Microsoft has added a string of new features to its Azure cloud and expanded its partner ecosystem in a bid to better support IT pros and developers.

Redmond’s Azure Operational Insights joins up Azure with HDInsight and Microsoft System Center to collect and analyse machine data across different cloud environments, leading to business insights.

With that available from next month, the tech giant also announced Azure Batch, a tool enabling customers to deploy huge scale-out jobs without investing in extra infrastructure yet gaining access to thousands of cores.

Azure Automation automates time-consuming tasks in Azure and in third-party environments and is available now. Batch is currently available in preview.

Security

Revealing the raft of new services at its annual conference TechEd Europe, Microsoft also pointed to security enhancements for Azure virtual machines and cloud services.

They include support for multiple network interface cards, letting customers bring their own networking and security appliances, like load balancers and firewalls, in.

Network Security Groups allow customers to create customised security boundaries for network access and provide more control over traffic flow, while Anti-Malware for Virtual Machines and Cloud Services is a free service for all Azure VMs.

Office 365 APIs

Fresh from announcing unlimited OneDrive storage for all Office 365 customers, Redmond also released a bunch of new open APIs for its cloud productivity suite.

Available now, Android, iOS, Windows or Web developers can use them to leverage over 400 petabytes of Office 365 content.

The Office 365 App Launcher provides one single (and customisable) place for 365 users to access their favourite apps, while new software development kits allow developers to create apps for any mobile platform using familiar tools and languages.

Office 365 MDM

Office 365 is set to have Mobile Device Management (MDM) from the first quarter of 2015, allowing organisations to manage 365 data across a range of phones and tablets, including iOS and Android. Furthermore, Intune will soon offer app wrapping for customers’ line-of-business apps and new mobile apps for securely viewing content.