Microsoft Azure supports many programming languages, tools, and frameworks, including Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems.

The Azure service bus supports four different types of communication mechanisms:[32][33] A PaaS offering that can be used for encoding, content protection, streaming, or analytics.

[35] Azure has a worldwide content delivery network (CDN) designed to efficiently deliver audio, video, applications, images, and other static files.

[37] Through Azure[44] Blockchain Workbench, Microsoft is providing the required infrastructure to set up a consortium network in multiple topologies using a variety of consensus mechanisms.

Azure functions are used in serverless computing architectures, where subscribers can execute code as an event-driven Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) without managing the underlying server resources.

[54] Launched in September 2020, Azure Orbital lets private industries and government agencies process satellite data quickly by connecting directly to cloud computing networks.

For online media, entertainment, or gaming activities, connecting from home to the cloud can involve longer routes with multiple hops.

Through their experiments with Xbox Cloud, Microsoft has discovered that satellite connections are faster than terrestrial networks in certain parts of the world, including specific locations in the USA.

[63] The service includes Copilot, a GPT-4 based large language model tool to query and visualize data, write code, and initiate simulations.

It prevents failure in server malfunction and manages users' web applications, including memory allocation and load balancing.

In January 2025, Microsoft announced plans to invest $80 billion in AI and data centers as part of its fiscal year 2025 budget.

This investment would enhance the scalability and performance of Azure's cloud infrastructure, which supports AI-driven applications, including services developed through Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI.

This program provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud services used by the federal government.

[125] In September 2021, researchers from Palo Alto Networks claimed to discover a significant cross-account takeover vulnerability in Azure Container Instances, named "Azurescape".

Although Microsoft quickly patched the issue, Palo Alto Networks advised Azure customers to revoke any privileged credentials deployed before August 31, 2021, as a precaution.

The researchers named it "OMIGOD" and claimed that these vulnerabilities allowed for remote code execution within the Azure network and could escalate privileges to root.

This came in the wake of an alleged cyberattack orchestrated by Chinese hackers, who exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft's software to compromise U.S. government email systems.

[132] Similarly, Amit Yoran, the CEO of cybersecurity firm Tenable, Inc., lambasted Microsoft for what he termed "grossly irresponsible" actions, accusing the company of fostering a "culture of toxic obfuscation.

"[133] The Cyber Safety Review Board produced a report that blamed Microsoft about a cascade of security failures that allowed the intrusion to succeed.