We are a solution provider and we provide cloud service to our customers using Azure Stack. Some of the services that they use are Microsoft Intune, Azure Active Directory, and Azure Storage.
Sr. Practice Lead, Solutions Architect at Inspirisys Solutions Limited
Flexible, easy to use, and the technical support is good
Pros and Cons
- "The user interface is nice and very simple to use."
- "The user experience could be improved to make it more comfortable."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The user interface is nice and very simple to use.
Azure provides a great deal of flexibility.
What needs improvement?
The user experience could be improved to make it more comfortable.
For how long have I used the solution?
My company has been dealing with this solution for the past two years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have had no complaints with respect to stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Our customers are satisfied with the scalability of Azure Stack.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have experience with AWS and I would have to say that it is more comfortable to use than Azure.
How was the initial setup?
It's not complex at all. Based on the customer's requirements, we implement the solution. The deployment usually takes approximately 15 days.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In terms of costs, it is a standard price, and there is no negotiation.
What other advice do I have?
My company is not very involved in the cloud, but Azure Stack is a product that we recommend depending on the customer. If their budget and requirements are appropriate, and they want the flexibility that this solution offers, then we can implement it.
I do not have experience with all of the products on the market, but from my perspective, Azure Stack is a good one.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Director at Systems Services
Doesn't need own infrastructure but pricing is expensive
Pros and Cons
- "Azure Stack is easy to use. Its major benefit is that it doesn't need its infrastructure. We didn't face any issues integrating it with our infrastructure."
- "The product needs to improve its pricing."
What is our primary use case?
We have an application that is working on Azure Stack. It is a Microsoft application that we wrote for our customers.
What is most valuable?
Azure Stack is easy to use. Its major benefit is that it doesn't need its infrastructure. We didn't face any issues integrating it with our infrastructure.
What needs improvement?
The product needs to improve its pricing.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Azure Stack is stable and I rate it an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool is scalable. We have one customer working with it.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's customer service is fine.
How was the initial setup?
Depending on your setup, the tool's deployment can be complex and take a few hours to complete. I need to select the services and resources to deploy the tool. Though I have a team, only one engineer works on the product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am using my Microsoft license, and it costs monthly. You need to pay additional costs apart from the standard costs.
What other advice do I have?
We are in the process of obtaining co-pilots to integrate AI into our infrastructure. I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Last updated: May 20, 2024
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Azure Stack
November 2024
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Service Manager at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
resolve security concerns but compatibility issues with some third-party products
Pros and Cons
- "From my experience, this solution is suitable for enterprise companies."
- "In some cases, we've seen that some financial software is not working correctly or compatible with Azure Stack. Many companies build this, but some third-party products may not be compatible with Azure Stack. So these are some areas of improvement."
What is most valuable?
It resolves some security concerns. For instance, if the customer is a bank, they want the infrastructure to be under a data center.
What needs improvement?
We have experience in Azure Stack. Internally, the cost increases when you use Azure Stack because you have to buy services from providers like HP, for instance. So, more or less, it's more profitable to use the non-Azure Stack cloud services servers.
In some cases, we've seen that some financial software is not working correctly or compatible with Azure Stack. Many companies build this, but some third-party products may not be compatible with Azure Stack. So these are some areas of improvement.
In future releases, there's some incompatibility with third-party software or connectors that need to be created.
For how long have I used the solution?
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable, unfortunately, if sizing is correctly repeated during the design phase. There's no issue in Azure Stack.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
How are customer service and support?
The support is quite excellent.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy.
What about the implementation team?
The provider deploys the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In some cases, it's difficult to calculate the licensing costs. All the cost is the big picture there because this concerns the capacity of Azure Stack and Azure Service as well.
it's a pay-as-you-go model. So, it has some concerns to define the cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are providing services based on Azure – infrastructure services, fast services, and all these kinds of things.
Azure Stack is very good technology. You can use other Microsoft products, such as Nutanix as the virtualization layer or VMware, and then install all the products that other complex vendors are using – Cloud Service or Amazon Service.
The only issue is some performance issues. And with this concern, if you have to do the right sizing.
What other advice do I have?
From my experience, this solution is suitable for enterprise companies because of the higher price, the cost is huge.
It has to do with capability. If you need all the features, you don't need to buy all the stuff upfront; you can go to the cloud service of Azure. So, in terms of cost, this is the only thing.
Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Globally scalable, highly stable, savings on existing licenses
Pros and Cons
- "We have found the Kubernetes version is one of the key components which we are using heavily."
- "I would like to see the AI side come to one hundred percent in the near future."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use cases are computing, data platform along with migrating event-driven architecture. We use a lot of data bricks and data components. From the integration to data, and from the application deployment perspective to the platform as a service.
How has it helped my organization?
Azure Stack enhanced the productivity from the developers to testers to infrastructure engineers in the following way:
* Developers and the QA team focused on delivering business values rather than thinking about the build and deployment
* The infrastructure team focused more on automating the infra-build pipelines for different environments in no time
* Azure Pipelines automated 80% of manual efforts on both the Development and Infra front.
What is most valuable?
We have found the Kubernetes version is one of the key components which we are using heavily.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see the AI side come to one hundred percent in the near future. I would love to see a more reliable SAP improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Azure Stack for the past seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Azure Stack is highly stable across the globe from my experience.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Azure Stack is extremely scalable across the globe.
How are customer service and support?
