The performance dividend: Optimizing PostgreSQL on Azure directly in Visual Studio Code

By Dustin Ward

Poor database performance is never just a database problem. In enterprise teams, it shows up as missed service-level agreements (SLAs), delayed releases, frustrated development teams, and rising operational risk. The performance problem compounds further in business impact, often resulting in frustrated customers, retention and conversion risk, and lost revenue. I have seen this repeatedly while…

New Azure Cobalt 200 VMs deliver 50% performance improvement, fully optimized for modern agentic AI workloads

By Dustin Ward

In this article Building on the success of Cobalt 100 VMs What’s new in Cobalt 200 Arm-based VMs Industry partners and customer adoption Developer ecosystem and Arm compatibility Microsoft services powered by Cobalt 200 VMs VM families and specifications The next chapter in Azure’s custom silicon journey Additional resources As organizations increasingly embrace the agentic…

From commit to cloud: Powering what’s next for PostgreSQL

By Dustin Ward

PostgreSQL has become foundational to how modern applications are built. It powers everything from early‑stage startups to some of the most demanding production systems in the world. Its longevity isn’t accidental, it’s the result of decades of engineering discipline, community collaboration, and a relentless focus on correctness and extensibility. As application architectures evolve, and as…

Scaling cloud and AI: Microsoft Azure’s commitment to Europe’s digital future

By Dustin Ward

Customer demand for cloud and AI is accelerating worldwide, and this demand has been particularly strong in Europe. Public sector customers like Manchester City Council are using Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline operations and improve citizen services, while companies like Inriver use Microsoft Foundry to transform product information management. These innovations are powered by Microsoft…

Azure IaaS: Defense in depth built on secure-by-design principles

By Dustin Ward

In this article Defense in depth as a system Secure by design: Engineering security into the platform Hardware and host-level trust Virtual machine-layer trust Secure by default: Protection enabled without friction Secure defaults across networking Encryption and data protection by default Compute protection defaults Secure in operation: Continuous protection at runtime Monitoring, detection, and signal…