INTEGRATE 2025 Day 2 Highlights

#1: Boosting Developer Efficiency with Logic Apps

The session led by Wagner Silvera, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft, centred on enhancing the developer experience for Azure Logic Apps. Below is a summary of the key insights shared:

Overview and Agenda:

Wagner kicked off the session by highlighting the need to enhance the developer journey within Logic Apps. The agenda featured discussions on workspaces, unit testing, customised components, and the newly introduced “code for workflows” functionality.

Workspaces:

• Workspaces serve as a fundamental feature in Azure Logic Apps, enabling developers to oversee multiple resources from a single location.
• A structured approach to code organisation aids in the generation of deployment scripts and facilitates the effective management of custom code.

Migrating Existing Projects:

• Developers can migrate their existing Logic Apps projects to the new workspace structure without compromising existing configurations.
• A cloud-to-local feature allows for effortless import of Logic Apps from the Azure portal into local development environments.

Automated Testing Framework:

• The introduction of a unit testing framework specifically for Logic Apps empowers developers to effectively test workflows.
• This framework supports the mocking of external dependencies, enabling isolated testing of workflow logic.

Custom Code and Scripting:

• The session underlined the inclusion of custom code in Logic Apps, permitting developers to write inline scripts in languages such as C# and PowerShell.
• Improvements in the custom code experience now allow the integration of external packages and dependency injection, amplifying the flexibility of Logic Apps.

Code for Workflows:

• This innovative feature allows developers to construct workflows utilising an imperative programming model alongside the existing declarative workflow model.

Operational Capabilities:

• The integration of code for workflows retains the operational capabilities of Logic Apps, including monitoring, logging, and debugging within the same application.

Future Plans:

• The session concluded with a preview of forthcoming features, including the general availability of custom code and enhanced unit testing functionalities.

In summary, the session reaffirmed Microsoft’s dedication to enhancing the developer experience in Azure Logic Apps through improved tooling, advanced testing frameworks, and the integration of coding functionalities, streamlining the process of building and managing workflows.

#2: Help! My Azure Costs are Spiralling

In this session, Michael Stephenson—a FinOps certified practitioner and Microsoft MVP—addressed the growing concern of rising Azure expenses. He pointed out that during their swift transition to cloud technologies, many organisations neglect vital aspects of cost sustainability. It’s estimated that up to 30% of cloud expenditure is wasted due to insufficient visibility, role disconnect, and a lack of accountability. He advocates for nurturing a cost-conscious culture where all team members understand their contributions to the Azure bill and actively seek to maximise value while minimising waste.

Understanding Cost Fluctuations in Integration Projects

Stephenson explored the specific hurdles of managing expenses in integration projects. Unlike the fixed costs associated with on-premise solutions, cloud-based integration services generally operate on consumption-based pricing models, leading to unpredictable cost variations. Services such as Logic Apps and Function Apps, while flexible, can incur varying costs depending on load and processing demands. He highlighted the surprising lack of cost-related non-functional requirements (NFRs) in many projects, suggesting that incorporating cost targets could significantly influence attitudes and foster more economical decisions.

Turbo360: Your Aid to Cost Optimisation

To tackle these hurdles, Stephenson proposed a practical iterative approach to FinOps, beginning with gaining visibility into expenditure data, analysing key cost drivers, monitoring for anomalies, and optimising resource use. He introduced Turbo360, a tool facilitating this process, which provides features such as cost analysis dashboards, budgeting tools, usage monitoring, rightsizing recommendations, reservation management, and automated resource scaling.

Additionally, James Reed from West Coast Cloud shared insights on how they utilise Turbo360 as a prospecting tool. By providing potential clients with reports that highlight cost-saving opportunities within their environments, they can present a tangible cost-reduction plan, fostering trust and demonstrating value.

Stephenson used the analogy of gardening to illustrate the ongoing nature of cost management. He emphasised the necessity for a “gardener” to maintain a healthy cloud environment through key practices such as eliminating unused resources, monitoring cost creep, managing unexpected expenses, and optimising resource use.

Ultimately, he conveyed that effective Azure cost management transcends mere savings; it’s about freeing up resources to invest in innovation. By converting waste into value, organisations can fund new initiatives, like AI, and drive business prosperity. He concluded by sharing additional resources for continued learning, including the Turbo360 YouTube channel, the Azure on Air podcast, the FinOps on Azure podcast, and a cost management playbook. The essential message is that organisations can regain control of their cloud spending through a proactive and strategic approach to Azure cost management, optimising resource use and unlocking the cloud’s full potential.

