Azure Networking Deep Dive & Platform Engineering in the AI Era
This workshop opens with a level 400 deep dive into Azure networking. Expect in-depth coverage of Azure network architectures, routing, hub-spoke, vWAN, private connectivity, DNS, security patterns, and troubleshooting at scale. Not an introduction — a session for people who genuinely want to understand and design Azure networks at enterprise level. In the second half we shift focus to the future: the intersection of AI and platform engineering. How do you build platforms that are not only stable and secure, but also ready for AI workloads, automation, and self-service? You'll get insight into architecture choices, platform strategy, and the structural role AI is going to play in modern cloud platforms.
Azure subscription + bring your own device
What you walk away with
- ✓Design and reason about enterprise Azure network architectures — hub-spoke, vWAN and everything in between
- ✓Get private connectivity and DNS right, including the parts that quietly break at scale
- ✓Apply security patterns to a network without turning it into a maze
- ✓Troubleshoot Azure networking when the diagram and reality disagree
- ✓Judge which architecture choices make a platform ready for AI workloads, automation and self-service
Who it is for
The workshop runs in four blocks across the whole day, so it replaces the breakout sessions rather than fitting around them. You still join the keynote, the buffet dinner and the borrel with everyone else. It needs a separate workshop ticket — and there are only 20 seats.
“The workshop was a good fit for what I was after: going deep on Azure and AI.
Workshop blocks
Mark Scholman is a freelance Microsoft Azure consultant and has been a Microsoft MVP in the Azure category since 2015 — a full decade in the program. His focus is consulting and teaching on Microsoft Cloud products, from Azure infrastructure and automation to hybrid and Azure Local scenarios.
He shares his cloud journey at markscholman.com and is a regular face at Azure community events in the Netherlands and beyond. At APE XXL he leads the hands-on workshop track.