One of the best parts of technical support is they are really on top of all the issues. Once an incident has been raised, their team will call our technical engineers and start supporting them immediately. This is one of the major reasons why I have used Azure Stack. Azure Cloud is becoming so popular because in the end, businesses need assurance and they are always on top of it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using an on-premise solution, but you know that an on-premise solution is not scalable with a cloud-based environment.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty straightforward. It is a lean, shallow learning curve. They can quickly grasp it and can start working on deployment. The deployment was pretty smooth because we set up the CI/CD pipeline and Azure pipeline, which automatically builds the solution. It does the unit test and performance test, and if everything goes well, it is scheduling the deployments for production quickly.
What about the implementation team?
We have both in-house and third-party teams, depending on the requirements and complexity of the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing is pay-as-you-go, and Azure also provides a bring-your-own-license. I believe that is a good option if anyone is looking at it and they already have a license. They can get the infrastructure and the provision in a very short time and it will save the existing licenses.
Different applications will have different licensing needs. It depends on which tool you use. You will then need to secure that license.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated AWS and Google. It depends on the company and what the best fit is for the organization. If companies have similar requirements, they can follow us, or if they have a different requirement, I believe that Google or AWS might fit their needs as well.
What other advice do I have?
I think that anybody who wants to move on to Azure Stack, needs to assess their requirements, and what business needs they have. I would rate Azure Stack an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director at Onelife consultants ltd
Good technical support, feature-rich, and performs well
Pros and Cons
- "I believe the only room for improvement is that I am based in Nairobi, if it has even a local node for Azure, I believe most customers will prefer that to reduce latencies and everything else when using the Azure Stack."
What is most valuable?
I don't have a specific feature, my customers use all of the features that are available and the entire stack.
What needs improvement?
I believe the only room for improvement is that I am based in Nairobi, if it has even a local node for Azure, I believe most customers will prefer that to reduce latencies and everything else when using the Azure Stack. They'll be better off if they can set up a local node in Nairobi, Kenya.
There are local things specific to the Kenya market, which are integrated into local development platforms available in Kenya, which would be helpful if it could be integrated with Azure Stack. We have a solution called M-Pessa, for example. If that can be done on a regular basis, I believe it is time to look for customers who want to use that channel today.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Azure Stack for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Azure Stack is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Azure Stack is a scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is okay. My customers have not complained about the technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I actually work for an integrator company that specializes in UiPath. I primarily use UiPath, but I also use Automation Anywhere and Microsoft Power Automate.
We use Power Automate, but we also use Power BI for dashboard visualization. Then there's the standard Office 365, and we do have customers who use Azure.
How was the initial setup?
I would say the initial setup is medium. It all depends on who is using it, but most customers rate it as a medium. It's not easy, but it's also not difficult. It's average. It's a medium.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In terms of pricing, my customers believe AWS is slightly more reasonably priced than Azure. They believe it is significantly less expensive than what Azure offers. It is simply a matter of pricing.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise them to conduct a thorough assessment of the types of applications they want to host on Azure Stack before beginning the migration process. They must be absolutely certain. Then there are all kinds of local policies, security policies, on migrating data into the Cloud, to put it mildly. They should be on the lookout for such things. So, first and foremost, a proper assessment of what types of applications should be moved entirely to Azure Stack. Then, examine the policies, security policies, and cybersecurity that are associated with all of that.
I would rate Azure Stack an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
R&D Operations Manager at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
A scalable, stable solution with a wide variety of use cases
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability of the solution is good. We have hundreds of users internally and thousands of users externally. We do plan to increase usage shortly."
- "Technical support is very poor. When we meet Microsoft in the coming weeks to discuss expansion, we'll be speaking to them directly about this."
What is our primary use case?
There are multiple use cases for us in regards to this solution, including IoT, DevOps, storage, analytics, and many, many other scenarios.
How has it helped my organization?
We use it for our periodic builds, and for our source control.
What is most valuable?
The IoT, DevOps, microservices, micro functions, and storage are all valuable features.
What needs improvement?
The solution should be more open to allowing access to other tools and environments.
Technical support also needs a lot of improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is pretty stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the solution is good. We have hundreds of users internally and thousands of users externally. We do plan to increase usage shortly.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is very poor. When we meet Microsoft in the coming weeks to discuss expansion, we'll be speaking to them directly about this.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we used AWS.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was quite a long time ago, so I don't remember the details of the implementation.
What about the implementation team?
We received some help with the implementation from Microsoft.
What other advice do I have?
We are using the on-premises deployment model.
I would advise others considering implementing the solution to ensure they understand the solution to a high degree, as they won't get much help from technical support if they have questions.
I would rate the solution eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director, Managed Services at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Includes a valuable Azure Active Directory feature
Pros and Cons
- "Azure Active Directory is the most valuable feature."
- "The technical support team's response time needs improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution to include Deployments of VM security, Sentinel Storage, and VPN tunnels.
What is most valuable?
Azure Active Directory is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
The technical support team's response time needs improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Azure Stack for ten plus years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is an eight out of ten.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Last updated: May 19, 2024
Flag as inappropriateA highly scalable solution that can be used for migration, application modernization, and cloud-native modernization
Pros and Cons
- "We use Azure Stack for migration, application modernization, and cloud-native modernization."
- "Azure Stack's pricing could be improved."
What is most valuable?
We use Azure Stack for migration, application modernization, and cloud-native modernization.
What needs improvement?
Azure Stack's pricing could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Azure Stack for around four to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Azure Stack a nine out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Azure Stack is a very scalable solution.
I rate Azure Stack ten out of ten for scalability.
How was the initial setup?
Azure Stack’s initial setup is easy.
What other advice do I have?
Azure Stack is deployed on-cloud in our organization. I would recommend Azure Stack to other users.
Overall, I rate Azure Stack a nine and a half out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Updated: November 2024
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