Microsoft Ignite fall: Cloud and Metaverse take center stage

Microsoft wrapped up its second Ignite conference of the year with announcements of a plethora of new updates, products, and services at the big virtual event last week. Microsoft holds three different types of tech conferences/events every year: one focused on developers (Build), one for channel partners (Inspire), and another for end customers (Ignite). While there weren't a lot of consumer-centric announcements made at this event, the tech giant did pack in a bunch of major announcements on its cloud platform, tools, and services, along with the focus levied on collaboration, artificial intelligence, security, Metaverse, and more. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella addressed Microsoft's take on the Metaverse, which is shaping up as one of the biggest buzzwords of 2022. "As the'digital and physical worlds come together, we are creating an entirely new platform layer, which is the'Metaverse,'" Nadella said.