Azure Review: IoT collaborations; Homeland Security; Database updates; Data Factory features

The close of February was punctuated by announcements around Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with a distinct emphasis on Internet of Things (IoT). At the event, Cubic Telecom announced it would be working with Microsoft and Volkswagen to develop the Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform using Azure. Satellite communications provider Inmarsat announced at MWC a new collaboration with Microsoft allowing customers to shift data collected from its industrial IoT systems to the Azure IoT Central platform. Customers will also have the option to connect their IoT devices to Inmarsat's global communication network.

IoT partnerships premiered at the event weren't limited to Inmarsat. myDevices is set to connect its LoRaWAN devices to Azure, letting users connect hundreds at a time and upload data. In a similar vein, SAP and Microsoft agreed to integrate SAP Leonardo IoT and Azure IoT "to deliver a complete solution for customers that simplifies the collection and ingestion of data and streams it into familiar business applications that can act on it, such as SAP S/4HANA."

The US Department of Homeland Security is joining the Department of Defense in searching for a new direction with its IT infrastructure. The federal department issued a request for information, but not yet proposals, for a multi-cloud approach to its $6.8 billion IT portfolio. In recent months, Microsoft has prepared to bid on the JEDI DoD cloud contract as well as a multi-billion DoD office applications contract and the company may be well positioned if and when DHS puts out a more full-fledged request.

Hadean, builder of the gaming simulation system Aether Engine has partnered with Microsoft to help its developers scale on Azure.

From time to time, features in preview don't make the cut. That's the case with Azure Analysis Services web designer which was introduced in public preview in July 2017, deprecated in October and set to disappear from the portal for good on March 1. Users who employed the capability are recommended to focus on SQL Server Data Tools or SQL Server Management Studio instead.