At Intelequia, as Microsoft Azure partners, we compile the platform’s most relevant news each month. In September, the highlights include more operational AI agents, new computing and Kubernetes options, and improvements in resilience, data security, and connectivity. This selection brings together general availability (GA) and Public Preview releases featured in the four issues of Azure Weekly published during the month.
🤖 AI and Machine Learning
Claude Opus 5.5 on Microsoft Foundry (GA): The model is now available on Foundry for long-running programming and knowledge tasks, with adaptive reasoning and clearer communication of agent progress.
Voice Agents in Microsoft Foundry: Foundry integrates real-time voice, voice models, tools, deployment, observability, and evaluation into a unified experience for building conversational agents and operating them in production.
Insights in Foundry (Public Preview): Analyzes agent traces to detect behavior patterns, provide evidence about their possible causes, and recommend actions, complementing existing evaluations and monitoring.
📊 Data, Databases, and Analytics
Azure Monitor Auxiliary Logs: Support for Azure Tables and Plan Switching (GA): The Auxiliary plan supports a subset of Azure Tables and allows you to switch tables between the Analytics and Auxiliary plans without recreating them, preserving their history, schema, and integrations.
Azure Copilot Observability Agent with Basic and Auxiliary plans (GA): The agent can analyze logs stored in Basic and Auxiliary tables alongside Azure metrics, traces, and context, making it easier to investigate high-volume telemetry at a lower retention cost.
Filtered PostgreSQL logical replication for Microsoft Fabric Mirroring: Microsoft describes a pattern using an intermediate database and row filters to limit the data reaching Fabric, thereby strengthening production isolation and minimizing data volume.
PostgreSQL 18 in Azure Database for PostgreSQL elastic clusters (GA): Elastic clusters now include PostgreSQL 18 and Citus 14.0, combining the new capabilities of this release with managed distributed scaling.
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 7.1.0 (GA): This release improves the reliability of connections, transactions, and pooling, and adds an application identity to TDS telemetry to facilitate client diagnostics.
Logical Deletion of Azure SQL Logical Servers (Public Preview): A deleted logical server can be recovered during the configured retention period, reducing the risk of data loss due to accidental deletions without having to contact support.
🖥️ Compute
Azure Functions support for PowerShell 7.6 (GA): Teams can now develop locally using PowerShell 7.6 and deploy their applications to Azure Functions plans.
Full Cache for Azure Ephemeral OS Disk on VMs and VMSS (GA): The operating system image can be stored on the virtual machine’s local disk to reduce remote reads and provide low-latency access for I/O-sensitive workloads.
Instant Access for virtual machine restore points (GA): Application-consistent disk restores from restore points can begin as soon as the snapshot is created, shortening RTO on machines with Premium v2 or Ultra disks.
🚢 Containers and Kubernetes
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes (GA): Hardware-isolated microVMs allow you to run untrusted code with egress policies, integration with virtual networks, snapshots, and per-sandbox telemetry.
Azure Container Apps Express (GA): Allows you to deploy a container image without first creating an environment, with immediate provisioning, scaling to zero, and optimized startup for response times under one second.
Azure Red Hat OpenShift with Hosted Control Planes (Public Preview): The control plane becomes a managed service separate from the worker nodes, simplifying cluster operation and scaling while Microsoft and Red Hat manage the platform.
🛠️ Development Tools
Copilot-guided experience for building Azure applications in VS Code (Public Preview): A structured workflow guides development from idea to deployment on Azure, with stages and checkpoints to reduce the unpredictability of chat-only workflows.
Documentation generation for Bicep modules with bicep docs: The new experimental command generates a README based on the module’s metadata, parameters, types, outputs, and examples, helping to keep the documentation aligned with the code.
🧬 Hybrid and multicloud
Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid (GA): Enables you to run session hosts in your own data centers and manage them using Azure Arc, while retaining the Azure Virtual Desktop control plane without requiring a full migration to the cloud.
Management of Azure On-Premises workloads in Azure Arc Site Manager (Public Preview): Site Manager provides a centralized view of virtual machines and Kubernetes clusters across different locations, with search, grouping, and bulk actions.
🎭 Identity
Self-service for publishing apps to the Microsoft Entra App Gallery (Public Preview): Vendors can validate SSO and provisioning before submission and manage drafts, documentation, and tracking of new requests through a guided workflow.
HiBob integration with Microsoft Entra (GA): Personnel changes in HiBob can trigger governed onboarding, role change, and offboarding processes in cloud and hybrid environments, reducing manual steps between HR and IT.
🔌 Integration and APIs
Sending API Management messages to Azure Service Bus (GA): The `send-service-bus-message` policy allows you to post HTTP requests to a queue or topic using the API Management managed identity, without incorporating an intermediary service.
Azure App Service as a destination for Managed Connectors triggers (Public Preview): Managed connector events can be delivered directly to web apps in App Service, with route configuration, managed identity, and a Microsoft Entra audience.
🌐 Networking
HTTP/3 over QUIC in Azure Application Gateway (Public Preview): QUIC support reduces connection setup time and improves resilience to packet loss; it can be selectively enabled on Basic listeners.
High-Scale Mesh in Azure Virtual Network Manager (GA): A mesh connectivity configuration can connect up to 3,000 virtual networks by default, simplifying the management of distributed topologies without maintaining individual pairings.
Azure Firewall Explicit Proxy (GA): Selected applications can route their HTTP and HTTPS traffic to the firewall using the standard proxy configuration, centralizing inspection and policies without redirecting all traffic from a subnet.
🔐 Security
Integrated Security Operations Center in Microsoft Defender (Public Preview): Eligible customers of Microsoft Defender Suite and Microsoft 365 E5/E7 gain integrated security operations capabilities, such as case management, workbooks, and natural-language playbook generation.
Codeless Multi-Account Connectors in Microsoft Sentinel (Public Preview): A single connector can manage multiple independent connections within a workspace, making it easier to centralize accounts from different regions, environments, or customers.
Azure Payments HSM v2 (Public Preview): The service offers customer-isolated payment HSM clusters with self-managed administrative control, while Microsoft manages the infrastructure, availability, and lifecycle.
📦 Storage
User-bound SAS delegation for Azure Storage (GA): SAS tokens can be bound to a specific Microsoft Entra identity, limiting their use to the intended person and strengthening protection against credential reuse.
Agentless migration of SMB shares to Azure Files (Public Preview): Azure Storage Mover can copy files from Windows Server or NAS over an existing private connection, without deploying or maintaining an on-premises migration agent.
Dell Managed PowerScale for Microsoft Azure (GA): This managed service brings file storage to Azure with NFS, SMB, and S3 access; its initial general availability is limited to the East US region.
💡 At Intelequia, we’re here to help
Want to take advantage of these new Azure features in your organization? As Microsoft Azure partners, we at Intelequia support you in adopting generative and agent-based AI, modernizing applications and data, ensuring cloud security, and optimizing your operations. Contact our team and discover how we can help you turn Azure’s new features into results for your business.