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President and Founder with 51-200 employees
Vendor
It has long-term value when you consider cost-benefit analyses (with Microsoft's pricing calculator), but it's difficult to know exactly what the costs would be for services running on Azure.

Originally posted at http://jimwilsonblog.com/?p=250

A recent article of an interview with the Red Hat CEO touts the benefits of private cloud implementation. See it here.

This debate is usually short sited and doesn’t include all CAPEX & OPEX cost associated with the “Free OS” type of cloud operations. Also, the reusable components from more sophisticated partner communities afford both AWS & AZURE much greater long term valuations when responsible enterprise accounting methods are used to drive the cost-benefits analyses. The proper engineering of a cloud infrastructure which includes smart VMs well orchestrated by business-demand-level-driven auto scaling will always push the TCO/ROI argument to a public solution for large scale systems.

Microsoft actually has a TCO tool that they can use to estimate TCO of on-premises vs. Azure. There are many considerations when comparing costs of running an on-premises datacenter with full infrastructure, servers, cooling, power, etc. to a cloud-based service like Azure where you pay a cost based on the services consumed such as storage, compute and network egress. It can be difficult to know exactly what typical costs are for your datacenter and what the costs would be for services running in Azure. Microsoft has a pricing calculator available at http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/ which can help assess costs for Azure services and a VM specific calculator at http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/virtual-machines/.

When running on-premises, you own the servers. They are available all the time which means you typically leave workloads running constantly even though they may actually only be needed during the work week. There is really no additional cost to leave them running (apart from power, cooling, etc.). In the cloud you pay based on consumption which means organizations go through a paradigm shift. Rather than leaving VMs and services running all the time, companies focus on running services when needed to optimize their public cloud spend. Some ways that can help optimize services running are:

  • Auto-scale – The ability to group multiple instances of a VM/service and instances are started and stopped based on various usage metrics such as CPU and queue depth. With PaaS instances can even be created/destroyed as required
  • Azure Automation – The ability to run PowerShell Workflows in Azure and templates are provided to start and stop services at certain times of day making it easy to stop services at the end of the day then start them again at the start of day
  • Local Automation – Use an on-premises solution such as PowerShell or System Center Orchestrator to connect to Azure via REST to stop/start services
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user255330 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user255330Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant

"Free OS". Please check Jim's pricelist. RHEL, RedHat's openstack etc: It is certainly not for free.

Statements like :
short sited (I assume that should read short sighted),
more sophisticated,
much greater longer term valuation,
responsible enterprise accounting methods......

are not documented in any way. I think the author should have a deepdive in things like cloudfoundry, openshift, WSO2, openstack and the likes before using these kind of terms. Or not write about this matter at all. Or at least try to launch a VM named "testwin" in Azure. ;-)

Hema Patil - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Affiliate at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Integrates well, secure, and user friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "The main benefit of Microsoft Azure is that it is cloud-based. We are using Microsoft Visual Studio for our code and it is tightly integrated with Microsoft Azure. Additionally, the solution is user-friendly."
  • "The dashboard of Microsoft Azure could be better."

What is our primary use case?

Microsoft Azure is entirely our current cloud computing product in which the team is engaged. We are using the stack for development and application logs, and audit perception from the application. We are using the log services.

What is most valuable?

The main benefit of Microsoft Azure is that it is cloud-based. We are using Microsoft Visual Studio for our code and it is tightly integrated with Microsoft Azure. Additionally, the solution is user-friendly.

What needs improvement?

The dashboard of Microsoft Azure could be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure for approximately two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found the scalability of Microsoft Azure very good.

We have approximately 60 users using this solution, we have plans to increase usage to 100 users.

How are customer service and support?

I have not contacted the support from Microsoft directly. However, we have a consultant from Microsoft providing us support when needed.

What about the implementation team?

We have a six-person DevOps team that does the maintenance and support of Microsoft Azure.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of  Microsoft Azure is reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

I would highly recommend this solution to others. There are still unexplored areas of this solution.

I rate Microsoft Azure an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior System & Security Administrator at a legal firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
Installation is straightforward and doesn't take much time
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a cloud-based application, so installation is straightforward and doesn't take much time."
  • "The price of the Azure license could be cheaper."

