Category: News
How can I model a nearly complicated robotic system?
I am trying to model a 5 DOF robotic system to evaluate my driven kinematic and geometric modelling but this robot includes 5 kinematic chains that makes it somekind of complicated. Also the fact that I am new to robotic modelling adds up to it. I tried to design cad model of robot in Solidworks and import it to matlab simulink using
smimport
command but without getting any errors, my model doesn’t work properly. Everytime I try to fix the model and run the simulink model, I face new problems such as most of the joints not moving or broken assembly. Also I cannot add it to workspace with the command
importrobot
I get some errors like "Targets or motion inputs are specified for every joint around a kinematic loop". I’ll attach the picture of robot model, its simulink generated model and file of simulink and Solidworks model. I’ll be so grateful if anyone could help me or give me a hint.
and all of the related files are in a attached zip fileI am trying to model a 5 DOF robotic system to evaluate my driven kinematic and geometric modelling but this robot includes 5 kinematic chains that makes it somekind of complicated. Also the fact that I am new to robotic modelling adds up to it. I tried to design cad model of robot in Solidworks and import it to matlab simulink using
smimport
command but without getting any errors, my model doesn’t work properly. Everytime I try to fix the model and run the simulink model, I face new problems such as most of the joints not moving or broken assembly. Also I cannot add it to workspace with the command
importrobot
I get some errors like "Targets or motion inputs are specified for every joint around a kinematic loop". I’ll attach the picture of robot model, its simulink generated model and file of simulink and Solidworks model. I’ll be so grateful if anyone could help me or give me a hint.
and all of the related files are in a attached zip file I am trying to model a 5 DOF robotic system to evaluate my driven kinematic and geometric modelling but this robot includes 5 kinematic chains that makes it somekind of complicated. Also the fact that I am new to robotic modelling adds up to it. I tried to design cad model of robot in Solidworks and import it to matlab simulink using
smimport
command but without getting any errors, my model doesn’t work properly. Everytime I try to fix the model and run the simulink model, I face new problems such as most of the joints not moving or broken assembly. Also I cannot add it to workspace with the command
importrobot
I get some errors like "Targets or motion inputs are specified for every joint around a kinematic loop". I’ll attach the picture of robot model, its simulink generated model and file of simulink and Solidworks model. I’ll be so grateful if anyone could help me or give me a hint.
and all of the related files are in a attached zip file matlab, simulink, robotic, modelling, simulation, simscape, rigidboytree, robot MATLAB Answers — New Questions
How to calculate the poles of the fractional transfer function
This is my fractional transfer fucnction, I want to draw the poles of the transfer function. I tried to use the FOMCON toolbox, but there is no pzmap function.How should I do?
———
clear;clc;
s=fotf(‘s’);
lamda1=0.8;
lamda2=0.8;
w0=300;
alpha1=2*w0;
alpha2=w0^2;
beta1=2*w0;
beta2=w0^2;
k=60;
r=1;
h1=s^(lamda1+1)+alpha1*s^(lamda1)+alpha2;
h2=s^(lamda2+1)+beta1*s^(lamda2)+beta2;
m1=h1*h2-h2*alpha2-h1*beta2+beta2*(s^(lamda1+1)+alpha2);
m2=h1*h2*k+alpha2*h2*s+alpha1*beta2*s^(lamda1+1);
G=k*h1*h2/(r*m1*s+m2);
——
where G is the transfer function.This is my fractional transfer fucnction, I want to draw the poles of the transfer function. I tried to use the FOMCON toolbox, but there is no pzmap function.How should I do?
———
clear;clc;
s=fotf(‘s’);
lamda1=0.8;
lamda2=0.8;
w0=300;
alpha1=2*w0;
alpha2=w0^2;
beta1=2*w0;
beta2=w0^2;
k=60;
r=1;
h1=s^(lamda1+1)+alpha1*s^(lamda1)+alpha2;
h2=s^(lamda2+1)+beta1*s^(lamda2)+beta2;
m1=h1*h2-h2*alpha2-h1*beta2+beta2*(s^(lamda1+1)+alpha2);
m2=h1*h2*k+alpha2*h2*s+alpha1*beta2*s^(lamda1+1);
G=k*h1*h2/(r*m1*s+m2);
——
where G is the transfer function. This is my fractional transfer fucnction, I want to draw the poles of the transfer function. I tried to use the FOMCON toolbox, but there is no pzmap function.How should I do?
