Free Microsoft Virtual Academy Cloud Training Portal

A newly debuted Microsoft online hub is designed to be a one stop shop for training resources focused on the company’s Cloud offerings.

The Microsoft Virtual Academy is now live, featuring a comprehensive collection of content set up to allow customers to get insight into a range of topics related to Cloud computing.

According to the software giant, free training is available on IaaS (infrastructure as a service), Office 365, PaaS (platform as a service), Private Cloud, Public Cloud, SaaS (software as a service), security, SQL Azure, and Windows Azure.

“You can access a variety of training content online and become one of the renowned experts in the IT Pro community around the world,” Microsoft stated.

“MVA provides its users with a virtual university experience: the student can select a course and study the material and then do the self-assessment. By doing so, he will collect points that will promote him to a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum Level.

“Students on MVA can get access to all the information, statistics and advancements of their training career, allowing them to maintain a long-term relationship with Microsoft. Learning through MVA is free of charge, and you can study the contents at any time and at your own pace.”

The software giant might be gearing the Microsoft Virtual Academy toward a student audience, but the truth is that anyone from IT professionals to Cloud hobbyists (if they exist), can access the training resources without paying a single cent.

In just the past 7 days, over 4,000 people subscribed to MVA. Microsoft informed that over 366 courses were completed in the last seven days.

A Senior IT Pro Advisor working for Microsoft Canada provided a list of reasons why MVA is worth a try:

“•Free resource to valuable online training and skills assessment / validation.

•Based on current technologies for topics that are important to your skills development AND your business.

•Helps you gain the knowledge to carry on a Proactive conversation with your organization, instead of a reactive one.

•Leads you to MS learning resources for certification or in person events to supplement your knowledge even more.

•Looks like there are promotions in the works that you can take advantage of based on your Skills ranking.”