What is our primary use case?

We use Azure for the Active Directory and integration with Exchange Online. Our customers need it to manage, connect, and administrate the permissions from Cloudbase. Here in Egypt, we are not using or connecting with the cloud-based application, but in the last two years, we have supplied the solution for our customers. In total, we have between 10 and 20 customers using Azure.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Microsoft Azure for about two years.

How was the initial setup?

It's a cloud-based application, so installation is straightforward and doesn't take much time.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of the Azure license could be cheaper.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Azure nine out of 10. It's a perfect application, and I would recommend it to others.

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: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer1392516 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Enterprise Infrastructure at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Scalable, easy to use, and offers excellent performance
Pros and Cons
  • "The performance is good."
  • "The solution is less mature than AWS."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use it for infrastructure and for some of its containers. It's very similar to AWS.

We moved to it as part of the initiative for the country to start using Azure services.

What is most valuable?

The solution offers many of the same features and has similar functionality to AWS.

The performance is good.

It's easy to use.

We find that it's stable. 

The solution scales quite well.

What needs improvement?

The solution is less mature than AWS. That said, it is catching up quickly.

The solution could always be cheaper. That way, it would be less expensive than AWS.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been dealing with the solution since 2016. It's been about five years or so. I've had some time to work with it a bit. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very good. It's a reliable solution. There are no bugs and glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have found the scalability to be very good. If a company needs to expand, it can do so with ease. It's not a problem at all.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support has been great. They are helpful and responsive. We are pleased with the level of attention we get if we need assistance. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have also used AWS. We use both of them right now and like them both. They are very similar tools. 

How was the initial setup?

There isn't really an initial setup. it's on the cloud and subscription-based. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is more or less the same as AWS. They are very competitive with each other. There isn't too much of a difference, price-wise. 

In our case, the solution doesn't have a license. It's subscription-only. However, you can buy your own license separately and install it on whatever system application you're using on Azure. This is the same in the case of AWS.

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. It's a good solution with a lot of potential and we've been happy with its capabilities so far. 

Whether or not I would recommend it to other companies depends on the use case. If you have a specific use case for using the cloud in general, then likely it makes sense to go with Azure.

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.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1598412 - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Executive at a security firm with 11-50 employees
Real User
Great tool for analytics, storage and retention, but carries excessive licensing costs
Pros and Cons
  • "It is stable and collaborative."
  • "The biggest area needing improvement involves the licensing cost."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for analytics, storage and retention, for just about everything.

What is most valuable?

The solution is fantastic, with Teams, the works. It's just an amazing product.

It is stable and collaborative. It also helps that every person has Microsoft. So, the ease of use and the compatibility between users is fantastic for collaboration.

What needs improvement?

The biggest area needing improvement involves the licensing cost. The cost of actually acquiring the solution is of much significance to small to medium enterprises, especially in countries that have a negative currency. The biggest challenge we face in Africa is the lack of awareness among overseas, European and American vendors of the massive impact that the exchange rate has in the South African market. A cost of $20 for you can equal 300 rand for us. This is what most vendors neglect to realize, that a price affixed to something for the European or American market cannot be applied to the rest of the world or to a continent like Africa. The disregarding by vendors of the importance of the exchange rate amounts to ignorance or arrogance.

My issues are not with the product itself, which I think is great, including Microsoft's strategy concerning respecting it and the consolidation. The pricing, in terms of what can be referred to as traditional third world countries, needs to be addressed. 

The main takeaway that vendors should leave with is that they should not neglect the market in South Africa or in Africa. It is not enough for them to want to have a presence or sell a license. They should also show a desire to sell a value proposition.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure for the last two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is very scalable.

I have clients who use it and there are plans to increase its usage.

How are customer service and technical support?

In respect of technical support, Microsoft's skill level in the African market is great. There has been swinging about in terms of Microsoft's skill-set over the last three years and I think this boils down to the company having undertaken much training and education. McAfee can learn from Microsoft. 

How was the initial setup?

As it is a cloud-based solution, there is no installation involved. It is more about configuration.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay for the license on a monthly basis. 

What other advice do I have?

The solution is cloud-based.

