According to the latest announcement, Microsoft Azure has officially brought the Nxt Blockchain to its platform, allowing developers across the world to start their own Nxt nodes easily.

The Nxt Blockchain has been running since 2012 and has proven itself to be one of the most secure and feature-rich networks in cryptocurrency. Nxt includes blockchain's only pre-coded modular transaction system: a proven Asset Exchange, Marketplace, Voting Tool, Messaging System, Data Cloud, Coin Shuffler, and more.

The addition of the Nxt Blockchain to Microsoft Azure marks the continuing maturity of both networks. Azure continues to grow as a developer tool, while Nxt has taken important steps outside of the cryptocurrency world towards mainstream financial application.  In July 2016, the Nxt Core Development Team launched its full suite of templated Smart Transactions, commercially tested and ready for widespread business use.

Developers are already using and experimenting with easy Nxt nodes in preparation for the new scalable blockchain technology, Ardor, which is based on the proven code of Nxt. The Ardor developers are the same core developers who have developed Nxt for the past few years.

According to the official release, several new Nxt projects are in development for Q4 2016. The ability to deploy Nxt nodes with Microsoft Azure is expected to bring a host of new developers and services to Nxt for 2017.

Those interested in experimenting with Nxt, need to simply open Microsoft Azure, find Nxt, and set up their node server. The Nxt slack channel can help make this a breeze.

Last month, The Nxt Foundation, a non-profit organisation that provides education and information about the Nxt Blockchain Platform, announced that it has become an Associate member of the Hyperledger Project with the Linux Foundation.