Microsoft Ignite has built up a reputation for excitement over the years. While ostensibly a drab get together to discuss servers and cloud computing, the Ignite events have nevertheless become the launch point for various new features in the world of cloud delivery and artificial intelligence tools.
As we approach the opening of Microsoft Ignite 2024, taking place in Chicago, IL USA (with many sessions available online) from November 18-22, it’s a good time to think about some of the big feature announcements relating to Microsoft Teams, VR, mixed reality, Microsoft Azure, and AI, from years past.
Could Microsoft Ignite 2024 have as big an impact on cloud computing and AI as previous events?
When did Microsoft Ignite start?
Microsoft Ignite takes place annually, starting with an event Chicago in May 2015. But that event was, in fact, a re-brand of Microsoft’s previous annual (and worldwide) series of conferences, TechEd. The first TechEd was held in Orlando, FL, in 1993, and spawned a collection of events around the world. The international events, online events, and localized TechEd conferences ran until 2014, with the final event in Barcelona, Spain.
Since 2015, every Ignite event has been held in North America, aside from September 2020 and March and November 2021, which were digital-only. From 2022 onward, Ignite has been a combined in-person and online event.
Expanded Support for Microsoft Teams (2020)
Back in 2020, forced into a digital-only delivery by an international pandemic, Microsoft Ignite didn’t hold back with its big feature release news. Inspired by events and driven by the changing way in which the world was working, various improvements to Microsoft Teams were announced. Most of these are Microsoft Teams features we now take for granted.
Together Mode, for example, brought the attendees of a video meeting into an online office space, complete with virtual meeting room background. Custom Layouts, meanwhile, offered various benefits, including placing live video of the speaker in front of a streamed PowerPoint presentation.
Improved security to Teams meetings was delivered with Custom Keys, Collaborative Calling brought standard call queues into the Teams environment, making it easier to interact with colleagues and process incoming calls. Teams also got recording, transcription, and 1:1 calls.
Microsoft Mesh Mixed Reality Platform (2021)
At Microsoft Ignite 2021, Microsoft Mesh was announced in the keynote. Introduced as an Azure platform for building “cross platform mixed reality apps,” the selling point was the promise of transcending “traditional boundaries of space and time.”
That is, of course, a big shout, and one which some might argue has yet to be fully delivered. But the intent was there, backed up with the necessary server technology and software. Highlighting the requirement for AI support in bringing mixed reality into the workplace, Microsoft highlighted features such as "immersive presence, spatial maps, holographic rendering and multiuser sync."
Of course, anything using mixed reality requires specialist hardware. Hololens 2 was integral to the Microsoft Mesh Mixed Reality Platform, as were specialist webcams. In execution, the use of digital avatars became common. Microsoft’s answer to Meta’s Metaverse may have been more widely used, but the hype of 2021 has been dialed down, with the mixed reality deprecated.
Generative AI powered VR meetings for Teams (2023)
One of the biggest improvements announced at Microsoft Ignite occurred at the 2023 conference. Building on the Microsoft Mesh Mixed Reality Platform of 2021, Microsoft Teams finally got the immersive 3D meetings with no requirement for a VR headset.
Microsoft Mesh was essentially retired and incorporated into Teams, bring a more practical angle to Teams meetings. After all, headsets may work for audio, but they’re largely undesirable for video beyond gaming and specialist purposes. Most people don’t want a VR or MR headset, and Microsoft’s 2023 Ignite showstopper recognized this, while providing the framework for fully immersive, avatar-based 3D meetings.
The result is a virtual meeting space where floating torsos greet each other and interact with visual effects before getting down to business, such as viewing videos or presentations, or sharing thoughts over a design in real-time.
Microsoft announces the Azure Cobalt 100 Arm-based CPU (2023)
A rumored AI chip for large language models was unveiled at Ignite in 2023. The Azure Cobalt 100 is Microsoft’s custom Arm-based CPU, designed to run Azure data centers, eventually supporting enterprise customers (and Microsoft itself) for the AI future.
While Microsoft was not unfamiliar with chip design – Redmond had collaborated on silicon for the original Xbox and the more recent Surface devices – this announcement was nevertheless headline news in the tech world. Not least because it underlined Microsoft’s commitment to the developing artificial intelligence market.
During Fall 2024, Microsoft announced the general availability of virtual machines based on Azure Cobalt 100.
Microsoft Designer with DALL-E partnership announced (2022)
The 2022 event saw the return of in-person attendance, combined with online access to Microsoft Ignite. While this was in itself an important new element to the conference, making it simpler for people to attend if still under lockdown, the event also saw a major AI announcement.
Microsoft Designer, a Canva-like digital design tool with DALL-E 2 integration, was the big story. Collaborating with OpenAI, Microsoft also highlighted the care it had taken in ensuring the DALL-E 2 generative AI feature from creating “inappropriate results.”
Considered part of the Microsoft 365 family, Microsoft Designer is a free Windows app, and has been integrated into the Edge browser.
Can Microsoft Ignite a surprise in 2024 ?
Previous showstoppers, particularly those in the AI field, have helped build Microsoft Ignite 2024 into a more interesting prospect than it might have been.
As such, there will almost certainly be one or two surprises at Microsoft Ignite 2024.
For the 2024 event, you can expect more news about Copilot+ PCs, along with Microsoft’s continued embracing of Arm-based hardware architectures. AI will undoubtedly play a huge role, whether as part of Azure Arc, or within the office environment of Microsoft 365.