I utilize it both for my personal use as well as that of my organization.

We have a group company and I think this amounts to around a thousand users.

I would absolutely recommend the solution to others.

Taking into account the usability of Microsoft Azure, I would rate it as a seven out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1488372 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Manager at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Straightforward documentation, flexible, and helpful technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found the solution to be flexible, easy to use, and the documents are straightforward to understand."
  • "When we are doing transfers of records in large amounts, for example, petabytes of data or few long datasets, the performance should not degrade as it does."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for executing the ADF pipelines through the database port. We provide the scripts in the database, we run it, and it goes through the ADF pipeline. Afterward, through the database command, the ADF pipeline will run and push the data into Azure SQL. 

What is most valuable?

I have found the solution to be flexible, easy to use, and the documents are straightforward to understand. For example, it is flexible, we have a single pipeline that has three phases, within approximately 15 minutes the records get transferred into this solution efficiently.

Additionally, the solution is well integrated with other solutions such as Power BI.

What needs improvement?

When we are doing transfers of records in large amounts, for example, petabytes of data or few long datasets, the performance should not degrade as it does. I am working on big data platforms like Informatica and others and even though there are terabytes of data being transferred it does it immediately. However, in this solution, I would like the performance to be there when building a large dataset to integrate the data.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for the past three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found the solution to be scalable. We use Teradata for large data and we are building the pipelines for it, so far it has operated well. We have approximately 25 individuals using the solution in my organization.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is very good, if you have an issue they will be able to help.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used Informatica in the past and it has some performance advantages compared to this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution does require a license.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others and we are going to continue using it in the future. We have numerous clients switching to this solution.

I rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Future Datacenter Consultant: Microsoft Azure Cloud. at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Vendor
Great environment assessment tools and monitoring features with pretty good scalability
Pros and Cons
  • "The user interface is very nice and makes everything easy to use."
  • "Support could be improved. If you pay for a higher plan, it's okay, however, the lower plans don't offer as good of a service experience."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is basically a platform as a service for web applications, virtual machines, Azure identity, et cetera.

My day-to-day is to migrate servers using Mover or some other app to access on-premises data centers. We then use Azure Migrate to move the servers in order to take advantage of the new functionalities and things like that.

What is most valuable?

The solution offers good monitoring features that allow us to configure items better in the customer environment. The monitoring is really awesome.

Occasionally, clients have specific requirements for their applications and we can move them onto Azure services or apps. 

Overall, it offers a better way to move the applications and monitor or configure the applications with higher availability. For example, there are load balancers, different types of layers that load balancers use, traffic managers, Front Door, and things of that nature that are available to us and the client via Azure.

Overall, I like how the solution works. It offers everything I need, for the most part.

The user interface is very nice and makes everything easy to use.

The power share modules have been improved, and the AC module was introduced - which has been great. There are ten or 15 more regions on the way as well.

The tools on offer are excellent. It has some really great environment assessment tools as well.

What needs improvement?

There are preview features we are waiting on. When I contact Microsoft support, there is no timeline given or clear information about when those preview features are going to be on GA, general availability. It would be ideal if they could finally give us at least an estimation of how much longer we have to wait.

Support could be improved. If you pay for a higher plan, it's okay, however, the lower plans don't offer as good of a service experience. It also seems as though each different tier doesn't talk to the other. they should be able to communicate and share details internally with each other so that they are learning from each other instead of staying siloed.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for the last few years. I would estimate it's been about five years at this point. It's been a while. I've definitely been using the solution over the last 12 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In terms of stability, for me, it works. However, depends on the type of project that's happening. If you're going to have just a virtual machine running there then it can fail. That said, the platform offers a lot of options to improve the capability, so it depends on how much money a client wants to invest.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability works just fine. I've had some issues before with Azure App Service, with an App Service environment allocation, however, Microsoft has improved that, making a bigger rack. Since then, I haven't seen issues with scalability. That was maybe a year ago.  

We currently have three clients on Microsoft Azure.

How are customer service and technical support?

