What is Azure AI Foundry? How your Enterprise Can Build and Scale AI Solutions

Enterprises are under pressure to move AI projects from experimentation to real business value, and do it securely, at scale, and without unnecessary complexity. That’s where Azure AI Foundry comes in. But what is Azure AI Foundry?

Only about 6.1% of U.S. companies use AI in production, even though consumer interest is surging. Microsoft Azure AI Foundry is a unified platform that brings together the tools, models, and infrastructure you need to design, test, and deploy enterprise-ready AI applications.

“From generative AI solutions to intelligent agents, the platform provides everything in one place so you can focus on building, not managing infrastructure,” said Jacob Saunders, EVP of Professional Services, Atmosera.

With centralized controls for access, governance, and monitoring, Azure AI Foundry gives your team a consistent environment to collaborate, accelerate innovation, and operationalize AI responsibly.

In this blog post, we provide an overview of Foundry, what it’s used for, the benefits, features, and snapshots of the Agent Service and Foundry Labs.

What is Azure AI Foundry?

Azure AI Foundry is Microsoft’s enterprise-grade environment for building, deploying, and managing AI applications at scale. Instead of juggling disconnected tools and infrastructure, you get one streamlined hub where models, agents, and development resources work together seamlessly.

With Azure AI Foundry features, you can:

• Build generative AI applications and intelligent agents with enterprise security and governance already in place.
• Test, refine, and launch projects quickly using advanced AI tools and prebuilt model integrations.
• Collaborate across teams through shared controls, role-based access, and centralized policies.
• Scale from proof of concept to production without re-architecting your approach.

The platform’s built-in monitoring, evaluation, and lifecycle management keep your AI projects sustainable long after launch. Because it’s fully aligned with Microsoft’s responsible AI principles, you can innovate confidently while maintaining compliance and control.

What Are the Benefits of Azure AI Foundry?

As one part of the Azure AI Foundry overview, Foundry delivers the foundation you need to put AI to work across your organization. Its capabilities are built to help you move faster, stay secure, and scale with confidence.

• Faster time to value: Tap into ready-to-use models and tools that shorten the path from idea to production. For example, AI tools are helping employees save up to five hours per week. Plus, generative AI reduces the time it takes to complete these tasks by 60%.
• Enterprise scalability: Run AI workloads on Azure’s resilient cloud backbone so your solutions grow as your needs expand.
• Flexible integrations: Connect seamlessly with Azure’s AI and data services to streamline deployment and ongoing management.
• Stronger collaboration: Enable data scientists, developers, and business teams to work side-by-side on the same platform.
• Security-first approach: Maintain control with Azure’s built-in compliance, monitoring, and governance features.

With Azure AI Foundry, you spend less time managing complexity and more time creating intelligent solutions that drive measurable results.

What Are Azure AI Foundry’s Features?

What is the Azure AI Foundry Agent Service?

The Azure AI Foundry Agent Service makes it easier to design and launch intelligent agents without the overhead of managing infrastructure. It’s a fully managed environment that handles processing, storage, and security so you can stay focused on building.

Tasks that once required extensive code can now be completed with only a few lines, letting your team move faster with fewer complexities.

Because it works with the same connection protocol as Azure OpenAI Assistants, you can build and run agents using either the OpenAI SDK or the Azure AI Foundry SDK, whichever fits your workflow best.

Key advantages include:

• Automatic tool execution: Agents call and process tools directly from the server side, eliminating manual parsing and response handling.
• Built-in data management: State and context are preserved securely using threads, removing the need to set up your own storage logic.
• Preconfigured tools: Along with familiar capabilities like file retrieval and code interpretation, you gain access to additional resources for connecting to your data sources.

With these features, the Agent Service gives you a streamlined, secure, and scalable way to bring AI-driven agents into production quickly.

What is Azure AI Foundry Labs?

Azure AI Foundry Labs is where research meets practical innovation. It’s a space designed for developers, enterprises, and startups to experiment with Microsoft’s latest breakthroughs and turn them into real-world solutions. The Labs give you access to cutting-edge models, tools, and frameworks that help you solve complex challenges and push the limits of what AI can achieve.

One standout example is Muse, the first global human-action model. Muse demonstrates how pioneering research is translated into a platform you can use today.

Beyond Muse, Azure AI Foundry Labs also offers access to experimental projects such as:

• Aurora: Delivers precise weather and air quality forecasts, surpassing traditional prediction systems.
• ExACT: Improves search efficiency by allowing agents to learn from past interactions.
• Magentic-One: Orchestrates multiple AI agents to tackle complex, multi-step problems.

By opening these tools to the development community, Azure AI Foundry Labs helps you move beyond theoretical AI and start building solutions with measurable impact.

The innovations emerging from Azure AI Foundry Labs showcase what’s possible when research is put into action. Once you’re ready to move from exploration to production, the full Azure AI Foundry platform provides the enterprise-grade environment to make it happen.