to manage the state’s natural water system, and in doing so not only develop an end-to-end view of the state’s water asset but to also provide immediate value to the industries that use the water to fuel the economy. Other users of Telstra Data Hub include the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, where we are collaborating on a data sharing and analytics ecosystem focused on understanding sudden cardiac death in young people, as well as with Charles Sturt University on a data ecosystem for agricultural commodities.

Telstra

Telstra is Australia’s leading telecommunications and technology company, offering a full range of communications services and competing in all telecommunications markets. Our purpose is to build a connected future so everyone can thrive.

Microsoft

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 organisation on the planet to achieve more.

Media enquiries, contact:

Rudolf Wagenaar, Commercial Communications Lead, Microsoft Australia

E: ruwage@microsoft.com

M: 043 908 2550

Telstra

Steve Carey, General Manager, Media

Matthew Wu, Product & Technology Communications Lead

E: media@team.telstra.com

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AI for Humanitarian Action expands program beyond nonprofits

Last December, before the onset of COVID-19, I had the opportunity to visit Zaatari in Jordan – the world’s largest camp for Syrian refugees – to learn more about the challenges and opportunities refugees face. I met a young girl, Doha, who was participating in a computing class. I asked her what she thought about this class, and she said, “Computing is the language of life today. It’s how things get done.”

This week, while participating in the 75th United Nations General Assembly, I’m reflecting on Doha and the inspiring leaders of the camp to see what more we can do to empower refugees and vulnerable communities, especially given the impact of the global pandemic. With the urgency of the moment, this week Microsoft Philanthropies will expand the reach of one of our programs to help underserved communities.

Two years ago at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly, Microsoft President Brad Smith announced AI for Humanitarian Action as part of the Microsoft AI for Good program, a $165 million initiative to help unlock the power of data and AI to address some of the biggest challenges facing society today. The five-year AI for Humanitarian Action commitment was launched to help change the way front-line relief organizations anticipate, predict and better target response efforts related to disaster recovery, the needs of children, promotion of human rights, and protection of refugees and displaced people.

Over the past two years, we’ve worked with selected nonprofit and humanitarian organizations to deliver on the program’s promise to help respond to global humanitarian issues. Some examples include:

  • Human rights – Empowering the Clooney Foundation for Justice with innovative technology that supports monitoring and responding to trials around the world that pose a high risk of human rights violations.
  • Refugees and displaced people – Combating wrongful deportation of asylum seekers with the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project and KIND.
  • Disaster response – Improving the reach of open mapping of vulnerable areas with Bing and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)
  • Needs of children – Enhancing surgical outcomes and helping more children in need of facial surgery through the use of a facial modeling algorithm with long-time nonprofit partner Operation Smile.

Since 2018, the need to accelerate the pace of innovation has increased rapidly due to growing inequality and the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on the progress of the past two years and the urgency of the moment, we’re expanding the program beyond nonprofits to include applications from any type of organization through October 31, 2020, with this web portal.

The challenges faced by children are inextricably linked to those of women, including access to healthcare, which is disproportionally affecting women and children during COVID-19. As a result, we have also expanded the focus on children to include women.

“An effective response to COVID-19 accounts for the disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities, including women and girls,” said Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of CARE. “It is essential to listen to women and girls and ensure that all involved collect, publish and act on sex-disaggregated data to design inclusive and effective responses to COVID-19. That’s why Microsoft’s expansion of its AI for Humanitarian Action initiative to be inclusive of the needs of women and children is needed now more than ever.”

As we work with new partners through AI for Humanitarian Action to enable their work and accelerate their impact, we remain committed  to using our expertise to help empower vulnerable populations – like those in Zaatari – by ensuring we leverage technology to address the broadest societal needs.