———
clear;clc;
s=fotf(‘s’);
lamda1=0.8;
lamda2=0.8;
w0=300;
alpha1=2*w0;
alpha2=w0^2;
beta1=2*w0;
beta2=w0^2;
k=60;
r=1;
h1=s^(lamda1+1)+alpha1*s^(lamda1)+alpha2;
h2=s^(lamda2+1)+beta1*s^(lamda2)+beta2;
m1=h1*h2-h2*alpha2-h1*beta2+beta2*(s^(lamda1+1)+alpha2);
m2=h1*h2*k+alpha2*h2*s+alpha1*beta2*s^(lamda1+1);
G=k*h1*h2/(r*m1*s+m2);
——
where G is the transfer function. pole, fractional, transfer function, pzmap MATLAB Answers — New Questions
NEED HELP emails not showing when switched to old outlook app
Hi! I need to back up my school email account since I’m graduating, and school IT suggested to export into .pst file then import into a new alumni account. I searched up tutorials and realize this can only be accomplished through the old version of outlook app, but when I switch back none of the emails show, and I tried to follow through the back up process but the .pst file turn out to be 375kb. I’m using windows and the new outlook that I’ve been using works perfectly. Please help…..
Hi! I need to back up my school email account since I’m graduating, and school IT suggested to export into .pst file then import into a new alumni account. I searched up tutorials and realize this can only be accomplished through the old version of outlook app, but when I switch back none of the emails show, and I tried to follow through the back up process but the .pst file turn out to be 375kb. I’m using windows and the new outlook that I’ve been using works perfectly. Please help….. Read More
Intune Policies did not apply MDM
We are testing Intune policies in the admin center, but they do not apply to the device specified in the security group that was created.
We are testing Intune policies in the admin center, but they do not apply to the device specified in the security group that was created. Read More
Unable to enroll in Microsoft Partner Program
Hello,
I want to enroll for Microsoft Partner program but my country defaults to US and I have the company registered in India, I want to provide Microsoft solutions to Global audiences.
Please help.
Hello, I want to enroll for Microsoft Partner program but my country defaults to US and I have the company registered in India, I want to provide Microsoft solutions to Global audiences.Please help. Read More
TSI Partner Community Update | July 2024
Hello Partners,
Get the latest insights in our TSI July Community Update with tips on kickstarting your FY25 with Copilot for Microsoft 365, Azure, and Business Applications. Attend a CSP bootcamp, learn about the FY25 Nonprofit Community goals and read the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia case study, a Digital Natives Partner Program participant.
Download the TSI July Community Update
Hello Partners,
Get the latest insights in our TSI July Community Update with tips on kickstarting your FY25 with Copilot for Microsoft 365, Azure, and Business Applications. Attend a CSP bootcamp, learn about the FY25 Nonprofit Community goals and read the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia case study, a Digital Natives Partner Program participant.
Download the TSI July Community Update
OpenAI’s GPT-4o mini Now Available in API with Vision Capabilities on Azure AI
We recently launched OpenAI’s fastest model, GPT-4o mini, in the Azure OpenAI Studio Playground, simultaneously with OpenAI. The response from our customers has been phenomenal. Today, we are excited to bring this powerful model to even more developers by releasing the GPT-4o mini API with vision support for Global and East US Regional Standard Deployments.
From Playground to API: Expanding Accessibility
Launching GPT-4o mini in the Azure OpenAI Studio Playground provided our customers with the opportunity to experiment and innovate with the latest AI technology. Now, by extending its availability to the API with global and regional pricing, we are empowering developers to seamlessly integrate GPT-4o mini into their applications, leveraging its incredible speed and versatility for a wide range of tasks.
Unlocking New Possibilities with Vision and Text Capabilities
With the addition of vision input capabilities, GPT-4o mini expands its versatility and opens new horizons for developers and businesses. This enhancement allows users to process and analyze visual data, extracting valuable insights and generating comprehensive text outputs. Whether it’s interpreting images or processing documents, GPT-4o mini is designed to handle a wide range of tasks and use cases efficiently.
Flexible Pricing: Regional and Global Options
GPT4o-mini is available for Global Standard deployments in all regions and Standard Regional deployments in East US, with more regions coming soon.
Operating costs can vary significantly across different regions due to factors such as data center expenses and local costs for renewable energy. Additionally, the strict compliance and residency requirements offered by Azure necessitate increased infrastructure investments. To provide our customers with the best possible price while maintaining high standards, we are introducing price tiers for regional Standard and Global Standard for GPT-4o mini. Global Standard provides the lowest price with the highest throughput. It is the best starting point for customers without data processing requirements. Regional Standard pricing will fluctuate based on regional operating costs, ensuring that customers receive a fair and transparent pricing model, meeting the requirement of data residency and compliance. This approach aligns with how services like Azure VMs already offer regional pricing, allowing for flexibility and cost-efficiency tailored to specific regional needs.