#3: Event-Driven Applications with Azure Messaging

This section encapsulates a session on event-driven architectures powered by Azure Messaging, featuring Clemens Vasters and Roberto Cervantes:

Roberto Cervantes (Event Grid):

• Event Grid Evolution: Event Grid is advancing beyond a mere push-delivery event broker, integrating pull delivery, an MQTT broker, and more.
• Webhooks and Web: Event Grid now includes diverse resources like system topics, domains, custom topics, and partner topics. Event Grid Namespaces (standard tier) introduce adaptable consumption models, allowing both push and pull methods with Private Link support for consuming events from private locations.
• MQTT Broker: Event Grid has added a highly scalable, low-latency, secure MQTT broker to facilitate communication between devices and applications.
• Industry Use Cases: Key focus areas include predictive maintenance, security, remote monitoring, and connected environments. Novel patterns such as many-to-one and one-to-many are emerging.
• Sparkplug B: Event Grid now supports Sparkplug B, a protocol designed for industrial IoT, enabling efficient message packaging and transmission.
• Unified Namespaces: The unified namespaces initiative aims to create a single source of accuracy by interconnecting smart applications through a defined structure, leveraging Sparkplug B.
• AMQP: Azure is dedicated to public preview support for AMQP, ensuring standardisation, reliability, and security.
• Fabric Integration: A new connector in Fabric’s real-time hub permits publishing to Event Grid namespaces and connecting to Fabric, paving the way for powerful solutions like automotive fleet management.
• What’s New in Event Grid: Investments have been made in security, cross-tenant scenarios, network security perimeter integration, managed identity support for webhooks, OpenID Connect providers for MQTT, dynamic authentication through webhooks/Azure Functions, and assigned client identifiers.
• Coming Soon: Anticipated features include general availability for public preview features, AMQP support, retaining HTTP publish capabilities, bulk API for device registration, increased message sizes for MQTT, and shared subscriptions.

Demo:

• A simulation employing industrial IoT devices that utilise the Event Grid with MQTT broker.
• The Sparkplug B protocol for message transmission was demonstrated.
• Subscribing to receive MQTT messages via webhook, with data directed to Fabric, Event Stream, and Event Hub.
• Illustrated bidirectional communication between applications using MQTT.

Clemens Vasters (Metadata and Messaging):

• Unified Namespace (Revisited): Further formalisation of the unified namespace concept through X Registry to capture machine status messages with designated paths.
• Metadata Importance: Highlighted the necessity of schemas to enhance data quality and clarify intent, especially beneficial for AI applications.
• Cloud Events: A standard framework for defining events and their protocol bindings (cloudevents.io).
• X Registry: An extensible registry for metadata, endpoints, schemas, and message metadata, offering a formal methodology to format streams and define schemas in data pipelines (xregistry.soaphub.org).
• MCP XReg: A temporary site (mcpxreg.com) equipped with X Registry plugins and models for agent card providers, API providers, and container registries, aimed at developing a consistent message metadata graph.
• JSON Structure: An IETF Internet draft proposal (json-structure.org) aimed at rectifying JSON Schema issues by simplifying it, facilitating a better type system and permissions for scientific units and currencies.

Key Takeaways:

• Azure Messaging is advancing to accommodate a spectrum of event-driven environments, including IoT and real-time data processing.
• The relevance of MQTT and AMQP protocols is on the rise.
• Metadata and schemas are pivotal for ensuring data quality and AI applications.
• Initiatives such as X Registry and JSON Structure are aimed at bettering metadata management and data definitions.

#4: Insights from the Frontlines: Real-World Success Stories with Azure API Management in Security, Governance, and AI

This session revolved around prevalent patterns observed in API management across diverse customers, showcasing real-world examples and discussing Azure’s investments in this domain. Speakers Anish Tallapureddy and Alex Vieira underscored the growing significance of API management amidst the increasing complexity and expansion of APIs, particularly with the emergence of AI.

