Yes, it's me again. This week on the show   Windows Server Hybrid Associate certification is  done cooking, low RPO is here for Azure Files,   and we look at the future of telecommunications  on Azure. I'm Lars Klint. This is Azure This   Week. And you are about to click that  subscribe button. Don’t make me a liar. Have you heard of the Windows Server  Hybrid Associate certification?   Announced back in September, 2021 and covered  on this show too, this new Azure certification   is made up of two exams: AZ-800 and AZ-801.  It is aimed at the audience that is managing   on-premises infrastructure and is now moving into  a hybrid cloud architecture. Until now you've been  

able to take these certification exams in a beta  version, but the cert is finally in production.   Now I sat both 800 and 801 being well, completely  out my comfort zone. Mm. There was a lot of   details on Azure Active Directory, VM, containers,  hybrid services, security, and so much more. Now I   still think the level of associate given by  Microsoft is a bit optimistic. In my book,   whatever that book is, this is definitely an  expert exam. And if you do want to try your  

hand at it, I would recommend doing AZ-104,  Microsoft Azure Administrator and AZ-500   Azure Security Engineer Associate first. If you  are after more information on how all the Azure   certs fit together and can help you on your  cloud journey, check out the Azure Cert Guide   and the end of 2021 update as well, that I  made, using the links in the description. They're good and stuff. Well watch, if I  say low recovery point, objective, you say?   I'm sorry. What? That's just rude.   Low RPO is a key requirement for business  critical data in Azure Files. RPO means  

the maximum targeted period during  which transactional data is lost   due to a major incident. Now, keeping it low  means you lose less data when various things   hits well, a fan. And you can now achieve  low RPO on Azure using multiple snapshots   per day of your file share. This feature  has been missing for quite some time   for critical file shares. So it is nice to see  it finally coming into general availability.   You can configure it through the Azure portal  as well as PowerShell and the Azure CLI.

Now the last couple of years has pushed  technology innovation to whole new heights.   We've communicated more on video than ever before.  And a lot of services have made the transition to   online. Now, some of the technologies that  have enabled that is 5G telecommunications,   VR, AI, flux capacitors, IoT, and edge  computing. Now all this background work   that has been done to improve infrastructure  to allow this has made Azure create Azure for   Operators. This is a push to get telecommunication  operators to use Azure for extending their reach  

and capabilities. After the first two rounds of  operator integration into Azure in September,   2020 and June, 2021, this latest initiative  called Azure Operator Distributed Services,   "meets the security, resiliency, observability  manageability, and performance needs required   by operators to achieve meaningful  results from digital transformation."   As Microsoft marketing eloquently puts it.  Basically they want mobile operators to use   Azure for their customers and products. Now,  while this announcement might not have any   direct impact on you, it will lead to more  efficient networks, data flows, processing,   and ultimately make your tweet sends just that  little bit, teeny weeny times faster. I think.

We made a lot of ground this week covering  certifications, backups, and the entire   telecommunications industry...sort of. So what  do you think was the best part? Let me know.   Personally, I am hoping the AZ-800 and AZ-801  exams will provide a segue from on-premises, to   hybrid, to full cloud for a lot of learners. Next  week, Brian Roehm is going to take you through   the latest Azure in the cloud candy shop. I'll see  you in the cloud. Keep being awesome Cloud Gurus.