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Xbox Family Settings app now available for free on iOS and Android

At Xbox, we believe that gaming is a source of joy, inspiration, and social connection with friends and family – and this is true now more than ever before. With COVID-19 continuing to have impact our daily lives, gaming has helped people stay connected while social distancing. Gaming is a great way to unify and bring people together, but we also believe that gaming should be part of a balanced life as well as safe and welcoming for all, and we know this is especially important to families.

Today, just in time for the new school year, we are launching the Xbox Family Settings app, which is available for free to download for iOS and Android. The app is an important next step in our journey to provide families with the tools they need to help create the right balance of gaming in their lives. Right from their phone, parents and caregivers can easily create child accounts, update screen time limits, respond to notifications, and much more. It’s an easy and simple way to set guardrails on children’s gaming on Xbox One and, come November 10, on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S!

The app has been in preview for the last few months, which has provided valuable customer feedback to help us to refine the experience that is available today. We are also thrilled to unveil three new app features that parents and caregivers can manage right from their fingertips:

  • Accept or decline friends your child wants to add
  • View and manage your child’s friends list
  • Proactively grant your child more screen time – this was a common suggestion from our users during preview. Thank you for the feedback!

How to Use the Xbox Family Settings app

An important first step to using the app is to ensure that each child has their own child or teen account. And setting up a child account is quick and easy through the app and on average, takes just minutes.

Once a child account has been set up, parents and caregivers can customize access to gaming for each child:  

  • Screen time limits – set limits for each day of the week; for example, you can allow for more game time on the weekends or reduce it during the school week. And a new feature available today allows parents to proactive grant additional screen time – a great option if they did well on a test or completed their homework!
  • Content filters – set filters based on the age of each child; for example, an 8-year-old can only access games that are rated E and will be blocked from accessing titles that are intended for more mature players
  • Play and communication settings – choose the option to block all access to play and communication with other players, limit access to “friends only” or grant permission for older children to play and chat with “everyone”
  • Friends list – new with the app is the ability to approve or decline friend requests your child has made to add friends; parents can also view their friends list
  • Activity reports – view daily and weekly activity reports for each child to understand how they are spending their time on Xbox

The app also includes a feature to easily enable access and multiplayer capability for Minecraft, which is rated E10+.  Sometimes parents of younger children want to provide access to Minecraft and possibly enable online play with their friends, and a convenient toggle in the app unlocks those specific capabilities quickly.  We received positive feedback on this feature from users and we may include similar functionality for other games in the future.

We know that one-size does not fit all and it’s so important that as parents, you have the flexibility to decide and customize what the right access to gaming looks like for your child. With the app, you can also respond to notifications in real time, such as requests from your child to extend the console screen time limit for the day.

Looking Towards the Future

Parents and caregivers know best what content is right for their child. By bringing key family settings features right to your phone, we hope that families feel empowered to have important conversations about how to balance gaming with other responsibilities like school and time with friends. We will also release additional new features in the future for the Xbox Family Settings app to provide families with the tools and support they need for safer and fun for everyone.

Download the Xbox Family Settings app today for free for iOS and Android to jump in and easily manage gaming for your family!

For more information about the Xbox Family Settings app, visit Xbox.com/family-app.

Microsoft is committed to empowering families to set boundaries and encourage responsible technology use by offering choices on the tools that are right for each family’s unique needs – learn more here.

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Toshiba joins Azure Quantum, providing machine to solve complex optimization problems

Complex optimization problems exist across every industry, such as vehicle routing, supply chain management, risk assessment, portfolio optimization, power grid operations, and many others.  

While a number of sophisticated algorithms have been developed that can solve certain optimization problems very efficiently, many real-world optimization problems remain hard to optimize despite the remarkable advancements in both algorithms and computing power over the past decades. These scenarios usually involve many variables and are computationally difficult to solve using traditional methods. 

Leveraging quantum methods allows us to find more accurate solutions in far less time with much less work, even for the most complex problems. In practice, emulating quantum systems has led to promising breakthroughs in MRI technology, improving traffic congestion, materials design, and more. 