Key Points:

• API First Approach: Numerous enterprises are embracing an API-first strategy to enhance agility, enable parallel development, and shift security measures left. Moneris, a fintech company, exemplifies an organisation that has woven an API-first approach into their core business model.
• Microservices and Modernisation: The modernisation of legacy applications through microservices and containers poses challenges in managing APIs at scale. Zeiss, a multinational corporation, has adopted containers and frameworks like Dapr, leveraging Azure API management to expose their APIs.
• SaaS Integration: Secure connectivity, token administration, and observability are necessary for integrating various SaaS solutions. Gucci, a Swiss company, employs Azure API management to establish its connectivity layer supporting all data and protocols.
• Low Code/No Code Integration: Enterprises use low-code platforms like Power Apps to develop UIs rapidly, with API Management acting as a connector between pro-code and low-code development. Tokyo Metro illustrates an architecture bridging pro-code and low-code relations.
• Event-Driven Architectures: The demand for real-time data processing and the ability of systems to respond to events drive the move towards event-driven architectures. Mercedes Benz is keen on revitalising its vehicle management practices.
• AI and APIs: APIs are integral for interfacing with AI models and embedding AI within existing workflows. D-ID, a company creating avatars easily, employs Azure API management to ensure that API access aligns with their Azure management.
• Developer Experience: Azure is committed to enhancing developer experience through AI-driven authoring, schema-first workflows, and integrations with tools like VS Code and GitHub.
• API Security: Security remains paramount, with Azure providing features such as Defender for APIs, security policies, and credential-less access.
• Self-Hosted Gateway: The self-hosted gateway is pivotal for extending API management across diverse environments, including on-premises, other clouds, and Kubernetes.
• Business Outcomes: A Forrester study reveals a 315% ROI with Azure API Management over three years, attributed to faster time-to-market and reduced integration expenses.

#5: Updates on Integration Environment and Business Process Tracking

Kent Weare and Divya Swarnkar presented the latest developments in optimising operations within Azure Integration Services (AIS). Their presentation addressed integration environment enhancements, business process tracking, and the utilisation of operational agents to boost productivity.

Integration Environment Updates (Divya):

• Alerting and Monitoring Enhancements: The objective is to simplify the alert creation process within the integration environment, ensuring a cohesive experience across Azure integration services.
• Simplified Alert Creation: Users can now create alerts directly within the integration environment, circumventing Azure Monitor’s multi-step process.
• Recommended Alert Rules: Predefined, recommended alert rules tailored to common customer needs and telemetry analysis are available for Logic Apps, API Management, and Service Bus, complete with customisable thresholds.
• Bulk Alert Creation: Users can generate alerts for multiple resources (such as numerous Logic App workflows) in one go.
• Application Health Dashboard: An aggregated view of application health displaying the number of triggered alerts and their severity. Users can click on alerts for detailed insights and troubleshooting guidance.
• Message Tracing: A unique correlation ID (operation ID) traverses AIS resources enabling end-to-end message tracing, allowing users to visualise the message’s path through Logic Apps, API Management, etc.
• Bulk Resubmission: Users can resubmit failed Logic App runs en masse from monitoring dashboards.
• B2B/EDI Tracking with Premium Integration Account: Tracking for B2B and EDI has been integrated into the premium tier of integration accounts.
• Azure Data Explorer (ADX) for B2B Tracking: Tracking data is securely stored in ADX, offering reliable and low-latency near real-time telemetry for B2B solutions.
• Extensible Dashboards: Dashboards, built on workbooks, provide flexibility for bespoke business needs. Users can also create custom Power BI dashboards using data from ADX.
• B2B Tracking ID: A new optional field in Logic Apps allows users to insert custom business data for tracking, filtering, and searching through messages.
• Demo of EDI Dashboard: Despite a permissions issue during the live demo, the presenter illustrated the dashboard’s capabilities, which include a high-level overview of errors by partner and the status of AS2/X12 EDI processing.

Business Process Tracking (Kent Weare):

• Engaging Business Stakeholders: Business process tracking enables users to model business processes, connect them to technical executions (Logic Apps), and provides visibility into process status for business stakeholders.
• Azure Data Explorer (ADX) for Business Process Tracking: Data is published to ADX, ensuring speed and reliability.
• Extensibility: Compatible with extensions via Power BI or Azure Monitor workbooks.
• CICD Support (GA Release): Introduces CICD support, allowing solutions to be portable. Users can export a deployed business process into a zip file featuring ARM templates and pipelines. An updated Azure DevOps marketplace task integrates business process tracking with Logic Apps CI pipelines.
• Demo: Displayed the design interface for modelling business processes, defining data properties, and linking them to Logic App workflows using the token picker. Both successful and failed paths were illustrated, featuring deep links to the underlying Logic App runs.
• Extensibility Examples: Showed ways to consume business process tracking data in Power BI and utilised Azure workbooks. Presented an alert template for business process tracking for failure notifications.