Model
Context
Input (Per 1,000 tokens)
Output (Per 1,000 tokens)
GPT-4o Global Deployment
128K
$0.005
$0.015
GPT-4o Regional API
128K
$0.005
$0.015
GPT-4o-mini Global Deployment
1K
$0.00015
$0.0006
GPT-4o-mini Regional API
1K
$0.000165
$0.00066
Key Features and Benefits
Enhanced Vision Input: Leverage the power of GPT-4o mini to process images and videos, enabling applications such as visual recognition, scene understanding, and multimedia content analysis.
Comprehensive Text Output: Generate detailed and contextually accurate text outputs from visual inputs, making it easier to create reports, summaries, and detailed analyses.
Cost-Effective Solutions: Benefit from the cost efficiencies of GPT-4o mini, which is significantly cheaper than previous models, allowing you to deliver high-quality applications at a lower cost. For example, GPT-4o mini offers the quality of GPT-4 Turbo at a price lower than GPT-3.5 Turbo. We are also happy to make the model available in both global and regional standard deployments.
Stay Tuned
Stay tuned for more updates and announcements as we continue to enhance the capabilities of GPT-4o mini. We look forward to seeing the incredible innovations you will create with GPT-4o mini with API access on Azure AI.
Resources
Get all the details about GPT-4o mini on Microsoft Learn. New to Azure? Learn more about Azure OpenAI Service and check out our release newsfeed for the latest enhancements.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
How to Clean the MATLAB Runtime (MCR) Cache?
How can I clean MATLAB Runtime cache?How can I clean MATLAB Runtime cache? How can I clean MATLAB Runtime cache? MATLAB Answers — New Questions
Why do I get the error “Unrecognized function or variable ‘ctfroot'” when running “MATLABWebAppServer.exe”?
Why do I get the error "Unrecognized function or variable ‘ctfroot’" when running the Development version of MATLAB Web App Server – "MATLABWebAppServer.exe"?
Here is a screenshot of the exact error:Why do I get the error "Unrecognized function or variable ‘ctfroot’" when running the Development version of MATLAB Web App Server – "MATLABWebAppServer.exe"?
Here is a screenshot of the exact error: Why do I get the error "Unrecognized function or variable ‘ctfroot’" when running the Development version of MATLAB Web App Server – "MATLABWebAppServer.exe"?
Here is a screenshot of the exact error: matlabwebappserver, ctfroot, unrecognized, web, app, server MATLAB Answers — New Questions
How to use the New Translation Functions in Excel
TRANSLATE() – a function that translates a text from one language to another.
DETECTLANGUAGE() – a function that detects the language of the specified text.
There are two new Excel functions designed to simplify and automate translations directly within your spreadsheet.
TRANSLATE() – a function that translates a text from one language to another.
DETECTLANGUAGE() – a function that detects the language of the specified text.
#MicrosoftExcel #Excel #Microsoft365 #Productivity #NewFeatures #MVPbuzz Read More
Highlighting and grouping rows that share a value
I have a very large report that is distributed daily that requires thousands of rows of data that need to be reviewed. I’m trying to make it easier for the user to read the rows in groups by highlighting the alternate groups. Similar to when you use the Format as Table feature and every other row alternates color. But in this instance, I want to group a number of rows together in the same color based on a shared value and alternate the color for each grouped set of rows. Any idea on how to manage this and what conditional formatting formulas or other features I could use to accomplish this?
Example to keep it simple: if I wanted to alternate rows between different Objects in the below so that it would be grey for Apple, white for Orange and grey again for Watermelon, how would I do this:
AisleObjectAttribute1AppleRed1AppleRound1AppleSmall1OrangeOrange1OrangeRound1OrangeSmall2WatermelonGreen2WatermelonLarge
I have a very large report that is distributed daily that requires thousands of rows of data that need to be reviewed. I’m trying to make it easier for the user to read the rows in groups by highlighting the alternate groups. Similar to when you use the Format as Table feature and every other row alternates color. But in this instance, I want to group a number of rows together in the same color based on a shared value and alternate the color for each grouped set of rows. Any idea on how to manage this and what conditional formatting formulas or other features I could use to accomplish this? Example to keep it simple: if I wanted to alternate rows between different Objects in the below so that it would be grey for Apple, white for Orange and grey again for Watermelon, how would I do this:AisleObjectAttribute1AppleRed1AppleRound1AppleSmall1OrangeOrange1OrangeRound1OrangeSmall2WatermelonGreen2WatermelonLarge Read More
Dev Channel update to 128.0.2739.1 is live.
Hello Insiders! We released 128.0.2739.1 to the Dev channel! This includes numerous fixes. For more details on the changes, check out the highlights below.
Introducing Bing generative search | Bing Search Blog
Added Features:
Included string for ongoing pinning message.
