What Should Microsoft Investors Expect From Ignite?

In a report published Tuesday, Pacific Crest Securities analysts maintained an Overweight rating on

, while mentioning the key investment points derived from the company's IGNITE conference in Chicago this week. There are more than 23,000 attendees at the company's IGNITE conference, which is directed at customers and users. Microsoft highlighted the user experience of Windows 10 and other new Microsoft products. "At IGNITE, Microsoft previewed new Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA) technology based on the recent acquisition of Aorato. ATA identifies security breaches and threats using behavioral analysis and machine learning," the analysts said. The company also highlighted new security features that will be part of Windows 10, enabling Windows to "move beyond BitLocker to provide protection from data leakage." For business, Microsoft is offering the same product and security updates for Windows that it provides to consumers. The difference is that companies will enjoy the ability to choose which updates are deployed across the enterprise. Moreover, Microsoft is demonstrating Office 2016, encouraging attendees to sign up for the preview. "Microsoft reiterated its ability to enable customers to move workloads easily between on-premise, private/hybrid cloud and Azure/public cloud. The company cited a Gartner survey in which 74% of respondents indicated plans to run multiple cloud resources and diverse workloads," the analysts wrote. "We believe this will increase Microsoft's strategic importance to enterprises as they increasingly adopt multiple cloud solutions, which we highlighted in our recent cloud update," the report said. Microsoft has expanded its partnership with Equinix Inc

, allowing direct access to Office 365 through the Equinix Cloud Exchange in all 15 markets where it currently offers direct access to Microsoft Azure Express Route. "Microsoft also released Operations Management Suite, which is a new piece of software designed to keep track of server infrastructure across multiple clouds," the analysts added.