Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Demo VM Launched

Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Demo VM has finally been launched featuring fully loaded demo data and instantiated application. This is the first release for R3 as the previous releases were mainly CTP demo versions which are actually WIP preview releases for R3.
The VM can be easily downloaded from both Partnersource and Customersource, and there are tons of materials both documents, videos and blog posts for trying out the new functionality incorporated in AX 2012 R3 expecially on the Retail, Wax &Trax, Mobile etc. Microsoft has improved a lot on the documentation front with these additions compared to the previous version releases.
For those who have active Azure subscriptions, the demoVM is available in just a few clicks via the Life cycle services portal, without the need for complicated disk and ram requirements to run the demo VM.
Here is the link for Partnersource to download the Demo VM

Dynamics AX 2012 R3 is now live!

Dynamics AX 2012 R3 is now in GA mode, you can now easily download it from both Customersource and Partnersource.

Every new release has brought lots of expectations about the changes and R3 is no different. For the starters, AX 2012 R3 can be hosted on Azure in addition to on-premise, which means the product can be officially hosted on the cloud and clients can access it via internet.
Most of the functionality changes seems to be on the improvements of the existing modules or verticals. The changes are mainly highlighted on the Retail, Warehouse and Transportation management and full integration with SCOM for application monitoring.

On the Retail vertical front I noted,
Architecture change in the data transfer between the Retail Stores and HQ. The R3 version works as WCF hosted on IIS, which allows for greater scalability than previous versions as a windows service. And A-jobs has been replaced by SQL change tracking, needing to eliminate the A-jobs from AX side.

From Retail functionality wise - Kits, advanced discounts and loyalty is much improved in the new version.

For the complete list, please take a look at the Getting started with AX 2012 R3 which has direct links to Technet and MSDN for detailed information on each of the release details.