Improved Reliability:
Fixed an issue where the app would crash when opened in another window from the history page on android.
Fixed an issue where installing a new theme in gamer mode would cause a crash.
Resolved an issue where browser would crash when the last tab was closed on android.
Fixed an issue where browser would crash when printing via an extension.
Changed Behavior:
Fixed an issue where the ‘More options’ menu couldn’t be focused on using a shortcut key in the Recently Closed Hub.
Fixed an issue where the Zoom menu item was missing color in the browser’s ‘Settings and more’ menu.
Fixed an issue where the gradient in vertical tabs was incorrectly positioned in the middle.
Fixed an issue where text resizing only occurred when hovering over the corners of elements in the browser history pane.
Fixed an issue where folders wouldn’t auto-expand when clicking the ‘Add Folder’ button in Favorites hub.
Fixed an issue where the screen reader did not announce the labels for radio buttons in a PDF form.
Fixed an issue when clicking the ‘Open sidebar search’ button after installing the site as an app caused the search box to appear at the bottom.
Fixed an issue where the site icon was misaligned with the site name when hovering over the tab.
Android:
Fixed an issue where authenticated pages wouldn’t open in AAD’s new page on Android.
Resolved an issue where the Name field was not defined for photos in the Recent tab on Android.
iOS:
Resolved an issue when clicking on a new tab in landscape mode caused the page animation to shrink on iOS.
Resolved an issue where the switch position was incorrectly displayed in the account panel on iOS.
Fixed an issue where the search icon disappeared on the reward page when switching to dark mode on iOS.
See an issue that you think might be a bug? Remember to send that directly through the in-app feedback by heading to the … menu > Help and feedback > Send feedback and include diagnostics so the team can investigate.
Thanks again for sending us feedback and helping us improve our Insider builds.
~Gouri
Hello Insiders! We released 128.0.2739.1 to the Dev channel! This includes numerous fixes. For more details on the changes, check out the highlights below.
Introducing Bing generative search | Bing Search Blog
Added Features:
Included string for ongoing pinning message.
Improved Reliability:
Fixed an issue where the app would crash when opened in another window from the history page on android.
Fixed an issue where installing a new theme in gamer mode would cause a crash.
Resolved an issue where browser would crash when the last tab was closed on android.
Fixed an issue where browser would crash when printing via an extension.
Changed Behavior:
Fixed an issue where the ‘More options’ menu couldn’t be focused on using a shortcut key in the Recently Closed Hub.
Fixed an issue where the Zoom menu item was missing color in the browser’s ‘Settings and more’ menu.
Fixed an issue where the gradient in vertical tabs was incorrectly positioned in the middle.
Fixed an issue where text resizing only occurred when hovering over the corners of elements in the browser history pane.
Fixed an issue where folders wouldn’t auto-expand when clicking the ‘Add Folder’ button in Favorites hub.
Fixed an issue where the screen reader did not announce the labels for radio buttons in a PDF form.
Fixed an issue when clicking the ‘Open sidebar search’ button after installing the site as an app caused the search box to appear at the bottom.
Fixed an issue where the site icon was misaligned with the site name when hovering over the tab.
Android:
Fixed an issue where authenticated pages wouldn’t open in AAD’s new page on Android.
Resolved an issue where the Name field was not defined for photos in the Recent tab on Android.
iOS:
Resolved an issue when clicking on a new tab in landscape mode caused the page animation to shrink on iOS.
Resolved an issue where the switch position was incorrectly displayed in the account panel on iOS.
Fixed an issue where the search icon disappeared on the reward page when switching to dark mode on iOS.
See an issue that you think might be a bug? Remember to send that directly through the in-app feedback by heading to the … menu > Help and feedback > Send feedback and include diagnostics so the team can investigate.
Thanks again for sending us feedback and helping us improve our Insider builds.
~Gouri Read More
Windows Server Datacenter: Azure Edition preview build 26257 now available in Azure
Windows Server Datacenter: Azure Edition preview build 26257 now available in Azure
Hello Windows Server Insiders!
We welcome you to try Windows Server 2025 Datacenter: Azure Edition preview build 26257 in the Desktop experience on the Microsoft Server Operating Systems Preview offer in Azure. Azure Edition is optimized for operation in the Azure environment. For additional information, see Preview: Windows Server VNext Datacenter (Azure Edition) for Azure Automanage on Microsoft Docs. For more information about this build, see Announcing Windows Server Preview Build 26257 – Microsoft Community Hub.
Known Issues
Release of the Core version of this build is delayed. We are working on it and will publish the Core version as soon as we resolve our publishing issue.
Windows Server Datacenter: Azure Edition preview build 26257 now available in Azure
Hello Windows Server Insiders!
