| New tools for Azure Data at Build 2021 From immutable ledgers in SQL Azure to in-memory cache in Cosmos DB, Microsoft is adding more features to its Azure data platform. MATJAZ SLANIC / Getty Images If you’re building cloud-native applications you need a reliable, efficient data platform. Reliable microservices need a way to store state, whether in NoSQL key/value systems or massively scalable SQL databases. It’s no different in Azure, and Microsoft has been building out its cloud data offering during the past few years to give developers a mix of its own proprietary and open source data platforms.