The essential Elastic 2026 wrap-up for Microsoft Build attendees and Azure developers

In 2026, Elastic introduced major advancements in AI and observability, including multimodal indexing for text, images, and audio through the Elastic Inference Service and new MCP Apps for integrated security and observability within AI coding environments. Additionally, the company launched a rebuilt, high-performance columnar metrics engine designed to significantly optimize the storage and querying of OpenTelemetry data.