- AMD and Microsoft Azure announced their intent to continue with their collaboration.
- Microsoft Azure is planning to introduce virtual machines.
- According to Azure, 3rd generation processors will be available in the next generation.
As AMD announced its collaboration with Microsoft today, Azure plans to offer 3rd Gen AMD EPYC processors in their next release of virtual machines. The generations will be DasV5 and Easv5 Azure Virtual Machines.
Also added to the collection are new confidential virtual machines DCasv5 and ECasv5. They will be making use of AMD’s security features such as Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Secure Nested Paging (SEV-SNP) in 3rd Gen EPYC processors.
The Azure Virtual Desktop was launched a few months ago to give users a full virtual experience, and now with this collaboration, users can expect more flexibility.
Virtual Machines now available
According to AMD, these are the first EPYC processor-based VMs at Azure. The Dasv5 and Easv5 Azure are already available. Users can expect the confidential virtual machines to be in public preview before the end of the year and are expected to roll out in 2022.
Each of the machines are functional-oriented. The Dasv5 VMs, for instance, are best for general-purpose workloads, while the Easv5 VMs are more suitable for memory-based workloads.
The Corporate Vice President Lynn Comp of AMD had this to say:
“By using the new Azure Dav5 and Eav5 VMs with the latest AMD EPYC CPUs, customers will get access to leading performance and fantastic price-performance for general purpose and memory optimized workloads,”
Advanced security features
Azure has focused on advanced security features for the new confidential VMs to ensure users get the best performance and security.
It all falls into place perfectly since it was confirmed a few weeks ago that VM software will be running on Windows 11.
On the continued collaboration, Microsoft had this to say:
“At Microsoft we are committed to enabling the industry to move from computing in the clear to computing confidentially in the cloud and the edge. Our work with AMD is one of the steps towards this vision, giving customers access to Microsoft Azure confidential VMs with advanced hardware security features and a lift-and-shift migration experience; a powerful tool for meeting their desired security posture.”
For users who have high security and confidentiality requirements, the Azure confidential virtual machines will be the perfect addition to their devices.
What are some of the newly added features to VM devices that appeal to you the most? Let us know in the comment section below.
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