Emulating nature with Azure Quantum

Many optimization algorithms, such as simulated annealing, parallel tempering Monte Carlo, or genetic algorithms, mimic natural processes. As we’ve developed a deeper understanding of quantum mechanics, new optimizers have been developed that make use of quantum mechanics to accelerate optimization and escape local minima in the cost function landscape through emulating quantum tunneling. 

Simulating these quantum effects on classical computers has led to the development of new types of quantum solutions that run on classical hardware, also called quantum-inspired optimization (QIO) algorithms. These algorithms allow us to exploit some of the advantages of quantum computing approaches today on classical CMOS-based hardware, providing a speedup over traditional approaches. Using quantum solutions on classical hardware also prepares us for the future of quantum optimization on scaled, fault-tolerant quantum hardware.  

Azure Quantum enables customers to run optimization algorithms on industry-scale classical hardware with self-service solutions designed to solve binary optimization problems on CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs in Azure.  

Toshiba offering Simulated Bifurcation Machine through Azure Quantum

Expanding the portfolio of QIO algorithms and solvers, Microsoft is pleased to announce that Toshiba is joining the Microsoft Quantum Network and will be offering Toshiba’s Simulated Bifurcation Machine (SBM) in Azure Quantum. Toshiba joins existing partners 1Qbit, Honeywell, IonQ, and QCI in providing services to the growing quantum ecosystem. 

Toshiba’s cutting-edge technique quickly obtains highly accurate solutions for complex large-scale combinatorial optimization problems and has demonstrated an approximately 10-fold improvement over other competing devices. Some examples of combinatorial optimization problems include dynamic portfolio management, risk management, and high-frequency trading. Practical applications include optimizing routing for electrical transmission lines considering cost, safety, time, and environmental impact; or finding the shortest route between cities, considering the time of day, traffic incidents, and driver schedule.  

In principle, every computational problem we see in practice can be translated to a particular type of binary optimization problem: searching for the ground state of an Ising model. While, in general, this mapping can be too costly to be practical, combinatorial optimization problems are often easy to rewrite into this form, and for problems that are native to this form (such as planning, scheduling, or partitioning), techniques such as those employed by Toshiba’s solution provide a powerful tool for solving them. 

Emerging from quantum computing research at Toshiba, SBM is a practical and ready-to-use Ising model solver—a software solution that is able to solve large-scale combinatorial optimization problems at high speed, while harnessing the GPU resources in the Azure cloud. 

Azure Quantum users will soon be able to utilize the Toshiba SBM to explore highly accurate solutions using quantum methods for their own scenarios. 

Build quantum solutions today

Azure Quantum is an open ecosystem of quantum partners and technologies. Building on decades of quantum research and scalable enterprise cloud offerings at Microsoft, Azure Quantum brings you rich software capabilities and development tools paired with quantum and classical hardware through a familiar Azure environment. 

With our ever-growing offerings, like Toshiba’s SBM, achieve immediate impact with quantum-inspired optimization running on classical hardware today and build for tomorrow with quantum hardware. Sign up to become an Azure Quantum early adopter. 

Join us 

With this announcement, we are excited to welcome Toshiba to the Microsoft Quantum Network. The Microsoft Quantum Network is a broad community of individuals and organizations collaborating with Microsoft to advance a comprehensive quantum ecosystem, develop practical solutions, and build a robust quantum workforce.  

To build this right, we need to build it together.  

 

 

 

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3 challenges Microsoft Teams can help your essential firstline workforce overcome

As our world looks to respond, recover and reimagine the way it works, the Firstline Workforce and the IT teams who support them have proven to be the essential force behind business continuity. Firstline Workforces and IT teams keep businesses moving forward during times of crisis and lead the charge to transform the way we work across many industries.

They are the reason grocery stores stay open and transform to accommodate curb-side pick-up; the reason hospitals keep running and evolve in-person health consults into virtual ones; and how manufacturing continues to create essential products like face masks and transform operations.

