Agile IT

Azure Virtual Desktop now runs in US Gov Texas for Azure Government. Deploy host pools in-region to cut latency, improve connection performance, and add another compliant Gov region to meet mission and placement requirements. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H03tDqv0

The Microsoft Copilot data connector for Microsoft Sentinel is now in public preview—bringing Copilot activity logs directly into Sentinel for threat detection, hunting, and SOC visibility across your tenant. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H03r-1V0

Viva Engage communities are now built into Microsoft Teams (public preview), making it easier to engage in company-wide conversations, discover communities, and share knowledge—without leaving the flow of work. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H03qNKG0

Connect Dataverse to Microsoft Sentinel to gain centralized visibility, detect risky Power Platform activity faster, and automate response—all from one SIEM. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H03kKXR0

Excel’s Jan 2026 update boosts productivity: Agent Mode is GA (Windows) and rolling out (Mac), Power Query is GA on the web, and Office Scripts now save + email PDFs. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H03jqgf0

Microsoft Purview Data Security Investigations (DSI) is now generally available, giving security teams an AI-driven way to find, analyze, and remediate data risks across Microsoft 365 without manual file-by-file review. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H03gCd70

SSMS 22.2.1 ships key bug fixes and adds GitHub Copilot code completions in the query editor, using database context to improve T-SQL suggestions. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H03csqb0

Microsoft expands access to Microsoft Places and brings more Teams town hall/webinar features to more licenses starting April 1, 2026. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H03csd20

Azure released Bicep-based Azure Verified Modules (AVM) for Platform Landing Zone as generally available, giving you a modular, fully customizable Azure Landing Zones setup built entirely on Microsoft-supported AVM modules. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H038lHK0

Microsoft made the SAP on Azure specialization easier to earn: ACR drops to $7.5K/3 months (from $30K) and you can verify required SAP skilling in Partner Center instead of a third-party audit. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H038m_B0

Microsoft will deprecate the SCOM Management Packs for SSRS/PBIRS and SSAS—support ends January 2027 (no updates, fixes, or SQL Server 2025/SCOM 2025 support). Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H037kzS0

Azure Arc just refreshed its portal—faster onboarding, a unified machine flow, and more actionable dashboards so you can manage hybrid and multi-cloud resources at scale with less friction. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H035ND60

Microsoft Sentinel’s January 2026 update lets you ingest more Microsoft Defender data straight into the Sentinel data lake, expands partner connectors, adds QRadar migration support, and introduces the new UEBA “Behaviors” layer (preview). Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H033_r90

GPT-5.2-Codex is now GA in Microsoft Foundry (Azure OpenAI), giving enterprise teams security-aware, long-context coding help for large refactors, reviews, and remediation. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H032nbt0

Azure Virtual Desktop regional host pools (public preview) keep host pool metadata in the selected Azure region to cut cross-region dependencies, boost resiliency, and support data sovereignty—with preview opt-in via PowerShell and initial support in East US 2 and Central US. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H0301MS0

OneDrive boosted 2025 productivity with Copilot insights, simpler sharing, better PDF markup, and faster, more reliable sync—including new Mac filename and external-drive support. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H02-FRj0

Azure CycleCloud Workspace for Slurm v2025.12.01 adds Prometheus + managed Grafana monitoring, Entra ID SSO, ARM64 support, and Ubuntu 24.04 / AlmaLinux 9 compatibility to simplify and secure Slurm cluster operations. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H02YLJ_0

Microsoft Fabric Mirroring for Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server is now Generally Available (GA), letting you replicate operational Postgres data into OneLake as Delta tables for near real-time analytics—without building ETL pipelines. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H02YLSs0

Exchange Online is canceling the Mailbox External Recipient Rate Limit indefinitely. Microsoft paused it after customers reported major workflow disruptions, while they work on less disruptive anti-abuse protections. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H02X7R00

Microsoft’s Dynamic Threat Detection Agent is now in public preview. It runs always-on in Defender, finds threats rules miss, and sends explainable alerts with MITRE mapping and fixes—no setup required. Read more: na2.hubs.ly/H02VrWy0