Can the Azure Platform Heal Your Infrastructure Woes?
In today's tough economic times, decision makers are often challenged with doing the near impossible. On the financial front, businesses are not in a position to make continued capital investments in IT infrastructure, and this makes matching capacity to demand difficult, especially since IT centers are asked to maintain service levels with smaller, less experienced staff. Technical challenges include internal data centers at capacity, having to manage a wide variety of disparate technologies, and integrating legacy applications with new Internet-based technologies to meet the demands of Web-enabled customers, partners and employees. On the business front, there are the ever-critical requirements to respond quickly to changing market conditions, reach new customers and retain existing customers, all while providing a higher sense of service without the ability to make additional investments in the technology infrastructure.
One solution to these challenges can be a unified, flexible, and secure managed infrastructure platform with scalable, use-what-you-need, pay-as-you-go cost-effective pricing structure. The Windows Azure Platform was designed to bring together these features and help businesses overcome the infrastructure challenges
The Windows Azure Platform
Azure is a set of cloud computing services that can be used separately or together.
Windows Azure is hosted in Microsoft data centers around the world. Windows Azure provides compute power, storage, and automated service management, as well as easy connectivity to other applications and access control to provide secure authorization and authentication of access to cloud resources.
Microsoft SQL Azure is also hosted in the Windows Azure platform and provides relational database services and automated management of relational service. SQL Azure can help reduce costs by integrating with existing toolsets and providing symmetry with on-premises and cloud databases.
Windows Azure AppFabric helps developers connect applications and services in the cloud or on-premises. This includes applications running on Windows Azure, Windows Server and a number of other platforms including Java, Ruby, PHP and others. Windows Azure AppFabric provides a Service Bus for connectivity across network and organizational boundaries, and Access Control for federated authorization as a service.
Azure’s Advantage for Business
Agility
Windows Azure increases business agility with solutions and technology that can pull new compute resources as needed, allowing for quick response to changes in business and customer needs. With pay-as-you-go pricing you can optimize utilization as well as minimize depreciation costs and optimize maintenance costs.
Focus
Deploying services and applications in Windows Azure allows your IT staff to focus on delivering value to the customers, new solutions as needed, and to automate many systems management activities associated with those solutions. Your IT staff can focus on innovation and solving business problems rather than mundane maintenance tasks.
Efficiency
Windows Azure is based on technology familiar to your IT staff, allowing them to develop and support applications and services quickly and efficiently leveraging knowledge they already have. This is an efficient approach to managing technology infrastructure that not only allows for deployment flexibility but also leads to lower costs. Microsoft provides a variety of ways of supporting developers and IT staff from online self-help to assisted support through existing Microsoft developer network and Microsoft partner network programs.
Simplicity
With Windows Azure and existing Microsoft technologies, cloud computing is not an all-or-nothing proposition. The ability to combine deployment options, installing applications on premises, with traditional posters, or within Windows Azure, is deeply ingrained in the technology of Microsoft Windows server and Windows Azure. Businesses can make decisions where to host all or part of their applications based on desired cost model, ability to manage and maintain systems, software licensing requirements, and desired hardware investment models. No other infrastructure provider or cloud computing platform gives businesses that choice and flexibility.
Can Windows Azure address your evolving infrastructure needs? Contact us to continue the conversation!