Three macro challenges emerge when we listen and learn from customers about their new normal.

  1. The need for better communication, transparency and the ability to foster culture from corporate headquarters to Firstline Workers, and within teams on the ground, is changing from a nice-to-have to a must have.
  2. There is an accelerated need to digitally transform processes that were manual or occurred in-person.
  3. Working conditions have become unpredictable; the need for tools that keep Firstline teams and operations agile and everyone informed is essential for fluctuating working conditions like unexpected locations closing.

We see your Firstline workers and IT admins as the heroes of your business, and we would like to talk about how Microsoft Teams enables you to overcome these challenges.

The need for communication and connection with Firstline Workers has long been on customer minds, but the rapid response required to address shutdowns created by COVID-19 has put a spotlight on this gap. Customers also realize the importance of culture for job satisfaction and the need to make employees feel more connected to the organization and to each other.

Within a Firstline team, employees are facing new protocols that make connecting with each other more challenging throughout their everyday work. Walkie Talkie, a push-to-talk experience that enables clear and secure voice communication over the cloud, enables teams to communicate instantly and always stay on the same page. This native built-in app in Teams turns employee or company-owned Android smartphones and tablets like the Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro into a walkie-talkie, reducing the number of devices employees must carry and lowering costs for IT.

Customers who currently use analog radio devices no longer need to worry about static, crosstalk, interference from outsiders or traditional radio distance boundaries as Walkie Talkie works over WIFI or cellular data. For Firstline teams not yet enabled with a push-to-talk experience, Walkie Talkie in Teams enables instant team communication with pre-configured channels set to have the right conversation with the right people.

Walkie Talkie is not pre-installed. To enable this feature for users in your organization, you need to add Walkie Talkie to the App Setup Policy assigned to users from the Teams Admin Center. Once enabled, Walkie Talkie will become available on the Android app within 48 hours. This feature will be generally available alongside purpose-built devices from BlueParrott, Klein Electronics, and Galaxy XCover Pro on Sept 22nd , learn more here.

To take the guesswork out of knowing the name of on-shift staff when users need to quickly relay information, Tagging by Shifts allows messages to be targeted to groups based on the shifts they are working on, such as all nurses currently on duty. Users are automatically assigned to tags matching their schedule in the Shifts app in Teams, which allows for integration with major workforce management systems, including AMiON, BlueYonder, and Kronos.

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Tagging by Shifts is on by default and enabled by Team Owners by creating shift groups and naming them after an attribute such as a role, which will be the name of the tag. Then assign shifts to team members and share the shift schedule with your team. IT can disable this feature in the IT admin center. Tagging by Shifts will be generally available in November.

The need to engage your Firstline Workers with company-wide announcements that employees can access anywhere is important to create transparency within the company. With Yammer notifications in Teams activity feed, available later this year, teams using the new Yammer Communities app in Teams will be able to receive Yammer notifications in the Teams activity feed and on your mobile lock screen. You can also find Yammer conversations using the Teams search bar so that large scale announcements and updates can reach all employees within Microsoft Teams mobile, desktop, and browser experiences.

Yammer notifications in Teams activity feed will be available this year, to learn more

As the world continues to applaud Firstline Workers for the jobs they are doing, internal steps to engage, recognize and appreciate employees go a long way to improve job satisfaction and promote a positive work culture. Customizable Praise Badges provides the ability to customize Praise badges to express a company’s culture and values in celebration of every success and foster greater comradery during a time of disconnect.

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Customizable Praise badges will be GA in September. Learn more here.

The acceleration of digital transformation arose from travel restrictions, capacity limitations and more safety protocols around manual processes across all industries. Whether it is expert assistance in a manufacturing plant, virtual store walks in a retail store or patients being able to visit their doctor – processes are changing from what was normal in the past.

