Ignite 2019 – Thoughts and Announcements Part 1

Industry views

Microsoft Ignite 2019 has come to an end. With over 1000 sessions and 200 hands on lab sessions there was a lot covered. From new announcements like the new Microsoft Cortex developments to updates and developments on existing products. IOIT attended a variety of sessions covering most of the technologies and learning paths.

Firstly, we attended various talks on the benefits of the security products that make up Microsoft Threat Detection. Various ATP products protect Identity, Endpoints, Email and Collaboration and Applications, and Microsoft have improved integration between these products to help raise the bar in protection of the Microsoft 365 environment.

There was also big news with Yammer being rebuilt from the ground up as well as OneDrive allowing 100GB file storage, plus the expansion of  differential sync to file types other than office. There was a new Microsoft Office App for mobile devices announced and the new Chromium version of Edge was also shown.  This new Edge allows IE to run within the browser seamlessly for maximum compatibility with aging websites.

Mac users will also get an Outlook upgrade to Outlook 2019 featuring things like focus inbox, a move to Microsoft search from spotlight for searching and the ability to see your calendar from within your inbox to name a few. SharePoint changes include the ability to change site names and URLs without breaking historic links to files in the site.  The option to now send links to external parties to request data, helps collate data securely from multiple parties without them seeing each others submissions. Very useful for our legal clients. The new Sharepoint home sites design options looks good as well, this allows more personalised landing pages for every user.