Microsoft Dev Box preview to soon end and be generally available, 2TB SSD added

Back in May of last year, Microsoft unveiled its Dev Box. It is essentially a cloud-based developer workstation which was meant to help developers with the increasing hybridisation nature of work. It was in private preview at that time. Three months later in August, the Dev Box hit public preview and the company shared more details like the specifications that developers can choose to work with.

Fast forward another nine months, at Build 2023 today, Microsoft has now announced that Dev Box will hit general availability (GA) real soon. The Dev Box can be availed from July 2023. The tech giant says it received valuable feedback from customers like General Motors, National Instruments, and 1ES, during the preview. Perhaps based on this feedback, Microsoft has now added the option for a 2TB SSD storage option too, alongside the previous specifications. Currently, the storage (SSD) options are 256GB, 512GB, and 1024GB (1TB).

In case you are not aware, Microsoft bills the Dev Box based on Compute and Storage:

• Dev Box Compute

  • 4 vCPU, 16 GB Memory

  • 8 vCPU, 32 GB Memory

  • 16 vCPU, 64 GB Memory

  • 32 vCPU, 128 GB Memory

• Dev Box Storage

  • SSD 256 GB

  • SSD 512 GB

  • SSD 1024 GB (1 TB)

  • SSD 2048 GB (2 TB)

With the updated specs comes new features too. The Redmond giant is adding the ability to hibernate 8 core and 16 core vCPUs. "No one wants to pay for unused compute, so organizations often shut down idle VMs to minimize costs" adds Microsoft. Other features include new Visual Studio Starter images, optizations for Visual Studio, and Config-as-code definitions (only private preview for now).

Microsoft has summarised below in points how the strategy behind Dev Box is aimed to aid developers:

• Self-service developer workstations with SKUs that range from 8 to 32 core vCPUs, up to 128 GB of memory, and 2 TB of storage
• Project and role-specific images that can be pre-built with all the tools, configurations, source, and binaries to help developers get straight into their code
• Intune enrollment that delivers best-in-class device management to secure and monitor dev boxes alongside the rest of your portfolio
• Project-based virtual networks that enable admins to limit access to sensitive resources, databases, or internal endpoints to approved team members on specific dev boxes

You can head over to the dedicated Dev Box webpage to find more details.

In case you want to read more, you can find the rest of the Build 2023 coverage here.