Processes that normally would have been transformed over 2 years have accelerated and are transforming in a few weeks. And this transformation has allowed companies to work in ways never available before, enabling new ways to scale the once in-person work. For example, through an integration between Teams and RealWear head-mounted devices, field workers can get virtual expert assistance while remaining 100% hands-free using a voice-controlled user interface while maintaining situational awareness in loud and hazardous environments.

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To enable this feature for users in your organization, you need to add Microsoft Teams to devices via the RealWear Foresight platform. This feature will be generally available in late September.

With more technology in the hands of your shift workers, the need to make sure you comply with labor regulations while also digitally empowering your workers is essential. With off-shift access controls, IT administrators can now configure Teams to alert employees when they are accessing the app on their personal device outside of working hours. The feature prompts employees to accept that they will not be getting paid for time spent on Teams to ensure employees are not involuntarily working while not on shift and helps employers to comply with labor regulations. The feature does not require active usage of the Shifts app, but it does require Shifts being configured and schedule data being inside the app, including workforce management API connectors like Kronos, BlueYonder and more.

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This feature is not enabled by default but must be enabled through PowerShell. This feature will be generally available in October.

With manual processes becoming more strained in current conditions, the need to be more efficient and cost-effective around approval processes has become even more important to keep businesses moving forward. Approvals in Teams makes it easy to request, approve or reject various requests. For example, a Firstline worker in manufacturing could request approval to confirm that a repair is completed correctly right from a chat conversation. It brings all your approval flows across the company in one place by seamlessly integrating Teams with over several systems using Power Automate, including ServiceNow, Dynamics, GITHUB, and more. Whether you need written acknowledgement from your manager, a formal authorization from a diverse group of stakeholders, or an official signature from a customer, approvals in Teams can be customized for your needs and leverage the capabilities of Adobe Sign and DocuSign to get e-signatures all in one place in our Approvals Hub natively in Teams.

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This feature is enabled by default and will be generally available in October. E-signature features will be GA in November. Learn more here

Unpredictable working conditions seemed to hit the whole world overnight. Not only are locations fluctuating between being open or temporarily closed, but shift schedules and employees are as well, which has put a lot of pressure on managers and legacy processes to keep up.

The need for flexible and agile shift scheduling has become essential for keeping up with work fluctuations. With the new Power Automate Shifts connector, users can automate shift processes with triggers and actions, so managers save time and are more efficient with schedule management during times of increased pressure on shifts. With these new triggers and actions, a user can view all their Shifts in the calendar of their choice (such as Outlook), a manager can auto-approve shifts all at once and it also enables users to create Shifts templates of their own to meet the ever-fluctuating needs of their business.

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The new triggers and templates will begin rolling out in September and are enabled in the Power Platform directory. Learn more here.

To further save managers time and reduce inaccuracies that can lead to employees not turning up for their shift during heightened pressures of work, Shifts schedule assistance alerts managers when a scheduling conflict occurs while they are creating shift schedules or approving a schedule change request.

This feature is on by default and requires no IT involvement as managers can turn it on or off as wanted. This feature will be generally available in October.

With fluctuations in the workplace, streamlining the onboarding process is important to maintain continuity in the business. With new custom policy packages, IT can now create custom policy packages and assign them to their Firstline workers and managers to get them onboarded quickly with the right policies for them and the business. Policy packages provide IT administrators with pre-defined policies and policy settings tailored for their Firstline workforce to create a simple, centralized, and consistent way to manage your Firstline workforce, no matter how big.

Now with Teams templates, you’re able to create effective teams faster and more easily than ever. Users can choose from common business scenarios, such as Onboarding and/or industry-specific templates, like Retail – manager collaboration and Organize a store. Each template comes with pre-defined channels, tabs, and apps. Administrators can also create custom templates for their organization, helping them standardize team structures, reveal relevant apps, and scale best practices. They can create these from scratch or use an existing template or team structure as a starting point, so Teams are set up for success at the beginning to keep business moving forward.

