Highlights from the NVIDIA GTC AI Conference: Microsoft’s Innovations
The recent NVIDIA GTC AI Conference showcased groundbreaking announcements from Microsoft and NVIDIA, targeting a diverse audience of developers, startups, and organizations.
Introducing NVIDIA NIM Microservices on Azure AI Foundry
Microsoft has revealed that Azure AI Foundry now incorporates NVIDIA NIM microservices. These microservices consist of pre-built containers optimized by NVIDIA’s inference software, aimed at enhancing the deployment of generative AI applications across more than two dozen widely-used foundational models. Furthermore, plans are underway to integrate the NVIDIA Llama Nemotron Reason open reasoning model into the platform.
Enhancing Inference Performance
In collaboration with NVIDIA, Microsoft is devoted to elevating inference performance specifically for open-source language models hosted on Azure AI Foundry. A notable project includes optimizing Meta Llama models utilizing TensorRT-LLM, ensuring developers experience improved performance effortlessly.
New Service Offerings Announced
Microsoft has also announced the general availability of several innovative services:
- Azure Container Apps: This serverless GPU offering, enhanced by NVIDIA NIM, allows users to run AI workloads on-demand, featuring automatic scaling and cost efficiency with per-second billing, even scaling down to zero when idle.
- Azure ND GB200 V6 Virtual Machines: These VMs are powered by NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 GPUs and utilize NVIDIA Quantum InfiniBand networking for accelerated computing performance.
Future Developments in GPU Technology
Microsoft confirmed that the next-generation NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra GPUs and the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition will be accessible through Azure, with NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra GPU-based virtual machines set to launch in late 2025.
Expert Insights from Microsoft Leadership
Today’s announcements at the NVIDIA GTC AI Conference underscore Azure’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of AI innovations. With state-of-the-art products, deep collaboration, and seamless integrations, we continue to deliver the technology that supports and empowers developers and customers in designing, customizing, and deploying their AI solutions efficiently.
Launching Virtual Desktop Workstations
In another exciting development, Microsoft and NVIDIA have introduced preconfigured NVIDIA Omniverse and NVIDIA Isaac Sim virtual desktop workstations, along with Omniverse Kit App Streaming, which are now available on the Azure marketplace. These virtual machines are designed to enable developers to swiftly initiate and deploy applications and services in digital twin and robotics simulation.
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