Azure Updates: Italy, Poland investments; Spot VMs; Security architectures; Blob storage; Cosmos DB

Following news last week of plans to expand operations in New Zealand, Microsoft announced a $1.5 billion investment to accelerate digital transformation in Italy with a new Azure region. Building on the Ambizione Italia initiative announced in 2018, Microsoft is expanding its partnership with Poste Italiane and launching a Sustainability Alliance. But Italy wasn't the only part of world receiving Microsoft investments, with plans announced on May 5 for a $1 billion committed to data center infrastructure in Poland. Together with Chmura Krajowa, Microsoft plans to contribute to the Polish Digital Valley initiative.

For SQL Managed Instance users, the System Center Operations Manager or SCOM package is available in-preview. It can be used to build hybrid monitoring solutions for on-prem or data center resources, together with monitoring SQL Managed Instances in the cloud. The package is being extended to offer hybrid monitoring capabilities, including monitoring for SQL Servers.