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Custom team templates empower admins to create the right collaboration space for users in their organization. Learn more about creating a template from scratch, from an existing team, and from an existing template. Custom packages will be rolling out in October, learn more here.

With Microsoft Teams as your hub for communication and teamwork for your entire organization, we have the tools to help you overcome the new challenges you face today. Tools that keep you agile during fluctuating work conditions, digitally transform processes under pressure, and connect the entire workforce during a time when communication is no longer a nice to have, but now, essential.

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To learn more about why it is important to empower your Firstline Workforce, read this Harvard Business Review Analytics Service Report.

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Find out about storage options for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S

For Xbox players, backwards compatibility and Xbox Game Pass have made it possible for us all to have libraries of games at our fingertips at the beginning of the new console generation. One of the promises of Xbox Series X|S is the ability to play four generations of games: favorites, those we’ve yet to discover, the next generation games we can’t wait to play and those we can’t yet imagine are possible.

Therefore, decisions relative to storage, both internal and expansion, were a critical element of the design of Series X|S. Our teams focused on three storage priorities: performance, choice and accessibility. 

The Xbox Velocity Architecture is at the core of our next generation consoles. In addition to providing a massive leap in performance and reduction in load times, the Xbox Velocity Architecture provides the foundation for new levels of innovation and transformative game design and experiences. At the heart of the Xbox Velocity Architecture is our custom NVME SSD to store and play all your games at their best.

We also wanted to make it seamless to bring the large libraries of Xbox games you’ve already downloaded forward. The USB 3.1 storage you use today will be plug and play compatible with Xbox Series X|S. Support for high speed USB 3.1 storage was important to make the storage and transition of large game libraries easy and accessible to everyone.

You can also use USB 3.1 storage to store next generation games, optimized to take full advantage of the Xbox Velocity Architecture, for quick transfer and play on Series X|S.

And, for those who want to expand the total capacity of the custom NVME SSD of Xbox Series X|S we’ve collaborated with Seagate on a custom 1TB Storage Expansion Card, designed using the Xbox Velocity Architecture API, to deliver the exact same consistent, sustained, gameplay performance of our internal SSD. And, backwards compatible games played directly from the Storage Expansion Card will see significant improvements in load times due to the next generation performance of Xbox Series X|S.

Many of you have had questions about storage for Xbox Series X|S so we sat down with Jason Ronald, Director of Program Management, to dive deeper into the technology and options:  

Xbox Wire: Let’s start with the size of games and how that relates to Xbox Series X|S?

Jason Ronald: A significant portion of the overall size of a game is comprised of texture data. As Xbox Series S was designed with a performance target of 1440p at 60 FPS with support for up to 120 FPS, many games will not require their highest level of 4K textures resulting in smaller game sizes overall, often up to 30% smaller on average.

Xbox Wire: Is my existing USB-based HDD/SSD with my library of games compatible with Series X|S?

Jason Ronald: Yes! It is easy as unplugging your existing external USB 3.1 HDD or SSD from your Xbox One and connecting it to your Xbox Series X | S and all your games are instantly available. You can continue to play your favorite Xbox One games, including backward-compatible Xbox 360 and original Xbox games, directly from the external hard drive.

Xbox Wire: How will the Storage Expansion Card work with Xbox Series X|S?

Jason Ronald: It’s pretty simple: just plug the Storage Expansion Card into the Storage Expansion port on the back of your Xbox Series X|S and you can use it just as you would with any external storage solution. You can choose to install games to the expansion card by default, play games directly from it, move or copy games between local and external storage, or do anything you already do today with an external hard drive. The only difference is that the expansion card is designed to match the exact performance of the internal storage of the Xbox Series X|S .

Xbox Wire: How does the Storage Expansion Card enable the use of Xbox Velocity Architecture?