Operational Agents (Kent Weare):

• SRE Agent: Utilises AI to enhance productivity and minimise mean time to repair (MTTR). The SRE agent evaluates resource groups, identifies issues, and offers both proactive and reactive support.
• Integration with Azure Monitor: Alerts generated in Azure Monitor appear in the SRE agent console, offering a consolidated view of issues.
• Root Cause Analysis and Recommendations: The agent conducts root cause analysis, delivers diagnostic findings, and suggests recommended actions.
• Best Practice Identification: The agent recommends adjustments to resource configurations when necessary (such as endorsing TLS 1.2).
• Agent Loop: A framework designed for orchestrating complex operational processes through a blend of tools, workflows, connectors, actions, and knowledge.
• Knowledge-Driven Automation: Agent Loop has the capability to absorb information from operational runbooks (like wikis and SharePoint documents) and utilise it to drive business processes.
• Demo: Illustrated a scenario in which Agent Loop aids in resolving a blocked billing code problem in an ERP system, interacting with a business user via Teams to unblock the code, resubmitting the Logic App run, and updating ServiceNow.

Call to Action:

• Links to the Business Process Tracking GA blog post and in-product documentation were shared.
• Feedback on integration environment monitoring was encouraged via a survey.

#6: Enhance API Developer Productivity and Accelerate API Adoption with Azure API Platform

This session, featuring Sreekanth Thirthala Venkata, Alex Vieira, and Kristof Van Tomme, aimed at bolstering developer productivity through the Azure API Management platform. Key challenges within the API development lifecycle were highlighted, along with solutions offered by Azure’s services and AI-driven tools.

Key Discussion Points:

• API Developer Lifecycle Challenges: The speakers pinpointed hurdles such as difficulties in API discovery, ensuring design compliance, API security, version control, and maintaining documentation consistency.



• Azure API Management and API Center: The speakers presented Azure API Management as a mature service for handling API transactions and the API Center as a hub for central governance and tracking.



• AI-Powered Solutions: The presentation illustrated how AI, particularly GitHub Copilot, optimises API discovery, design, and policy creation. Demonstrations included utilising Copilot to locate existing APIs, generate new compliant APIs, and set up rate-limiting protocols.



• End-to-End Demo Scenario: An order processing API was constructed, secured, and set for publication using available marketplace APIs. The demonstration showcased API design, security via OAuth, and developer portal customisation.
• API Security with Applications Feature: The newly introduced applications feature, currently in limited public preview, enables API access authorisation through OAuth tokens without requiring validated JWT token policies.
• Developer Portal Customisation: The presentation illustrated the customisation of the developer portal through HTML widgets and bespoke pages, aimed at enhancing the developer experience.
• Monitoring and Observability: There was a discussion on investments in monitoring and observability, including the Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) agent, to ensure API gateway reliability and automate incident management.

Key Takeaways:

• The combination of Azure API Management and AI tools dramatically accelerates API development, improving developer productivity.
• The applications feature simplifies API security through OAuth-based authorisation.
• Customisable developer portals and partner solutions offer the flexibility necessary for meeting organisational requirements.
• Monitoring and observability mechanisms are vital for maintaining API reliability and enhancing performance.

#7: Securing and Scaling APIs with Azure API Management

This session focused on the security and scaling of APIs using Azure API Management, particularly through the AI Gateway. Experts Andrei Kamenev and Julia Kasper tackled challenges in constructing AI-driven applications, which include security, tracking AI utilisation, and ensuring safety. They spotlighted the AI Gateway as a remedy for these challenges, offering features like token rate limiting, usage monitoring, and integration of content safety.

Key Takeaways:

• OpenAI Compatible APIs Support: The AI Gateway now accommodates all OpenAI compatible APIs, regardless of their hosting location (whether on Azure or elsewhere).



• Responses API Support: New support for the Responses API, a novel API type from OpenAI, has been added.
• Content Safety Integration GA: Availability of content safety integration for users wishing to incorporate AI APIs with features that detect and prevent harmful content.
• Semantic Caching GA: Semantic caching has been made generally available, enabling the AI Gateway to return completions from the cache for semantically similar prompts, playing a pivotal role in workload optimisation and token cost reduction.
• Amazon Bedrock API Support: The AI Gateway now supports Amazon Bedrock API, which permits users to integrate cloud models deployed on Amazon into API Management effortlessly.
• AI Gateway Release Channel: A new release channel has been introduced within the API Management portal, enabling users to access new features as soon as they are released to production.
• Logs and Prompts Completion Logging: New capabilities to log prompts and completions have been established to improve data collection, breaking into multiple entries if they exceed the size limit.
• REST APIs to MCP Servers: The option to transform REST APIs into MCP servers has been made available.



• Azure API Center Integration: Azure API Center is now incorporated into the Azure API Management product suite, functioning as an inventory and registry for APIs and MCP servers.

