You are almost ready to move your business applications, data, and infrastructure to the Cloud but you still need to be a little bit more confident.
These 4 pillars represent the main value proposition for what differentiates Azure from the competition.
Those are the reasons why customers choose Microsoft, because of the unique value that we provide in a productive, hybrid, intelligent, and trusted cloud.
Microsoft officially announced the public preview to a simpler and more reliable way to protect your VMware virtual machines.
To tackle the changing needs of the customers, they have performed a major overhaul of the hybrid disaster recovery and added necessary enhancements along with highly requested simplifications. They have implemented a new architecture with which, the configuration server has now been revamped as the ASR replication appliance.
A big deal-breaker with the current architecture was manually updating various configuration server components and mobility services. – as soon as an update arrives, both the appliance and mobility service will be updated automatically and that too out of business hours.
Additionally, for automatic upgrades, machine credentials will not be required anymore. Currently, it is necessary to have the latest credentials for both Linux and Windows machines for a successful update. But with this preview, the credentials will be required only initially and will not be required once the installation is complete. After the installation of the mobility service, credentials can be removed for all the machines.
The appliance is now a single unit of management and all its components have been converted into micro-services which are hosted on Azure. This will not only make the troubleshooting much easier, but scale management also becomes much smoother. To scale out an appliance, you will just need to set up another appliance and voila, it is done! No need to set up another Process server anymore.
Appliance resiliency has also been a highly asked about topic and we have that covered too. Customers are usually afraid of an appliance burndown. There are also scenarios where one may need to load balance an appliance and move a protected machine to another appliance, without disabling replication.
With the preview, you don’t need to take regular backups of your appliance anymore – just spin up another appliance and switch all your machines to the new appliance. All the configuration details particular to a protected machine will be switched to the new appliance without needing to go through the complete replication again.
Apart from the above-mentioned improvements, they have also removed –
Learn more about the preview architecture and check out the release notes for a detailed list of improvements.
Customers can deploy cloud services on-premises and in multi-cloud environments—effectively modernizing in place by running Azure SQL on any infrastructure.
Deploying cloud-based solutions to on-premises and multi-cloud environments helps deliver consistent, portable, and unified management across a company’s entire data estate. Customers are seeing improved productivity and operating efficiency by using hybrid technology to manage their data and app development at scale.
For example, SKF provides reliable rotation to industries all over the world, offering products and services around the rotating shaft including bearings, seals, lubrication management, artificial intelligence, and wireless condition monitoring. SKF has been on a journey to digitally transform the company’s backbone through harnessing the power of technology, interconnecting processes, streamlining operations, and delivering industry-leading digital products and services for customers. SKF uses Azure Arc, along with Azure Stack HCI and Azure SQL Edge, to scale solutions and standardize processes across their 91 manufacturing sites, resulting in 40 percent savings on hardware costs and 30 percent savings in OT-related machine downtime.
“SKF’s focus is on digitalizing all segments of the value chain and interconnecting them to unlock the full potential of digital ways of working for our business and customers. Azure Arc-enabled SQL Managed Instance is providing us worry-free and always up-to-date SQL operations. These types of services provide us a tremendous jumpstart into digitalization.”—Sven Vollbehr, Head of Digital Manufacturing, SKF
Beginning July 30, 2021, the general-purpose tier of Azure Arc-enabled SQL Managed Instance will be generally available, providing database-as-a-service (DBaaS) functionality on any infrastructure. Businesses will be able to deploy Azure SQL databases on any infrastructure and on any Kubernetes to:
New product features and capabilities will be rolled out on a continuous basis, and customers will be able to opt-in to preview additional Azure Arc-enabled services, such as PostgreSQL, and easily integrate as they become generally available. Additionally, customers will have the opportunity to test out future road map preview features and provide early feedback.
In support of Azure Arc-enabled data services’ general availability, Microsoft is announcing an expanded network of trusted partners and validated solutions to help customers get started.