Jason Ronald: The foundation of the Xbox Velocity Architecture is our custom, internal SSD delivering 2.4 GB/s of raw I/O throughput, more than 40x the throughput of Xbox One. The Seagate Expandable Storage Card was designed using the Xbox Velocity Architecture API to deliver the exact same consistent, sustained performance of our internal SSD ensuring you have the exact same gameplay experience regardless of where the game resides.

Xbox Wire: Will you be able to play games right from the Storage Expansion Card or do they need to be copied to the internal storage?

Jason Ronald: You can play directly from the Storage Expansion Card and you will have the exact same experience and performance as if the game was running from the internal SSD. Not only does this apply to games optimized for Xbox Series X|S, but also your favorite backwards compatible Xbox One, Xbox 360 and original Xbox games. When backwards compatible games are played directly from either the internal SSD or the Storage Expansion Card you will see significant improvements in load times due to the next generation performance of Xbox Series X|S.

USB 3.1 HDD Seagate Expansion Card
Stores any Xbox game Yes Yes
Plays Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Original Xbox games Yes Yes
Plays games optimized for Xbox Series X|S No Yes
Replicates speed and performance of internal SSD No Yes

Xbox Wire: Why did you decide to create a custom solution rather than enabling users to install off-the-shelf SSDs?

Jason Ronald: The Xbox Velocity Architecture delivers over 40x the performance of a standard hard drive, unlocking a new level of speed and performance that will virtually eliminate load times and enable new levels of innovation. To make this simple for both gamers and developers, we partnered closely with our friends at Seagate to deliver the very first 1 TB expandable storage solution that matches the exact performance of our internal SSD. This means that you can be confident you will receive the exact same next generation experience regardless of whether or not you are playing your games from the internal SSD or the Seagate Storage Expansion Card. Working with Seagate also enabled us to have a custom storage solution that is super compact, plug & play, and available at the launch of Xbox Series X|S . 

Xbox Wire: Will all Storage Expansion Cards come from Seagate or could we see them from other companies as well?

Jason Ronald: Seagate, with a storied history as a critical innovator in the storage industry, was our first choice to collaborate with to provide expandable storage solutions for the Xbox Velocity Architecture. Xbox is continuing to invest in the Expandable Storage category on Xbox Series X|S with goal of offering choice for Xbox fans, including additional capacities and implementations in the future.

Xbox Wire: Can I connect the Storage Expansion Card to any Series X|S?

Jason Ronald: Yes! Both Xbox Series X and S provide the same Storage Expansion Ports for the expansion card and the exact same card will work in both consoles. Simply plug it in and you’re ready to play! No setup required. The Storage Expansion Card is also a great way to bring your game library with you, to a friend’s house or wherever you choose to play on your next generation Xbox console.

Xbox Wire: How will the Storage Expansion Card work if I have games on discs versus digital format?

Jason Ronald: It works the same as it does on Xbox One today. When you insert a game disc, the game data is installed to the internal SSD or expandable storage. When you play the game, the game runs directly from local storage, but you must still have the disc inserted as the disc provides the license for the game.

Xbox Wire: Does Quick Resume work with the Storage Expansion Card?

Jason Ronald: Quick Resume is powered by the Xbox Velocity Architecture and game state data is persisted on the internal SSD so Quick Resume will work regardless of whether you are playing a game from the internal SSD, the Seagate Storage Expansion Card or an external USB 3.1 HDD or SSD drive.

Xbox Wire: Where can I get/pre-order the Storage Expansion Card?

Jason Ronald:  The Seagate Storage Expansion Card will launch for $219.99 USD alongside Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S on November 10 and will be available in all Xbox markets, worldwide. You can also pre-order now at Microsoft Store or select retailers in select markets worldwide. Check your local retailer for product and pre-order availability.

Xbox Wire: Why does the 1TB Storage Expansion Card cost $219.99?

