Microsoft Ignite Session ID: BRK147
November 20, 2025
Meena Gowdar, Senior Director, Microsoft
Mohammed Khalid, Senior Director, Solutions Architecture, GlaxoSmithKine
Dean Parron, Vice President, Microsoft
Organizations across industries are transforming the way they operate by bringing the power of Azure into their own environments with Azure Local. Discover what’s new with Azure Local, including the latest portfolio enhancements that help organizations modernize operations, meet regulatory requirements, and drive innovation wherever their data and applications live.
TL;DR Summary
Big Picture: Adaptive Cloud & Azure Arc
- Microsoft’s Adaptive Cloud strategy extends Azure services beyond its own regions into customer data centers and other environments.
- Azure Arc is the unifying technology stack enabling this, with four main pillars:
- Centralized operations & management – unify servers, VMs, and resources in the Azure portal.
- Cross-boundary development – Kubernetes apps managed centrally, deployed anywhere.
- Unified data & AI – normalize OT/IoT data streams, integrate with Fabric, apply AI insights.
- Global infrastructure – extend Azure into multi-cloud, third-party infra, or fully managed Azure Local.
Azure Local: What It Is
- Licensed by core, runs on qualified OEM hardware.
- Supports VMs (Windows/Linux), containers (AKS via Arc), and PaaS services (IoT Ops, Data Services, Azure Virtual Desktop).
- Managed entirely through the Azure control plane (deployment, patching, updates).
- Can run connected or disconnected for sovereignty and compliance needs.
Adoption & Use Case
- Thousands of customers worldwide across industries.
- Example case studies:
- Kohl’s – AI-powered checkout in retail.
- Emirates Global Aluminum – defect detection in manufacturing.
- Baptist Health – Azure Virtual Desktop in patient rooms.
Sovereign Cloud Strategy
- Public cloud with EU data boundaries.
- National partner clouds (e.g., Germany with Delos, France with Bleu).
- Sovereign private cloud powered by Azure Local – full control, data residency, disconnected operations.
- New announcements:
- M365 Local – Microsoft’s collaboration suite running on Azure Local.
- Support for local SAN storage integration.
- Larger cluster/rack sizes for deployments.
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Chapters:
0:00 – Session Introduction and Speaker Welcome
00:07:47 – Customer Use Cases and Industry Examples for Azure Local
00:09:32 – Layers of Sovereignty Options and Role of Azure Local in Private Clouds
00:11:18 – Video intro: Microsoft Private Sovereign Cloud for regulated industries
00:22:46 – AI innovations: NVIDIA RTX GPU support and edge AI acceleration
00:33:00 – Azure Local general availability updates: migration, network security, and identity features
00:38:04 – Introduction & Upcoming Azure Local Flexibility Updates
00:38:33 – Overview of GSK and Its Mission in Healthcare
00:43:03 – Why GSK Chose Azure Local for Edge Deployment