Hello all! I did not realize how much it takes to create a course. I’m currently finishing up the labs. I was hoping to get everything done sooner but I didn’t want to sacrifice quality for speed. I’ll keep you guys in the loop. Hope everyone has a great week!

1) Microsoft commits $30 billion to the UK for AI & cloud infrastructure Microsoft announced a $30 billion investment in the United Kingdom to be spent across 2025–2028, with roughly $15 billion earmarked for capital expenditures to build cloud and AI infrastructure (including a UK supercomputer). The commitment includes partnering with local data-centre firms, deploying thousands of advanced AI GPUs, and expanding operations and talent in the UK. Microsoft framed the move as a long-term bet on British AI capacity and digital sovereignty; UK officials welcomed the investment as a major jobs and infrastructure boost. This announcement dominated last week’s cloud headlines and will reshape local Azure capacity and AI compute availability. 2) Azure launches at-cost data transfer between Azure and external endpoints (GA) Azure announced general availability of an “at-cost data transfer” option for customers and CSP partners in Europe moving data between Azure and external endpoints. The new pricing option aims to reduce barriers for hybrid and multi-provider architectures by lowering the cost penalty for cross-provider data flows. Microsoft’s docs and the Azure updates feed explain how customers can request and configure at-cost transfer for supported scenarios—an important change for architects balancing vendor portability, data gravity, and cost. Expect this to influence multi-cloud designs and edge workflows in the region. 3) Databricks updates: Runtime 17.2 GA + Delta Sharing on Lakehouse Federation (beta) Databricks published September release notes (Sept 16) announcing Databricks Runtime 17.2 is now generally available and that Delta Sharing on Lakehouse Federation is in public beta. These updates improve performance and interoperability for data teams using Azure Databricks—allowing easier schema federation and table sharing across lakehouses. For Azure customers, the release streamlines large-scale data collaboration and reduces friction when sharing analytics across teams, partners, or cloud providers.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far! I wanted to let you know that my Kubernetes 101 course is scheduled to be released by the end of this weekend. 💪