Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability

Microsoft announce the June 1 General Availability of Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability.

It’s a solution that works across multiple industries to help an organisation to accelerate their sustainability progress towards net-zero emissions.

The new Microsoft Sustainability Manager helps customers to create a single and actionable view of their sustainability data, and is available through an EA or CSP costing $4,000 per tenant per month.

You can find a pricing datasheet on Microsoft Sustainability Manager here: https://bit.ly/3u4V1TG, and the GA announcement here: https://bit.ly/3OozVrt.

Microsoft Defender for Individuals

Microsoft expand the Microsoft Defender family with Microsoft Defender for Individuals.

This is an online security application for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers, and is available across Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Licensed users simply sign in, and once their Microsoft 365 credentials are validated, they are granted access to Microsoft Defender.

Find the product announcement here: https://bit.ly/3yntqzw, and learn more about the Microsoft Defender product family here: https://bit.ly/3ymw7RM.

Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (June 2022) Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide.

There’s mention on page 1 of the new licences for either Digital Messaging OR Voice Channel to step-up to Digital Messaging AND Voice Channel, and there’s a bit of extra detail added on page 44 clarifying that preparing periodic financial statements for customers is not considered an outsourced business service.

Finally, on page 41 there are some changes to the Operations Database capacity entitlements. Firstly, initial capacity for the tenant is up to 60 GB from 20 GB. Secondly, there are increases to the accrued capacity per User SL for Operations-Activity and Operations-Device licences as well as for Finance, Supply Chain Management, Commerce, Project Operations, and Human Resources licences. There are some other minor clarifications too which you can find detailed in the Change Log on page 60.

Get this updated guide here: https://bit.ly/3NVe1vh.

Azure Cost Management update

Microsoft announce that Azure Cost Management is now Microsoft Cost Management due to recent expansions in its capabilities.

In October it started covering Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Windows 365, and Power Platform offers when acquired through the Microsoft Customer Agreement, and in January lightweight cost management capabilities were added to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3znHD0s.

Future Power Automate PAYG option

Microsoft announce the ability for ISVs to embed Power Automate inside of a SaaS application, and the future option to use a Pay-As-You-Go meter to support these embedded scenarios. We’ll hear more in July 2022 at the time of the Microsoft Inspire conference. In the meantime, find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3x3yzLs.

Extended Security Updates for Windows Server

Extended Security Updates are critical if you want to continue safely running Windows Server workloads on versions that are out of support. They’re free for customers running Windows Server in Azure and available to purchase through an EA for on-premises workloads.

Servers in Azure receive ESUs by default, and there’s an excellent article here (https://bit.ly/3LTxdrS) on how it works for on-premises servers where it’s not automatic and you need to register your servers.

If you’re running Azure Stack HCI then ESUs are free but you need to turn on Azure Benefits – and this article (https://bit.ly/3M4gX7s) is useful for explaining that process. If you’re new to Extended Security Updates, then this article is a good place to start: https://bit.ly/3NFed1C.

Power BI Report Server

The Power BI team announce a new version of Power BI Report Server. This product facilitates the distribution of interactive Power BI reports, traditionally within the boundaries of an organisation’s firewall. It’s not available to be purchased; the rights to install and use it are granted for customers who have active SA on SQL Server Enterprise Core licences, or Server Subscriptions for SQL Server Enterprise Core licences, or who have purchased Power BI Premium P SKUs.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3sZad3Y.

Public preview of SQL Server 2022

Microsoft announce the public preview of SQL Server 2022. As you’d expect there’s continued innovation across performance, security, and availability, and Microsoft describe it as “the most Azure-enabled release of SQL Server yet”.

You can find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3wOJqsu, with an overview of the new features and links to download the preview.