Azure App Services and SharePoint 2016

March 25, 2015

Yesterday Microsoft announced the availability of Azure App Services, a new high-level grouping of services for building apps on Azure cloud platform. According to the announcement blog post:

App Service is a new, one-of-a kind cloud service that enables developers to build web and mobile apps for any platform and any device. App Service is an integrated solution that streamlines development while enabling easy integration with on-premises and SaaS systems while providing the ability to quickly automate business processes.

I immediately saw "On-Prem SharePoint Server" in the list of the available connectors for Logic Apps and API Apps.

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Also, SharePoint is visible in the API Apps catalog in Azure, too.

API Apps Marketplace

It has made me think that a SharePoint 2016 could, in theory, use the new Azure App infrastructure to run workflows (now called Logic Apps, similar to BizTalk orchestrations) that span multiple services: SharePoint, Exchange, public and private social networks, data stores and so on. The logic of the workflow would be based in Azure and it would consume the other services through the connectors. The authentication clould be brokered by the Azure AD.

I like the idea. Only the Ignite will let us know how much of the idea holds true.


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Written by Edin Kapić Insatiably curious code-writing tinkerer. Geek father. Aviation enthusiast. Cuisine journeyman. Follow me on Twitter