Igniting Possibilities: A Preview of the Upcoming Microsoft Ignite 2023
The tech industry certainly is curious about Microsoft’s advancements in conquering a new frontier — the development of AI chips.
- Microsoft Ignite 2023 will be held in mid-November starting on the 14th.
- Expect Microsoft to showcase features in existing products and demo new products at the four-day event.
- Approximately 858 speakers will share their thoughts and expert opinions in 576 sessions over four days at Microsoft Ignite 2023.
Microsoft’s annual conference, where it showcases its latest tech innovations — Microsoft Ignite — is planned for next week this month. Microsoft Ignite 2023 comes on the heels of multiple organizational wins, including earning the approval of and closure for the $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, its largest ever.
Microsoft should also be pumped over the latest version of its latest flagship operating system, Windows 11, reaching 400 million machines in October 2023, according to Windows Central. The company’s fortunes are also rising, thanks to several right strategic choices (cloud, artificial intelligence) and despite some wrong ones (immersive tech) over the years.
However, the biggest draw for the company is undoubtedly its $1 billion investment in OpenAI in 2019, followed by an additional $10 billion in 2023 — a course of action that has allowed it to gain an edge over competitors in the personal computing space, emerge as a credible threat to Google’s web search dominance and even disrupt software development through the launch of the controversial GitHub Copilot.
Expect Microsoft to showcase features in existing products, such as Copilot in Windows 11 and its popular Microsoft 365 productivity suite, and demo new products at the four-day event. The conference also has keynotes and breakout sessions to exhibit how it plans to create value and lay out its strategy going forward.
The tech industry certainly is curious about Microsoft’s advancements in conquering a new frontier — the development of hardware that powers AI. A critical issue Microsoft is considering is its (over)reliance on NVIDIA’s popular Hopper architecture-based AI GPUs.
Microsoft is not alone. Dozens of AI-based companies requiring power-intensive and AI-specific semiconductors for machine learning model training, inference, etc., have caused a shortage of AI chips in recent months.
Microsoft knows this and has been working to bring internally developed AI chips to ensure it doesn’t run adrift over shallow waters and lose the competitive edge it has painstakingly achieved.
According to a report from The Information, Microsoft could introduce its first AI chip at Microsoft Ignite 2023. The Redmond-based tech behemoth may also have something for immersive tech watchers as, reportedly, its latest batch of mixed reality devices (HoloLens-based Integrated Visual Augmentation System or IVAS) sent in July 2023 impressed the U.S. Army.
According to Bloomberg, the army personnel who tried on the updated device did not feel nauseous or headache, unlike the previous one, and the army is preparing to place an advanced order with Microsoft.
HoloLens could also have takers in the Department of the Interior, according to Andrea Brandon, deputy assistant secretary of budget, finance, grants, and acquisitions, who spoke on a panel at FedScoop’s FedTalks this week. Brandon suggested that HoloLens can be used to create and project visual experiences such as dinosaurs, historical reenactments, or anything else in national park tours.
When and Where Is Microsoft Ignite 2023?
Microsoft Ignite 2023 will be held from November 14-17, 2023.
The event will be held at the Summit section of the Seattle Convention Center, not very far from Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters in Redmond, WA.
See More: Windows 11 Gets a Copilot: Microsoft’s Latest Offerings From the Fall Surface Event
How To Watch Microsoft Ignite 2023
Passes for Microsoft Ignite 2023 already sold out in mid-October, suggesting how Microsoft faithful and the community, in general, are looking forward to the four-day conference.
However, those interested can still catch up with part of the proceedings, including keynote, breakout, and discussion sessions for free online from November 15-16. Online attendees can also enter the Microsoft Cloud Skills Challenge.
To attend Microsoft Ignite 2023 online, register here.
What To See at Microsoft Ignite 2023
The theme for Microsoft Ignite 2023 is “AI transformation,” emphasizing the company’s resolve to maintain its advance in the space. Naturally, all five keynote addresses by Microsoft executives will center or revolve around AI. Keynotes include:
|
Keynote Name |
Speaker(s) | Time (PST) and Date |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Ignite opening | Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO |
9:00 AM – 9:35 AM Nov 15 |
|
Becoming an AI-Powered Organization with Microsoft Copilot |
• Rajesh Jha, EVP, Experiences + Devices at Microsoft • Jared Spataro, corporate VP, Modern Work, Microsoft • Edgar Wilson, principal program manager, Microsoft Cloud for Health • Kendra Springer, principal design lead, Microsoft • Sumit Chauhan, corporate VP, Office Product Group, Microsoft |
9:35 AM – 10:25 AM
Nov 15 |
| The Future of Security with AI |
• Charlie Bell, EVP, Microsoft Security • Vasu Jakkal, CVP, Security, Compliance, Identity & Privacy at Microsoft • Scott Woodgate, senior director of security marketing, Microsoft Security Business • Sherrod DeGrippo, director of Threat Intelligence, Microsoft |
10:25 AM – 11:00 AM Nov 15 |
|
AI transformation for your organization with the Microsoft Cloud |
• Scott Guthrie, EVP, Cloud + AI, Microsoft • Charles Lamanna, CVP, Business Applications & Platform, Microsoft • Arun Ulagaratchagan, CVP, Azure Data, Microsoft • Erin Chapple, CVP, Azure Core Product and Design, Microsoft • Sarah Bird, responsible AI engineering lead at Microsoft • Seth Juarez, principal program manager, Microsoft |
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Nov 16 |
| Inside Microsoft AI innovations with Mark Russinovich | Mark Russinovich, Azure CTO and Technical Fellow, Microsoft |
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM Nov 18 |
Microsoft Ignite 2023 will also touch base on various topics of interest pertaining to the involvement and existence of Microsoft products through 576 product roundtables, demonstrations, breakout sessions, hands-on labs, discussions with experts, studio interviews, and more.
Spiceworks News & Insights’ session not to miss: GitHub Copilot and AI for Developers: Potential and Pitfalls with Scott Hanselman at 6:45 AM – 7:30 AM on November 16. This breakout session will see Scott Hanselman, VP of Developer Community at Microsoft, and Mark Downie, principal product manager at Microsoft, take the dias to discuss and present the possibilities that AI has opened up in development, as well as the tech’s drawbacks.
Hanselman and Downie will explore AI ethics and responsible AI before delving into how Copilot can be used as a resource in development, including in Visual Studio.
What do you expect from Microsoft Ignite 2023? Please share with us on LinkedIn, X, or Facebook. We’d love to hear from you!
Image source: Shutterstock
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