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Microsoft Previewing Azure Machine Learning Service in July
Microsoft is planning to roll out a preview of its Azure machine learning service, called "Azure ML," next month.
Azure ML is described as a collection of algorithms and analytics tools for use by organizations with their applications. The tools originally were developed for Microsoft's Bing search and Xbox game services, according to Microsoft's announcement.
The service includes templates and visual workflows to simplify setup. Users will be able to publish APIs and Web services to "turn analytic assets into enterprise-grade production cloud services," according to the announcement. Microsoft manages all of infrastructure on the backend.
The service is being rolled out to address a shortage of developers and data scientists for building predictive analytics services, according to Microsoft. It's designed simplify matters for developers, according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Some of Microsoft's partners are already testing an early release of Azure ML. The service is being used for activities such as gauging e-commerce efforts, energy management and "real-time fault detection." Microsoft's video accompany the announcement also promises fraud protection as a possible use for the service. It's also expected to find use with the "Internet of things" concept, or the harvesting of machine sensor data.
No details about the cost and capabilities of the service were described. Likely it will be designed to work with Microsoft's other data services, including Power BI for Office 365 and Microsoft Azure HDInsight ("big data"), as well as SQL Server, but such details weren't described.
The origins of Azure ML stem from an earlier project called "CloudML," which is the basis for Microsoft's "Project Sage" recommendations-as-a-service project, according to an account by long-time Microsoft reporter Mary Jo Foley. A recommendations-as-a-service platform processes data to predict user behavior and preferences, typically to maximize online sales efforts.
A signup page for organizations and partners wanting to try the Azure ML preview, when it gets released next month, can be found at this page.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.