The infrastructure conversation is shifting. For years, organizations treated content management as a storage problem: more capacity, better organization and faster retrieval. But as AI agents move from experimentation into operational roles, the challenge isn’t just holding information anymore. It’s about infrastructure that knows what it contains, understands context without constant human curation and serves the right content to the right systems at the right moment.

Organizations have access to sophisticated AI tooling, agent frameworks and cloud platforms designed to accelerate application development. But as Microsoft Ignite brings together developers and IT leaders in San Francisco, from Nov. 18-21, the gap between capability and execution remains a critical challenge. Translating access into production-ready systems that perform reliably and scale efficiently requires more than deploying new features. It demands foundational engineering discipline, according to theCUBE Research’s Paul Nashawaty.

“According to my AppDev research, 24% of organizations aim to release code hourly, yet only 8% actually achieve it,” he said. “The real differentiator in the artificial intelligence era of application development is maturity, not just speed. While AI-enabled tools can accelerate growth, they can’t substitute foundational engineering practices, such as a robust application programming interface strategy, observability and automated delivery pipelines.”

Join theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, on Nov. 20, for exclusive coverage of Microsoft Ignite. TheCUBE’s interviews will explore how organizations are translating AI capabilities into production systems — from agent-driven automation and application development to the infrastructure and security foundations required to support enterprise-scale deployment. (* Disclosure below.)

AI agents move from pilot to production

Microsoft recently introduced agents designed to put apps and workflow creation directly into users’ hands through natural language interaction, capabilities that are likely to feature prominently at the event. The app builder agent enables teams to create functional applications in minutes without database configuration, while the Workflows agent automates routine tasks across Teams, Outlook and SharePoint. Both tools are built on enterprise-grade infrastructure with security and governance controls integrated from the start.

“Using these agents and Copilot Studio, Copilot now enables employees to turn ideas into impact by creating apps, workflows and agents just as easily as having a conversation,” Charles Lamanna, president, Business and Industry Copilot at Microsoft, said recently in a blog post. ”Describe what you need in natural language, and Copilot helps you build it.”

The deployment of AI agents and automated workflows requires infrastructure capable of supporting distributed data environments where applications and workloads move fluidly between cloud and edge locations. Dell Technologies Inc. has positioned its infrastructure offerings to address these multicloud scenarios, with solutions such as PowerScale for Azure providing file storage designed to support AI workloads across hybrid environments, according to Jeff Clarke, chief operating officer and vice chairman of Dell.

“The truth is most data is created out in the wild, out in a smart factory, out in a smart hospital, out in a smart city, in your sneakers,” Clarke told theCUBE.”That’s where data is actually generated. What we see and continue to believe is that the AI migrates to where the data is created to be dealt with.”

Other organizations, such as Oracle Corp. and Cribl Inc., are also shaping the data and observability layers that keep AI-driven systems resilient, governed and production-ready. Their work reflects a broader shift across the ecosystem as enterprises look to modernize the foundations that support agent-driven automation. Find out more during theCUBE’s full coverage of Ignite 2025.

TheCUBE event livestream

Do not miss theCUBE’s coverage of Microsoft Ignite on Nov. 20. Plus, you can watch theCUBE’s event coverage on-demand after the event.

How to watch theCUBE interviews

We offer you various ways to watch theCUBE’s coverage of Microsoft Ignite, including theCUBE’s dedicated website and YouTube channel. You can also get all the coverage from this year’s events on SiliconANGLE.

TheCUBE podcasts

SiliconANGLE’s “theCUBE Pod” is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube, which you can enjoy while on the go. During each podcast, SiliconANGLE’s John Furrier and Dave Vellante unpack the biggest trends in enterprise tech — from AI and cloud to regulation and workplace culture — with exclusive context and analysis.

SiliconANGLE also produces our weekly “Breaking Analysis” program, where Dave Vellante examines the top stories in enterprise tech, combining insights from theCUBE with spending data from Enterprise Technology Research, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Guests

During Microsoft Ignite, theCUBE’s coverage will feature leaders from infrastructure, security and application development discussing how enterprises are moving AI agents from concept to production across cloud and edge environments.

TheCUBE will talk with Dell’s Colm Keegan, Rachna Lalwani, Matt McSpirit and Isaac Pinion, as well as Microsoft’s Karl Rautenstrauch and Meena Gowder.

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Microsoft Ignite. Neither Microsoft nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Image: SiliconANGLE