Microsoft Azure cloud service consumption is up 775 percent since the coronavirus outbreak. Such a dramatic surge in the usage of Microsoft’s cloud services is the result of the directive to work remotely from home, in addition to social distancing and lockdown measures implemented by various governments around the world, aiming to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Azure observes jump in service usage
Microsoft has also witnessed a drastic jump in terms of usage when it comes to other tools and services such as Teams, Windows Virtual Desktop, and Power BI.
In its recent blog post, Microsoft wrote:
“In response to health authorities emphasizing the importance of social distancing, we’ve seen usage increases in services that support these scenarios—including Microsoft Teams, Windows Virtual Desktop, and Power BI.”
Microsoft Teams usage is up, reaching over 44 million daily users. Teams observed over 900 million meetings and calling minutes each day during a single week.
Meanwhile, Windows Virtual Desktop usage has increased more than three times since the outbreak.
The government’s usage of public Power BI has increased by 42 percent in a week. The government uses the platform to share COVID-19 dashboards with citizens.
Microsoft is also imposing temporary restrictions to ensure its Azure cloud services remain uninterrupted and accessible to everyone.
The company is limiting free offers intending to prioritize the service’s capacity for existing customers. Additionally, Microsoft is also limiting certain resources for new subscriptions:
“To manage surges in demand, we will expedite the creation of new capacity in the appropriate region.”
Microsoft continues to witness an increased demand in the following regions: Europe North, Europe West, UK South, France Central, Asia East, India South, and Brazil South. It says the company has not had any significant service disruptions despite the significant increase in demand.
Recently, Microsoft Teams faced a major service outage across Europe. The unexpected increase in terms of the number of Teams users might have caused this outage. Microsoft is also offering Teams for free to make it easier for people across the globe to work from home.