Microsoft works closely with technology providers to validate popular platforms to work with Azure Arc, and our many service providers are here to provide customers with the latest innovations for hybrid data solutions on-premises or in multi-cloud environments.
Whether you are just getting started with migration and modernization efforts or in the middle of a multi-year digital transformation, our consulting services partners can help you choose the validated infrastructures and applications that are specifically configured and tested to work with Azure Arc.
Get started with Azure Arc-enabled data services available in preview today. Starting July 30, 2021, Azure Arc-enabled SQL Managed Instance (general-purpose tier) will be generally available for customers to optimize their data workloads from cloud to edge.
Contact us to learn more on [email protected]
Microsoft has lately announced a new capability in Azure Site Recovery to further improve the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery posture of Azure VMs – in-line enablement of ASR at the time of VM creation.
This capability helps all Azure infrastructure customers avoid the hassle of separately configuring DR across regions (or zones) after the creation of VMs.
Microsoft recognizes that as the customers move and more business-critical applications to Azure, their resilience is of prime importance.
ASR is a key pillar of Microsoft’s resiliency offering, which allows customers to protect their Azure VMs against regional outages.
Previously, there was no seamless way to enable ASR during the creation of a VM. End customers had to follow through and execute a different workflow to protect the VM from regional (or zonal) outages after the VM was up and running.
With Microsoft latest release, now all end customers will be able to enable ASR while creating a VM. ASR will be one of the VM Management options alongside the ones currently available for configuration – Monitoring, Identity, and Backup, among others.
To get started, a customer can simply head over to the Azure portal. Go to ‘Virtual machines’ and click on ‘+ Add’. Go to the Management tab and select ‘Enable Disaster Recovery’ under ‘Site Recovery’. Make the relevant selections and proceed to create Azure VM. Once the VM is created, replication will be automatically enabled within a few minutes.
It shall be noted that so far, this offering is currently limited to Windows VMs and CentOS, Oracle Linux, and Red Hat Linux VMs. Microsoft also do not support zone to zone (in region) disaster recovery through the Create VM workflow currently.
Microsoft has announced price increases to the following SKUs starting on March 1st, 2022.
Enterprise SKUs:
SMB SKUs:
NOTE: Prices for Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, and Frontline SKUs will not change in the meantime. These price changes will impact all public sector customers worldwide while purchasing channels for nonprofit solutions are not changing at this time.
Nisrine Jamai is a Technical Sustainability Program Manager at Microsoft. She overlooks providing product expertise on the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability (MCFS) in the CEMA region (Central & Southeast Europe, Middle East and Africa) and by extension its implementation consulting to customers and partners who are motivated by the Microsoft vision for sustainability. Nisrine has an extensive engineering background in renewable energy technologies and has actively put in place work in the context of sustainable technologies, bio-energies associated with the production of the second-generation bioenergy and biogas from waste.
As the Head of Microsoft Azure Presales at BPS, Youssef is a dynamic leader in the world of technology and business. With a deep commitment to leveraging technology for sustainability, Youssef plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of cloud computing.Beyond their professional achievements, Youssef is an avid reader and learner with a passion for technology. They also have a keen interest in AI and Data Science, always staying up-to-date with the latest advancements in these fields.With a wealth of knowledge and a dedication to excellence, Youssef is poised to share invaluable insights at GITEX, making a significant impact on the audience.
Stanislav Lencz is devoted to making organizations, technology, communication, and processes serve people.
He has excellent communication and networking abilities and extensive experience in Project / Team Management, Business Solution and Solutions Design architectures.
After many years of professional career covering mainly domains of Biometrics and Identity related solutions, since 2016 he dedicates himself intensively to company, community and leadership consulting, networking, and thought leadership. Passionate in helping individuals and teams re-discover their purpose and build unity in diversity. He currently serves as Country Director for Slovakia and Regional Director for Europe and Middle East, at Consulus.