There is room for improvement with technical support. I work with premium support and therefore don't really face issues. We have good engineers. There are some issues when you get a new support person. They have a lot of rotation in their personnel. They train people for a couple of months. They're trying to help however, it's not the same as getting a seasoned professional. It really depends on the support line you buy. If you go for a lower tier, you're likely to get less experienced assistance.  

How was the initial setup?

For the most part, the initial setup is straightforward. It was not overly complex. I worked with a Microsoft support engineer. I had contact with the product group and know the technical advisors and technical matters, which made it very easy for me.

For example, in comparison. I tried to use Amazon Web Services by myself, and I got confused as I didn't have that level of support. With Azure, the interface is nice, and it's pretty straightforward. Anybody with a little bit of technical knowledge about working, virtual machines, or similar items can use it with little to no problem. The implementation is pretty good.

The time it takes to deploy the solution depends on the customer environment. If they have 25 servers versus five there will be radically different deployment times.

Typically, we use Microsoft strategies as a foundation assessment. We'll look at the customer environment and be in the background for a couple of weeks to pull some data so we can have a better understanding of the customer environment. After that, we create a plan to start migrating the servers. Each client is unique.

What about the implementation team?

I worked alongside a Microsoft support engineer who assisted in the process.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

You do need to pay for technical support and there are different tiers of support you can get. The higher the tier, it seems, the better the service you can expect.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I haven't used AWS or Google Cloud, therefore I don't really ever compare this solution to them. I don't say "this platform has that and I like how this works". For me, Azure just works and it's fine and I don't need to go in-depth and look at other options.

The company I am working at new does use AWS and we're planning to introduce new cloud technologies as well. 

I'm not a salesperson, however, I can say that we would move the client to whichever technology made sense to them after doing an evaluation of their requirements. That, of course, is handled by a different department.

What other advice do I have?

We are a reseller and a Microsoft Gold partner. We are a CSP, a Cloud Solution Provider. We offer managed services to our customers. We are moving data centers to Azure, however, we are a managed service provider. We have access to the customer's environment in order to pull analytics data to help them with consulting services, and things like that.

My basic advice to those considering the solution is that planning is essential. Microsoft does a good job of advising their customers at the outset to ensure they get what they need, however, it's helpful to go in and understand deeply what it is your company needs overall. 

That said, Azure is a strong cloud and its technology is great. Microsoft offers good implementation with service legal agreements and good practices.

Overall, I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
CISO at a religious institution with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Very stable, easy to set up, and allows us to scale up and scale down depending upon our needs
Pros and Cons
  • "Its ability to scale is most valuable. There are certain periods of the year when we are busier, and we're able to scale up and scale down with Azure depending upon our needs."
  • "They're already doing quite a bit. I'm not unsatisfied with anything that they're doing right now. They can maybe make the transitions a little smoother and improve its pricing. The pricing for the end-user packages is a bit high."

What is our primary use case?

One of the use cases that we have is with our installation of SAP on private. We also have some apps that we have developed that are public, and we use the security system that they provide. We also use Microsoft Sentinel, which is the SIEM that helps us to align with the alerts and the incidents. We have a combination of public and private clouds, but everything is in Azure.

What is most valuable?

Its ability to scale is most valuable. There are certain periods of the year when we are busier, and we're able to scale up and scale down with Azure depending upon our needs.

What needs improvement?

They're already doing quite a bit. I'm not unsatisfied with anything that they're doing right now. They can maybe make the transitions a little smoother and improve its pricing. The pricing for the end-user packages is a bit high.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable. It is very simple to scale.

How are customer service and technical support?

You have to go through a lot of preliminary levels before you finally get to someone, but you can get a difficult problem solved. There is a process that you have to follow.

How was the initial setup?

As far as the setup goes, most of it is pretty simple. When we started working with Microsoft Intune and a little bit on the unified labeling, it became a bit more complicated, but we're getting through it.

Shared active directory and multifactor authentication (MFA) are a little bit difficult to introduce because once you put something on it, it affects all of their Office products and anything that deals with Microsoft, whether it is SharePoint, OneDrive, or something else. Often, we want to activate it for an app and not so much for everything else, but that's our peculiar quirk. I don't think there is anything that Microsoft needs to change necessarily.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing for the end-user packages is a bit high. It is full of very interesting services, but I would still like it to be less expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.