We welcome you to try Windows Server 2025 Datacenter: Azure Edition preview build 26257 in the Desktop experience on the Microsoft Server Operating Systems Preview offer in Azure. Azure Edition is optimized for operation in the Azure environment. For additional information, see Preview: Windows Server VNext Datacenter (Azure Edition) for Azure Automanage on Microsoft Docs. For more information about this build, see Announcing Windows Server Preview Build 26257 – Microsoft Community Hub.
Known Issues
Release of the Core version of this build is delayed. We are working on it and will publish the Core version as soon as we resolve our publishing issue. Read More
Copilot for Payers – Copilot for M365, Copilot for Sales, and Copilot Studio for Sales Roles
Unlocking the Potential of Copilot for Payers
We recently delved into the transformative impact of Copilot, focusing on its application for Payers. This meeting insightful for anyone looking to understand the future of sales and customer engagement in healthcare insurance. Here’s why you should watch the recording:
Innovative Use Cases: Discover how Copilot is revolutionizing sales and customer service for health insurance clients, offering a glimpse into the future of digital engagement and efficiency.
Expert Insights: Gain valuable perspectives from Microsoft’s specialists, including Jeremy’s deep dive into sales use cases and Chad’s personal productivity gains using Copilot. Their firsthand experiences provide a practical view of implementing technology solutions in complex environments.
Strategic Applications: Learn from Fejiro and Ashley about the strategic importance of technology in navigating regulatory changes and competitive landscapes, especially in Medicare Advantage plans. Their discussions highlight the critical role of technology in adapting to market dynamics and enhancing customer relationships.
Real-World Challenges and Solutions: The conversation covers the challenges faced by sales agents and brokers, including information overload and the need for personalized customer interactions. The speakers share how Copilot addresses these issues, making it an essential tool for anyone in the field
Future of Healthcare Sales: This meeting not only discusses current applications but also explores the potential future developments in healthcare sales and customer service. The insights offered can help professionals stay ahead of the curve in leveraging AI and machine learning for business growth
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
RMSE in Fuzzy logic designer
I can’t find any information about how the Fuzzy Logic Designer toolbox calculates the RMSE. Does anyone know how it’s done?I can’t find any information about how the Fuzzy Logic Designer toolbox calculates the RMSE. Does anyone know how it’s done? I can’t find any information about how the Fuzzy Logic Designer toolbox calculates the RMSE. Does anyone know how it’s done? rmse, fuzzy MATLAB Answers — New Questions
integrate with the upper limit is a function
Hello!
How to integrate a function on Matlab with the upper limit is a function, for exemple the following integral:
i tried this code:
U= vpa(int(f,s,0,t^2))
but it returns int(f,s,0,t^2)!!
is there any method to do it?Hello!
How to integrate a function on Matlab with the upper limit is a function, for exemple the following integral:
i tried this code:
U= vpa(int(f,s,0,t^2))
but it returns int(f,s,0,t^2)!!
is there any method to do it? Hello!
How to integrate a function on Matlab with the upper limit is a function, for exemple the following integral:
i tried this code:
U= vpa(int(f,s,0,t^2))
but it returns int(f,s,0,t^2)!!
is there any method to do it? integral, numerical integration MATLAB Answers — New Questions
New Blog | Azure Firewall Protection Against Apache Struts Vulnerability – CVE-2023-50164
By Andrew Mathu
Introduction
Vulnerabilities and zero-day exploits continue to be a serious threat to systems worldwide. One such vulnerability is CVE-2023-50164, a critical issue in Apache Struts that can lead to critical security breaches if not properly mitigated. Protecting your systems from such vulnerabilities is paramount to prevent unauthorized access and data loss. Azure Firewall Premium provides a robust solution to safeguard your infrastructure against such threats. This blog post will explore the CVE-2023-50164 vulnerability and demonstrate how Azure Firewall Premium can effectively prevent this attack.
Read the full post here: Azure Firewall Protection Against Apache Struts Vulnerability – CVE-2023-50164
By Andrew Mathu
Introduction
Vulnerabilities and zero-day exploits continue to be a serious threat to systems worldwide. One such vulnerability is CVE-2023-50164, a critical issue in Apache Struts that can lead to critical security breaches if not properly mitigated. Protecting your systems from such vulnerabilities is paramount to prevent unauthorized access and data loss. Azure Firewall Premium provides a robust solution to safeguard your infrastructure against such threats. This blog post will explore the CVE-2023-50164 vulnerability and demonstrate how Azure Firewall Premium can effectively prevent this attack.