Jason Ronald: The Xbox Velocity Architecture is a key innovation of our next generation consoles, delivering unprecedented speed and performance enabling transformative gaming experiences never before possible on console. This level of consistent, sustained performance requires advanced components which comes at a higher cost than traditional hard drives or SSDs often found in PCs. By partnering with an industry leader in Seagate, we worked together to deliver an expandable storage solution which delivers identical performance at the lowest cost possible and available this holiday.

Stay tuned to Xbox Wire for more details on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S as we get closer to the launch of both consoles on November 10. 

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Open Data Campaign: exploring the power of open data

In April, we announced the launch of the Open Data Campaign to close the “data divide” and ensure that organizations of all sizes have access to the data they need to innovate with artificial intelligence (AI). To demonstrate the importance of being more open with data and the need to share data to address pressing issues, we committed to the development of 20 data collaborations by 2022. Through these collaborations, we will work with partners to address issues that are “top of mind” and require urgent action. One thing remains true in these uncertain times: To tackle the pressing societal issues we face today – everything from climate change to COVID-19, justice reform to digital access – people and organizations need access to the data that can help unlock the power of innovation and technology.

The past several months have accelerated this work in many ways, and we are learning a lot. The campaign launched just as the world was grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the value of being more open with data become clear in new, undeniable ways. For example, The Alan Turing Institute had been leading an air quality project, with the support of Microsoft’s AI for Earth program, collecting data from across London to understand air pollution. As the summer progressed, however, the institute discovered that analysis of these same data streams could also be used to understand London’s “busyness” as COVID-19 restrictions were eased. It’s just one example of how open data and data collaboration can provide valuable insights beyond their initial focus.

When armed with the right data, organizations are empowered to make decisions that positively impact their employees, customers and the communities they serve. In many ways, data is taking center stage in the response from governments and companies to fuel promising solutions and ideas.

Since launching the campaign, we have moved forward in forging strong data collaborations with partners – focusing our efforts on issues that require commitment, collaboration and urgent action to address:

  • Climate change: On September 1, Microsoft joined with Allianz, Amazon and S&P Global to announce plans to launch the Climate Finance Foundation, led by the Linux Foundation. Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century, and we are committed to being a part of the solution. The ability to leverage high-quality, open, corporate sustainability data will be critical for enabling the investment community to make informed decisions based on accurate and reliable economic models around corporate climate-related risk and opportunity. Microsoft is investing heavily in sustainability, and we have made a commitment to share relevant sustainability data to the open Data Commons supported by this effort.
  • COVID-19: The Alan Turing Institute partnered with the Greater London Authority, supported by Microsoft and the London Data Commission, to demonstrate the value of data sharing to help support London’s response and recovery to COVID-19. This pilot is looks at London’s “busyness” – or movement around the city – through multiple data sources as COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed to monitor how people are responding to the changes. Microsoft provided Azure AI and cloud infrastructure and services to support the COVID-19 pilot. Transport for London is already operationalizing the outputs from this pilot.
  • Digital access and education: When we launched the Open Data Campaign in April, one of our first announcements was that we would be working with the Open Data Institute and BroadbandNow to help address the issue of broadband availability. With COVID-19 taking a significant toll on students’ ability to access face-to-face education, we know that this need is more urgent than ever. As governments, policymakers, nonprofits, and organizations around the world are looking at ways to target resources that serve students more effectively, we are excited to share that we’ll be launching an Open Data Challenge in October to look at the impact of digital access and COVID-19 on young students’ education. We look forward to sharing more details on this collaboration in the coming weeks.

So where do we go from here? We take seriously our commitment to make data sharing easier, safer and more efficient, and we will continue to work with a range of stakeholders to develop new data collaborations that address the challenges of today. We will also focus on developing the tools and governance frameworks necessary to make data sharing easier for organizations of all sizes.

While the progress we’ve made in five short months has been encouraging, we recognize that there is more work to do. We hope you’ll follow our progress at news.microsoft.com/opendata.

Together, we can empower the world to share and use data more effectively.

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