Hrvoje Lovrić is a Senior Business Consultant devoted to making organizations, technology, communication, and processes serve people.
He has excellent communication and networking abilities and extensive experience in Telecom, Energy and Education sectors, and experience in EU Funding applications.
After many years of a professional career covering mainly domains of creating and implementing marketing and sales strategies, working as a lecturer at the graduate study of Entrepreneurial Management, since 2020, he dedicates himself intensively to company, community, and leadership consulting, networking, and thought leadership.
After studies at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing and later Master of Science in Economics, MBA, University of Zagreb, Croatia led him into organizations such as Croatian Telekom, Optima Telekom, and Helb Engineering.
He currently serves as Country Lead for Croatia at Consulus.
Clara Kwan is the Global Head of Sustainability and Impact Investment of Consulus and the Chief Sustainability Officer of DesignFutures Venture. She graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Law (Honors) and has an Executive MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.
Clara spearheads and executes strategic decisions and provide strategic consultations on sustainability issues, investments and best practices for companies, including establishing ESG principles and roadmap into regional and local processes in companies’ management, operations, legal and compliance, business continuity planning, marketing and human resources. She assesses and manages investment and financing portfolios from a legal, sustainability and social impact angle.
She sits on boards and previously held the positions of Chief Operating Officer, Head of Sustainability and Managing Director (Singapore) for a regional green independent power producer.
Clara is also a certified mediator and an attorney who is qualified in several jurisdictions. She has served clients globally including Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Dubai, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, United Kingdom and United States.
Ahmed Ameen Ashour is a forward-thinking, and results-driven leader who has dedicated his career to driving innovation and positive change in the areas of Ed-Tech and Sustainability. As of 2023, Ahmed has assumed the pivotal role of Chief Sustainability Commercial Officer at Microsoft, bringing his extensive leadership expertise to the forefront of the company’s sustainability initiatives.
In this new role, Ahmed’s primary responsibility is to help enable organizations both in public and private sector on their ESG journey through leveraging Microsoft’s Sustainability Cloud Solutions. His focus is on developing and implementing scalable business and go-to-market strategies for Microsoft’s Cloud for Sustainability platform, empowering organizations to make a significant impact through sustainable innovation, digital transformation, and growth.
Prior to this transition, Ahmed served as the Education Industry Director for Microsoft UAE & GCC, where he was instrumental in leading the company’s engagement within the education sector. He established key alliances and catalyzed an education transformation through the use of technology. His impact can be seen in numerous UAE education initiatives, including the Mohammed Bin Rashid Smart Learning Program (MBRSLP), One Million Arab Coders, Madrasa.org, Mohammed Bin Rashid Virtual Schools (MBRVS), and the UAE’s transition to remote learning during the COVID pandemic.
A thought leader in sustainability, Ahmed is committed to engaging with partners and startups to develop innovative sustainability solutions that can quickly go-to-market. His passion for making a positive impact on the future of our planet is evident in his commitment to building a better future for generations to come.
Ahmed began his journey at Microsoft in 2008 as an Industry Solutions Lead for Education, following a decade-long career in education consultancy across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa region. He holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Louisville (US) and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Ain Shams University (EG). Ahmed’s blend of deep technical expertise, leadership, and dedication to sustainability make him a driving force in Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more through sustainable practices.
Lawrence Chong is the CEO and Co-founder of Consulus. A recognized thought leader in Innovation and Strategy.
He is a regular speaker at global events and has spoken at Innovation by Design, World Marketing Summit, World Brand Congress, Business of Design Week. He is a featured Columnist on innovation, branding, and design for Asian businesses. He is a featured thought leader on the largest professional network, LinkedIn and is followed by 400,000+ professionals.
His insights appear regularly in regional media such as the TheEdge, Radio 93.8, Business Insider, Marketing, Business Times Singapore, VTC (Vietnam), Doanh Nhan Sai Gon (Vietnam), CafeBiz (Vietnam), Ceylon Today, Brunei Times.