Read the full post here: Azure Firewall Protection Against Apache Struts Vulnerability – CVE-2023-50164 Read More
New Blog | Reduce friction and protect faster with simplified Android onboarding
In today’s interconnected digital landscape, users can choose from a range of highly-mobile devices to perform tasks—from smartphones to laptops, tablets, and IoT devices. Each of these devices can access sensitive information and interact directly with critical systems, so a robust protection capability beyond traditional endpoints is paramount to safeguarding data integrity and user privacy.
Today, we’re excited to announce that a simplified onboarding experience in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Android devices is now available in public preview.
Comprehensive detection and response
Built on the broadest global threat and human intelligence, Defender for Endpoint has evolved over the years to provide robust security on Android platforms with a host of features like antimalware detection, anti-phishing, network protection, vulnerability management, and more. Moreover, coupled with a unified security interface via the Defender portal, security teams have access to centralized information for effective threat remediation across all endpoints.
Read the full post here: Reduce friction and protect faster with simplified Android onboarding
By Priyanka Gill
In today’s interconnected digital landscape, users can choose from a range of highly-mobile devices to perform tasks—from smartphones to laptops, tablets, and IoT devices. Each of these devices can access sensitive information and interact directly with critical systems, so a robust protection capability beyond traditional endpoints is paramount to safeguarding data integrity and user privacy.
Today, we’re excited to announce that a simplified onboarding experience in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Android devices is now available in public preview. Comprehensive detection and response Built on the broadest global threat and human intelligence, Defender for Endpoint has evolved over the years to provide robust security on Android platforms with a host of features like antimalware detection, anti-phishing, network protection, vulnerability management, and more. Moreover, coupled with a unified security interface via the Defender portal, security teams have access to centralized information for effective threat remediation across all endpoints.
Read the full post here: Reduce friction and protect faster with simplified Android onboarding Read More
Mastering AI adoption: Essentials to building, operating and optimizing genAI workloads on Azure
Mastering your AI adoption: Essentials to building, operating and optimizing genAI workloads on Azure
As the demand for scalable, efficient AI cloud solutions grows, many organizations are looking to be AI Ready. AI is not only a powerful tool for innovation and insights, but also a driver for cloud migration and modernization. Azure Essentials helps customers accelerate the reliability, security, and ongoing performance of AI and cloud investments. Whether you are new to AI or looking to scale your existing AI solutions, Azure Essentials offers comprehensive guidance and resources all in one place to help you succeed.
We recognize the distinct challenges and benefits of integrating AI with cloud infrastructure and are committed to delivering a comprehensive, expert-led experience including best practices and customized tools to guide you through the AI adoption journey.
Azure Essentials equips your team with an AI adoption blueprint
Becoming AI ready implies that an organization scale AI adoption. The guidance within Azure Essentials for AI outlines a strategy in three stages: establishing a solid foundation and readiness, correctly designing and incorporating governance into AI workloads, and managing and optimizing deployments. Within each of these stages we provide a comprehensive set of resources including detailed best practices, frameworks, and tools for ensuring reliability, security, performance and efficiency.
Stage 1: Establishing a solid foundation and readiness
Before embarking on AI development, it’s essential to assess your business needs and pinpoint where AI can deliver significant benefits. Use cases vary, from enhancing customer support to streamlining supply chain operations. It’s your decision to determine how to utilize genAI effectively both immediately and in the future. The genAI Readiness assessment helps you evaluate your strategy and AI adoption. By defining clear objectives, you can devise an AI strategy that complements your business goals. This stage guides you through five key considerations to start on the right foot:
Migration, Modernization, and Data Colocation: 75% of our customers who have adopted AI agree that migration was essential (source: The Total Economic Impact ™ Of Migration For AI-Readiness June 2024). Streamline AI adoption by migrating existing systems, modernizing applications to leverage cloud-native technology, and centralizing data. This approach ensures that your data is collocated with your AI model to ensure performance efficiency and reduce latency, and lays a scalable, efficient platform for AI innovation and insights. Evaluate your infrastructure and data to prioritize migration and modernization efforts.
FinOps Adoption: FinOps is a collaborative framework that brings together tech, finance, and business to maximize cloud investments. Using FinOps best practices allows you to align spending with business objectives, ensuring resource efficiency and resilient infrastructure, enabling scalable AI adoption with financial oversight.
Platform landing zone (Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure): A robust landing zone is key for AI adoption, ensuring governance, management, and security policies are uniformly applied. It enables reliable, automated environment deployment, tested by thousands of customers, facilitating AI adoption at scale. The platform landing zone offers accelerators for easy implementation and customization options via Azure Portal, Azure Command Line Interface or PowerShell. Once the platform landing zone is deployed, tailored application landing zones that support Azure AI services can take advantage of shared services, such as identity management, cost controls, logging, and networking.
