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Put Your On-prem Strategy On Target with the Recently Released Microsoft Azure Local
Many companies still struggle with their on-premises infrastructure strategy. It isn’t just about weighing cloud versus local, OpEx versus CapEx, or hosted versus managed. Determining the
right path forward for on-prem requires balancing a bevy of both new and long-standing
internal and external factors.
First, let’s talk about know-how. Between the tight labor market and the gray tsunami
threatening IT—where a large segment of workers is approaching retirement—people may no longer be in the same role for long. That churn, no matter the reason, often results in the loss of skill sets coupled with the loss of institutional knowledge. Formulating a plan for on-prem is
difficult when your talent resources are an ongoing question mark.
For enterprises affected by Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, increased license costs have
emerged as another complicating factor. The push-pull between cloud-based solutions and on-
prem has taken on new meaning in light of price rises and fluctuating license value. In an
environment where bundled service offerings may not align with organizational needs as
closely as they did in the past, there are many layers to consider when assessing these types of
solution partnerships.
Compliance requirements create additional wrinkles in the on-prem equation. When data is
stored and processed in the cloud, risks can arise related to several elements, including proper
configurations across complex environments, physical access and security, data residency, and
availability of suitable audit trails. Architecting and maintaining compliant cloud environments
calls for specialized skills and may further increase recurring IT costs.
With so much to consider, the recent launch of Microsoft Azure Local provides a much-needed
option for businesses to maintain select workloads separate from their cloud environments and
can truly transform how enterprises leverage on-prem resources.
Azure Local hits the security sweet spot
Businesses typically have workloads on-prem for one of two reasons (and sometimes both):
performance and security. Some need to run on-prem to provide sufficient performance for
either their end users or for the business processes that are executing in the background. As
automation and other operational considerations continue to evolve, those two use cases
aren’t going away anytime soon.
Other firms have a no-compromise need to control physical security. Having the data within the four walls of your data center or co-location may not just be important—it might be a necessity due to compliance requirements or other factors. In those instances, running the advanced security-by-default of Azure Local on HPE’s secure-by-design hardware provides peace of mind for critical workloads.
Simplify, unify, streamline with Azure Local
Customers with an existing Azure presence but who still need local compute for some
workloads can turn to HPE integrated systems for Azure Local for a unified experience across
their cloud and local environments. This optimized mix delivers a validated solution with
certified hardware, plus the added bonus of easy deployment and updates. Businesses gain out-
of-the-box cloud-based operations and the ability to run VMs plus Azure containerized
applications (think Azure Data Services and the like) on-prem, all within a platform that’s highly
elastic and can be right-sized to their implementation and usage.
Azure Local can also help address talent challenges. Enterprises running Azure already have the
IT skills set to effectively and efficiently administer Azure Local. There’s no need to learn
anything new or to add unique competencies to the team. Provisioning operational aspects in
the cloud and maintaining the on-prem infrastructure are both here to stay, and pairing Azure
with Azure Local means you can enjoy a single, seamless strategy that covers both.
You want fast? Azure Local implementation is fast.
Implementing Azure Local is perhaps one of the quickest setups in the IT sphere. Companies
can buy an HPE server with Azure Local already loaded. Simply turn it on and it shows up in
your Azure portal. Taking only slightly longer (but still far faster than most other implementations) is the purchase of new hardware. During setup, provision it as a local region in Azure and it’s ready to use—you can deploy workloads the very same day, just as you might with normal cloud operations. The accelerated implementation capabilities align perfectly with the concept of collapsing the wall between the data center and the cloud. Manage your on-prem resources and cloud resources the same way, even down to the same timelines and skill requirements. It’s just a matter of where those resources are running and in what region. And because it’s all available via HPE GreenLake as well, enterprises get a true cloud experience on-prem, not just operationally but financially.
Choose the Azure Local strategy that’s right for your business
At CyberNorth, we see the addition of Azure Local as the logical first step toward collapsing
many differentiated roles and responsibilities that exist in IT. Once cloud operations and on-
premises operations are two sides of the same conversation, it all becomes the same workflow,
the same types of implementations, and the same management. We view this evolution as key
to solving challenges such as skills gaps and resource constraints.
Now organizations can extend Azure to their own infrastructures. It can give companies
working under one or more compliance frameworks the long-desired option to maintain workloads on-prem. Azure Local can also provide a very economical path forward for enterprises interested in revisiting their VMware licensing.
The CyberNorth team has deep knowledge of the new Azure Local product and can help your
team understand the intricacies of your portfolio of cloud operations and deployment
methodologies. We’ll work alongside you to evaluate your needs and develop a plan that fits
your unique requirements.
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