Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 to support Azure hosting, planned for April 2014

At Convergence EMEA 2013 today in Barcelona, Microsoft announced that Dynamics AX 2012 R3, the next update for its enterprise ERP solution, is planned for April 2014 and will be supported for deployment in Windows Azure via infrastructure as a service (IaaS).  The company also shared that it remains on track to deliver the next major version of Microsoft Dynamics AX, also known as Rainier, on-premises and as a public cloud service offering.

The company also announced a new pricing promotion for Microsoft Office 365 customers purchasing professional licenses of Dynamics CRM Online at up to a 40 percent discount.  This promotion runs through March 31, 2014, and is available in 42 markets where the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service is offered.

The April 2014 time frame for AX 2012 R3 demonstrates a bit of slip in the forecast for delivery, which had earlier been set for late 2013, then appeared on some roadmap slides as Q1 of 2014.  In August, Microsoft also rescheduled its AX Technical Conference to February 2014 to coincide with the release date.

AX 2012 R3 delivers new warehouse and transportation management capabilities, powered by software recently acquired from Dynamics AX ISV partner Blue Horseshoe.  In a separate announcement earlier this week, Blue Horseshoe said