Purchasing and pricing: Azure offers a comprehensive suite of tools for effective AI cost management, with options for both pay-as-you-go (PAYG) and pre-purchasing provisioning throughput units (PTU). The capacity calculator in Azure AI Studio aids in estimating and forecasting PTU usage, while the Pricing Calculator and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Calculator help estimate upfront and long-term costs. Microsoft Cost Management provides detailed insights into spending patterns, and Azure Advisor offers personalized recommendations for optimizing resource allocation and cost savings.
AI Skilling: Microsoft Learn AI Hub offers a wide range of AI learning materials suitable for all levels. Beginners can explore Azure AI Fundamentals and the Azure OpenAI Service module, while advanced learners can delve into AI solution design, computer vision, and conversational AI. The hub provides interactive exercises and assessments for hands-on learning and skill verification.
Stage 2: Correctly designing and incorporating governance into AI workloads
After laying the groundwork, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and start constructing your AI solutions. This stage is focused on Designing and Governing your AI projects, and consists of five key considerations:
Responsible AI: Microsoft prioritizes human-centered AI development, grounded in our six AI principles for creating responsible AI solutions. Explore our AI principles and approach, then utilize our tools and practices for deeper AI system insights and monitoring, such as the Human-AI eXperience (HAX) toolkit that provides a comprehensive set of tools for ensuring safe, inclusive and ethical human-to-AI interaction. You can become more familiar with Responsible genAI by taking this online course.
Safeguard generative AI applications and human-generated content: Azure AI Content Safety enables users to detect risks and harms, customize severity scores, set thresholds, content filters. Furthermore, it offers generative AI guardrails to detect and mitigates potential risks and quality issues – prompt injection attacks, hallucinations, and copyrighted materials – promoting responsible AI application development. Azure AI Content Safety is on by default in Azure OpenAI Service and foundation models in the model catalog, offering customers robust protection against harmful content. Users can also utilize it independently as an API, enhancing the content safety of user-generated content across various applications. For more thorough introduction to Azure AI Content Safety, consult the FAQ.
Data governance, security, privacy and compliance: Microsoft Purview enables data governance, security, privacy and compliance with your AI adoption strategy. There are also a host of other solutions to leverage: Azure Information Protection for data classification and protection, Microsoft Entra ID for identity management, and Azure Key Vault for secure key management. Enforce resource compliance with Azure Policy, monitor and audit AI systems using Azure Monitor. Regularly train staff on best practices, and continuously assess risks and adapt your strategy to maintain a secure, private and compliant AI environment.
Azure Well-Architected Reference Architectures and Patterns: The baseline architecture for private chatbots in Azure Architecture Center leverages the Azure Well-Architected Framework, ensuring optimized, reliable, and secure AI workloads. The designed architecture influences the application landing zone and its accelerator, inheriting organizational policies while maintaining workload-specific flexibility. Along with the baseline architecture, consider leveraging these best practices for developing workloads Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG pattern to increase system performance and quality of the responses.
LLMOps: Large Language Model Operations (LLMOps) manage the lifecycle of large language models, addressing size, computational needs, and performance. LLMOps streamlines workflows for reliability, evaluating and improving output quality and safety, and cost-effectiveness, enhancing the value of AI investments. An assessment is available to check your adherence to LLMOps best practices. For more information about LLMOps, see this great post by Vishnu Pamula.
The second stage and its various activities all come together in Azure AI Studio, a comprehensive platform designed to help developers build, evaluate, and deploy generative AI solutions and custom copilots. It offers a range of tools and features to streamline the development process, including:
Prebuilt and customizable models: Use existing models or tailor them to your specific needs.
Generative AI tools: Fine-tune models, orchestrate prompts, and evaluate app performance.
Responsible AI technologies: Implement content filters, controls, and best practices to ensure ethical AI use.
Deployment and scaling: Easily deploy AI solutions in websites and applications, and monitor their performance continuously.
To start using Azure AI Studio’s tools and resources, please see the product page.
Stage 3: Managing and optimizing deployments
As your AI adoption progresses and scales, it’s essential to continuously enhance and refine your workloads. The third stage of our Azure Essentials AI adoption guidance focuses on Managing and Optimizing your deployments, concentrated on 3 key considerations:
Monitoring and Security: To optimize and secure your AI solutions on Azure, continuously monitor and enhance their performance and cost-efficiency using ongoing evaluations and monitoring for generative AI deployments, Azure Monitor for infrastructure health insights, and Microsoft Cost Management to track and control spending. Protect your application data with Microsoft Defender for Cloud against threats. And ensure resilience by regularly updating AI workloads and employing Azure Chaos Studio for stress testing. These practices are vital for maintaining secure, reliable, and efficient AI operations on Azure.
