SaaS Developers Can Now Access Secure Cloud Workstations with Microsoft Dev Box

Credit: Microsoft Mechanics

Microsoft recently announced the availability of Microsoft Dev Box. First launched in May on private preview, Microsoft Dev Box is now available to the public. Users can simply sign into their Azure account, search for “dev box,” and begin creating dev boxes for their organization.

One of the most common problems of IT organizations today is balancing flexibility and security for their developers. While developers need the flexibility to optimize productivity, they also need secure workstations. But it’s not always easy to set up secure hardware, especially with global supply chain challenges. Developers might need to wait for many weeks to get their workstations up and running.

In the meantime, they’ll have to use outdated hardware or their personal devices. Using unsecured personal devices, also known as shadow IT, are more prone to security issues. Moreover, the COVID-19 lockdowns and distributed teams forced IT departments to open access to company-owned and on-premise resources. This places the company at an even higher risk of data breaches. Based on cyberattack statistics, network intrusion is the second most common cyberattack experienced by US companies, next to phishing.

Cloud Workstations to Focus on Coding, Not Infrastructure

Since Microsoft Dev Box is a ready-to-code and preconfigured workstation in the cloud, developers can focus on writing code. They no longer need to spend hours trying to build a working environment that can run the code. Dev Box also provides flexibility since developers can create their own dev boxes. Developers can also switch to another dev box quickly if they’re handling multiple projects. The ability to switch between dev boxes is also useful when experimenting on a proof-of-concept or starting a full build background while moving to the next task.

Customization is another advantage of Dev Box. Developers can tailor dev boxes to the needs of their teams. They can create and maintain dev box images with all the tools and dependencies their team members need to build and run their applications. For developers working with teams worldwide, they can deploy dev boxes in the closest Azure region via the Azure Global Network. This approach ensures a faster, seamless, and more responsive user experience with gigabit connection speeds.

Microsoft adds that automated schedules can warm up and stop dev boxes during specific times of the day. They will also add a hibernation feature so that developers can easily resume a stopped dev box and continue their work instantly.

Source: Microsoft

Centralized Security Management

Aside from addressing flexibility issues for developers, Microsoft Dev Box also provides cutting-edge security and compliance. It builds on Windows 365, so IT administrators can manage dev boxes with other physical devices through Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Endpoint Manager.

Furthermore, IT admins can set up conditional access permissions to make sure that only users authorized to access dev boxes can do so. They can also configure access settings so that users can only get in using compliant devices. Auditing IT metrics such as application health and device utilization can be done using Endpoint Manager’s deep device analytics.

Since Microsoft Dev Box provides security and flexibility in robust cloud infrastructure, developers can focus on their coding tasks without worrying about exposing their organization to cybersecurity risks. Microsoft Dev Box uses a consumption-based compute and storage pricing model, which helps to make it more affordable and accessible for organizations.