- Ignite’s Message: Confidence in an AI‑First Platform
At Microsoft Ignite 2025 (Nov 18, 2025), Azure introduced an AI‑first blueprint that unifies AI, data, apps, and infrastructure. The updates focus on building and operating AI agents with enterprise context, secure control planes, and data modernization—responding to CIO questions around ROI, risk, and speed. [techradar.com]
- Agent Factory & Foundry: From Concepts to Production
- Microsoft Agent Factory: An all-in-one experience to build, run, and scale AI agents with enterprise guardrails.
- Microsoft Foundry (formerly Azure AI Foundry) with Foundry IQ: Tools to align agents with organizational context and workflows, making agents smarter and safer. [techradar.com]
Why it matters: Enterprises get a repeatable path from prototype agents to governed, production-grade automation—reducing time-to-value. [techradar.com]
- Data Readiness & Secure Operations
Ignite highlighted data modernization and secure operations: Azure DocumentDB, HorizonDB (preview), SQL Server 2025, and Foundry Control Plane with Azure Copilot built-in agents plus native Microsoft Defender for Cloud integration. These moves address end-to-end pipelines and operational trust. [techradar.com]
- Strategic Implications for 2026
- Standardize agent development on Agent Factory; use Foundry IQ for contextful agents. [techradar.com]
- Modernize data where it lives (DocumentDB/HorizonDB/SQL 2025) to feed agents clean, governed signals. [techradar.com]
- Operate securely via Foundry Control Plane and Defender/GitHub integrations for policy, posture, and DevSecOps. [techradar.com]
- Use Cases to Pilot
- Customer service agents enriched with Fabric IQ context.
- DevSecOps agents enforcing policies across repos and pipelines.
- Operations agents automating incident response with auditable actions. [techradar.com]
