Oct 26 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly revenue on Tuesday, as demand soared for the software giant"s cloud-based services from businesses adopting hybrid work models. Demand for cloud services provided by Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc"s (AMZN.O) AWS and Alphabet Inc-owned (GOOGL.O) Google Cloud has surged since last year when the COVID-19 pandemic shut offices and schools, pushing more activity online. Microsoft said revenue in its "Intelligent Cloud" segment, which includes Azure, rose 31% to $17 billion. Analysts had expected a figure of $16.58 billion, according to Refinitiv data. "We delivered a strong start to the fiscal year with our Microsoft Cloud generating $20.7 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 36% year over year," said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. The company"s revenue rose to $45.32 billion in the first quarter ended Sept. 30, from $37.15 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected revenue of about $43.97 billion.