Microsoft’s new ‘marketplace’ lets customers pick and choose cloud, AI solutions

Microsoft has announced the launch of a new ‘marketplace’ which allows customers to pick and choose a variety of in-house and third-party products.

In an announcement on 25 September, the tech giant confirmed Microsoft Marketplace will offer customers a “trusted source for cloud solutions, AI apps. and agents”.

The new marketplace will essentially act as an extension of Microsoft Cloud, allowing partner organizations to engage with customers and providing a broader array of options.

Part of the move includes the unification of Azure Marketplace and Microsoft AppSource to create a single point of contact.

Here's what customers can expect from the new service.

What to expect with Microsoft Marketplace

A key feature highlighted by Microsoft includes the launch of a new AI Apps and Agents category. This, the tech giant said, will act as a single source for AI applications and agents offered by the company’s partner ecosystem.

This category boasts over 3,000 apps and agents, the company said, such as Azure AI Foundry or Microsoft 365 Copilot.

“Microsoft Marketplace gives you access to thousands of AI apps and agents from our rich partner ecosystem designed to automate tasks, accelerate decision-making and unlock value across your business,” said Alysa Taylor, CMO for commercial cloud & AI at Microsoft.

“With a new AI Apps and Agents category, you can easily and confidently find AI solutions that integrate with your organization’s existing Microsoft products."

Elsewhere, the marketplace looks to consolidate the tech giant’s range of cloud solutions, allowing customers to pick and choose based on their specific industry and use-cases.

This spans all of the company’s core product lines, from Microsoft 365 to Azure.

“Microsoft Marketplace offers solutions across dozens of categories ranging from data and analytics to productivity and collaboration, in addition to industry-specific offerings,” Taylor said.

“Microsoft Marketplace is a seamless extension of the Microsoft Cloud, uniting solutions integrated with Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Microsoft Security and more.”

A chip off the Amazon block

The new setup from Microsoft bears similarities to Amazon Bedrock, the hyperscaler’s own ‘marketplace’ for AI solutions. The service, which launched in 2023, allows customers to choose from a range of in-house and third-party AI models.

As ITPro reported at the time of launch, the managed service offered AWS a quick route into the generative AI race, simplifying access for customers.

The tech giant framed Bedrock as the “easiest way to build and scale enterprise-ready generative AI applications”.

It’s proven highly successful in recent years, with Bedrock receiving repeated updates, including a sweeping batch of new offerings at its annual conference in Las Vegas last year.

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