#8: Effective API Governance in the Age of AI with Azure API Management

The session led by Mike Budzynski and Mark Weitzel focused on the theme of API governance within API Management.

Key Themes:

• Federated API Management: The core concept revolves around empowering API teams with independence while preserving central oversight through a platform team. This entails decentralising API management without sacrificing governance.
• Azure Services Supporting Federated API Management: The discussion centred on three main Azure services: Azure API Management, Azure API Center, and Azure Policy.
• Microsoft Defender for Cloud: Application of federated API security across API management services.

Azure API Management – Workspaces:

• Workspaces as a Key Feature: Workspaces facilitate federated API management by offering control plane isolation, optional API runtime isolation, and controls for the API platform team.
• Control Plane Isolation: Workspaces operate like folders with designated permissions, isolating API teams.
• Optional API Runtime Isolation: Workspaces can connect to dedicated or shared gateways, enabling workload segregation for enhanced security and reliability.
• API Platform Team Controls: The platform team can enforce runtime policies across workspaces, implement federated logging, and maintain a unified developer portal.
• Shared Workspace Gateway: Up to 30 workspaces can be linked with a single gateway to optimise costs.
• Federated Logging: Platform teams gain a central view of logs across all workspaces, while API teams can only access their log data.
• Gateway Metrics and Auto-Scaling: Gateways support CPU and memory metrics, facilitating auto-scaling based on these metrics or defined schedules.
• Regional Support: Expansion of workspaces into more regions, including West Europe.
• Premium v2 Support: Workspaces are now available in Premium v2 (initially programmatic access, with UI support coming soon).
• Roadmap: Future enhancements, including custom hostnames, managed identities, and Defender for Cloud integration, are on the horizon for workspaces.

Azure API Center:

• Federated API Inventory: The API Center allows for the federation of API inventory from various locations (Azure, AWS, etc.) and stages of the lifecycle.
• Metadata Support: Enhanced metadata assistance for better organisation and structuring of API inventory for governance and discovery.
• API Design Compliance: Sets the framework for defining and enforcing API design guidelines, with integration into Visual Studio Code for early-stage compliance.
• AI Integration: Collaboration with GitHub Copilot to streamline API creation (including OpenAPI specifications).
• API Discovery: Facilitates the discovery of APIs across diverse solutions, clouds, deployment locations, and lifecycle phases.
• Integration with API Management: The API Center’s free tier remains perpetually free alongside an API Management Service, with the standard tier included in API Management Standard or Premium packages.

Azure Policy:

• Enforcing Best Practices: Azure Policy enables the embedding of best practices, security, and configuration controls across API Management services and APIs.
• Built-in and Custom Policies: Supports predefined and tailor-made policy definitions for specific scenarios.
• Enforcement and Auditing: Policies can enforce compliance for new resources or flag/audit compliance in existing resources.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud:

• Federated API Security: Offers advanced security measures for APIs, especially in managing API Management services.
• Threat Detection: Utilises machine learning models for near real-time threat identification.
• API Security Posture Analysis: Identifies unauthenticated, externally exposed, sensitive, or inactive APIs.
• API Security Posture in Defender CSPM: The analysis of API security posture is incorporated in Defender CSPM.
• Discovery of API-Led Attack Paths: Maps APIs to backend services to comprehend potential impacts of API breaches.
• Discovery of Unmanaged APIs: Aims to identify APIs across Azure App Services (Function Apps, Logic Apps, Web Apps) to flag potentially vulnerable APIs.

What’s New in API Management:

• The API Management team has made numerous enhancements to various aspects and scenarios of the product.
• Federated API management with workspaces, focusing on intelligent API management through diverse Copilots.
• Improvements around validating Azure AD tokens and JWT policies.
• Advancements in Defender capabilities.
• Preview of Premium v2 with virtual network injection and private link functionalities.
• Efforts to make API management more user-friendly for developers, enhancing their efficiency.
• AI functionalities, including the gateway and MCP servers.
• Expanded capabilities offered by the API Center and the cataloguing experience across API Engine and API Center.

Coming Soon:

• Service Bus Integration: API Management will soon facilitate the management of Service Bus queues and topics as APIs, inclusive of policies, observability, and security measures.
• SAP Integration: API Management will extend to support SAP APIs, applying policies, observability, security, and governance controls.

Overall Message:

This session underscored the transition towards federated API management and the tools Azure provides to support this approach. The emphasis was placed on empowering API teams while retaining central governance, enhancing security measures, and enabling improved API discovery and management. The presenter highlighted the ongoing improvements and new features being introduced to Azure API Management and related services.