The Ignite 2020 conference is underway today, and Microsoft is sharing its newest cloud and business apps offerings with customers. The messages on Azure return to familiar themes from recent months while forging ahead on AI, edge, IoT, communications, hybrid cloud capabilities and the challenges of business resilience in the midst of a global pandemic.

Bringing communication capabilities into apps

Azure communication services is an area of new growth that developers should take note of, said Microsoft CVP Julia White in a pre-event briefing. Microsoft is taking technology underlying Teams and exposing it through APIs and SDKs in a bid to overcome separate voice or video stacks, with security capabilities to safeguard communications data.