Microsoft Azure Review: New Linux kernel; IoT capabilities; Azure Service Fabric; South African data centers; VNet; Chirp and port consolidations

In the Azure channel, SUSE and Microsoft partnered to offer a new Linux kernel for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server on-demand. The cloud-oriented kernel is intended to reduce RAM usage and increase network throughput by 25 percent. Talend announced a tool for uploading data in bulk to Azure SQL Data Warehouse, available in the Talend Cloud Summer '18 offering. Gravity Supply Chain also brokered a partnership with Microsoft in a bid to speed up the delivery of its SaaS offerings. A more novel announcement came from the UK, where London Block Exchange, a cryptocurrency trading startup, has partnered with Rackspace to shift its application infrastructure into Azure.

Acclimation, a Melbourne-based Microsoft partner worked with Laguna Gold, to offer IoT capabilities at its El Toqui zinc, lead, silver, and gold mine in Chile, using Azure.

In South Africa, Microsoft is gearing up to launch new Azure data centers, which IT providers see as a new opportunity to increase revenue. Recent legal changes, in the form of the Protection of Personal Information Act, and high latency for SaaS apps between South African companies and data centers in Europe prompted the expansion, according to IT News Africa.

Chirp is a company that converts data to sound so that neighboring devices can detect information with a microphone. Through a new ...