Management and optimization: Once your AI solutions are deployed, continuously monitor and optimize them using Azure’s suite of tools. Benchmarking of Azure OpenAI Service endpoints is an important step in understanding the performance of your deployments and helping to select the best deployment approach. While Microsoft Cost Managements tracks and controls spending, Azure Advisor offers personalized recommendations for optimizing resource allocation and performance for a given workload. By actively managing and refining your AI workloads with Azure Advisor, you ensure ongoing efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and adaptability to evolving business needs.
Architectural assessment and remediations: ongoing processes are recommended to enhance AI workloads post-deployment. They involve integrating the latest Azure AI services and LLMs, adhering to new policies, and applying optimization features for security and efficiency. Microsoft provides various tools and solutions for continuous workload assessment and improvement recommendations. Use the Well-Architected Review to assess your deployed workloads.
We’re here to assist your AI journey succeed
Determine how ready your organization is to scale AI adoption with the Technical Assessment for Generative AI in Azure. This comprehensive assessment evaluates your AI preparedness for projects of all sizes, providing you with pragmatic recommendations based on your specific needs.
If you have an AI project in mind, and you’d like expert assistance, consider leveraging one of our advanced specialized partners with Microsoft’s Azure Innovate offering. Or if you’re looking to migrate workloads to adopt AI at scale, consider leveraging Microsoft’s Azure Migrate and Modernize offering.
If you have a Microsoft Unified Support agreement in place, you can get personalized assistance by contacting your Microsoft Customer Success Account Manager (CSAM), who can help you maximize the benefits of Azure for your AI initiatives.
Review the Azure Essentials official website for additional information.
Check out the following resources to explore further:
Establishing a solid foundation and readiness:
Migration resources: Build a business case for migrating to innovate with AI | Azure Migrate Overview | Migration tools | Migration FAQ
Landing Zone Resources: Landing Zone deployment options | ISV considerations | Get landing zone help | Landing zone FAQ
FinOps Resources: Cost optimization of AI workloads | How to forecast AI services costs in cloud | FinOps Framework | FinOps Review
Pricing Resources: Azure Pricing Calculator | PTU Reservations Blog | Azure OpenAI sizing tool | Pricing Blog
Skilling Resources: Azure AI Fundamentals | Azure AI Engineer Associate | Azure Data Scientist Associate | Transform your business with Microsoft AI
Correctly designing and incorporating governance into AI workloads:
Responsible AI principles: Responsible AI Toolbox | Azure Confidential Computing | A general overview of responsible AI Tools and Practices | Blog: Tools for Responsible AI
Content Safety: Azure AI Content Safety | Learn how to build responsible AI | Responsible AI Impact Assessment | Azure AI Content Safety – Pricing
Data governance, security, and compliance: Introducing modern data governance for the era of AI | Best practice for data and AI governance | Unpacking AI governance to shape digital transformation
Architectural guidance: Baseline OpenAI end-to-end chat reference architecture | Access Azure OpenAI and other language models through a gateway | Azure OpenAI chat baseline architecture in an Azure landing zone
LLMOps: LLMops Assessment to determine your organization’s LLMOps maturity | LLMOps with prompt flow and GitHub | Designing and developing a RAG solution | Retrieval Augmented Generation using Azure Machine Learning prompt flow | Build apps with LLM Workshop
Managing and optimizing deployments:
Monitoring and security: Model monitoring for generative AI applications | Inference data collection from models in production | Shared Responsibility AI
Management and optimization: Optimizing Generative Applications on Azure Open AI | Monitoring with Azure OpenAI Studio | Service Benchmarking tool | Solution sizing tool | Resource utilization and efficiency with Microsoft Cost Management | Understand and optimize costs w/ the Cost optimization workbook | Learn how to optimize for carbon using Azure carbon optimization
Architectural assessments & remediations: An overview of Azure Advisor | Well-Architected Review – MLOps | Learn how to conduct and analyze results from groundedness tests | Leverage the GovViz Tool to keep Azure policies up to date
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Security review for Microsoft Edge version 127
We are pleased to announce the security review for Microsoft Edge, version 127!
We have reviewed the new settings in Microsoft Edge version 127 and determined that there are no additional security settings that require enforcement. The Microsoft Edge version 117 security baseline continues to be our recommended configuration which can be downloaded from the Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit.
Microsoft Edge version 127 introduced 3 new computer settings and 2 new user settings. We have included a spreadsheet listing the new settings in the release to make it easier for you to find them.
As a friendly reminder, all available settings for Microsoft Edge are documented here, and all available settings for Microsoft Edge Update are documented here.
Please continue to give us feedback through the Security Baselines Discussion site or this post.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
