Microsoft's cloud computing services, Azure, is now available to users across internet infrastructures, including clouds owned and operated by competitors, Microsoft announced Monday. The new system, called Azure Arc, was unveiled at Microsoft's Ignite 2019 conference that featured a number of new tools and services for enterprise customers.
"It is really about extending what is in the cloud and letting it run anywhere," Julia White, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Azure, told Cheddar from the conference in Orlando, Florida.
Azure Arc is the latest initiative by Microsoft ($MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella to expand the company's software services and further collaboration — instead of competition — with rivals. Azure programs are expected to now be used on clouds owned by Amazon ($AMZN) and Google ($GOOGL). The new offering is also an investment, Microsoft says, given that the company expects that the cloud market to hit $513 billion by 2022.
"While organizations are running systems in data centers and public clouds … the customer wants one single way to run it," White explained. "Customers can have an application, run part of it on Azure, part of it in their data center, part of it even in other public clouds, and then on edge devices and havdae a single unified way to do that."
Microsoft also said that Azure Arc will make cloud based data and applications more secure by centralizing control and security systems through Azure portals.
"We are excited to see Microsoft bringing Azure data services and management to any infrastructure," Erik Vogel, Hewlett Packard Enterprise's vice president for customer success, hybrid cloud software, and services, added in a statement.
Nestlé has dismissed its CEO Laurent Freixe after an investigation into an undisclosed relationship with a direct subordinate. The company announced on Monday that the dismissal was effective immediately. An investigation found that Freixe violated Nestlé’s code of conduct. He had been CEO for a year. Philipp Navratil, a longtime Nestlé executive, will replace him. Chairman Paul Bulcke stated that the decision was necessary to uphold the company’s values and governance. Navratil began his career with Nestlé in 2001 and has held various roles, including CEO of Nestlé's Nespresso division since 2024.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
