As part of promise to deliver the best customer value on Azure, has made their prices comparable on commodity services like compute, storage, and bandwidth relative to Other Large Players . In keeping to this commitment, Azure has announcie price reductions up to 17% on the latest version of the popular Azure D-series virtual machines, Dv2 Virtual Machines. Dv2 Virtual Machines sport 35% faster CPUs than D “v1” virtual machines and are based on the newest generation Intel Xeon (Haswell) processors.
The below table shows the price reductions using Azure US East 2 region as an example. The Dv2 price reductions will take effect early February and Azure will share full details on this page.
|
VIRTUAL MACHINE TYPE |
PRICE REDUCTION |
PRICE REDUCTION |
|
D1-D5 v2 |
10% |
14% |
|
D11-14 v2 |
13% |
17% |
It is worthwhile to note that the Azure Dv2 instances – unlike Other Cloud Service Provide, instances – have load balancing and auto-scaling built-in at no additional charge. This means you get even more value from Azure. In addition to delivering great prices, Azure to provide further discounting and more flexible purchasing programs to support your journey to the cloud.
For customers with Enterprise Agreements, you not only get price reductions like these, but also your price points are even lower – in many cases well below available other Cloud pricing – re-enforcing Auzre’s commitment to be the number one enterprise cloud
Unlike other cloud, Azure virtual machine usage is billed on per-minute rate so you only pay for the compute that you use. With OTHER CLOUD you pay for an hour even if you only use a few minutes.
For developers, Microsoft provides up to $150 free Azure credits per month along with discounts for Dev/Test workloads through the Microsoft Developer Network program. Any developer will be able to get $25 free Azure credits per month for one year with the Dev Essentials program coming soon.
With the Azure Compute Pre-Purchase plan, you can receive up to 63% cost savings when you pre-purchase your virtual machines for one year.
If you’re moving a significant number of workloads to the cloud and are looking for great pricing with lots of flexibility, check out the Azure Compute option. With this program, you can run any compute instance in Azure and realize discounts up to 60% in exchange for add-ons to your Windows Server annuity licenses.
More information on these and other pricing programs are available here.
- PaaS Capabilities
Microsoft Azure PaaS provides application developers with the environment, tools, and building blocks that they need to rapidly build and deploy new cloud services. It also provides the vital ‘dev-ops’ connections which are important for monitoring, managing, and continually fine tuning those apps. With Azure PaaS, much of the infrastructure management is taken care of behind the scenes by Microsoft. Thus, developing Azure PaaS solutions allow for a 100% focus on innovation. - Net Compatibility
Azure’s compatibility with the .Net programming language is one of the most useful benefits of Azure, which gives Microsoft a clear upper hand over other cloud and the rest of the competitors. Azure has been built and optimized to work consistently with both old and new applications developed using the .Net programming framework. It is much easier and straightforward for enterprises to move their Windows apps to Azure Cloud as opposed to other cloud. Thus for the several organizations that use .Net based enterprise apps, Azure is the obvious choice. - Security Offerings
Azure has been designed based on Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) which is an industry leading assurance process. It comprises security at its core and private data and services stay secured and protected while they are on Azure Cloud.
Microsoft was the first Cloud vendor to be approved by the European Union’s data protection authorities and the Article 29 Working Party. They were also the first to embrace the new international standard for Cloud privacy, ISO 27018. Thus, Microsoft guarantees the best in terms of safety for all operations and data on the Azure Cloud.
- Hybrid solutions for Seamless Cloud Connectivity
While Amazon is still testing the hybrid waters, Azure already has its hybrid capabilities in place. It seamlessly connects datacenters to the Cloud. Azure provides a consistent platform which facilities easy mobility between on-premises and the public Cloud.
Unlike other Cloud, hybrid apps can be developed on Azure which can take advantage of the resources available within datacenters, at the service provider’s end, or within Azure itself. Azure also provides a broader range of hybrid connections including virtual private networks (VPNs), caches, content delivery networks (CDNs), and ExpressRoute connections to improve usability and performance.
- Integrated Environment
Azure brings to the table an integrated environment for developing, testing, and deploying Cloud apps. The choice of frameworks lies with the client, and open development languages further add to the flexibility for Azure migration. Additionally, readymade services like web, mobile, media in addition to APIs and templates can be leveraged to kick start Azure application development. Azure PaaS brings together all the applications, data, devices, and partners, both on-premises and in the Cloud. Its flexible toolset is ideal for solving integration needs ranging from connecting mobile apps with on-premises LOB systems, to coordinating B2B payments with partners. - Gentle Learning Curve
Other Cloud is widely perceived as being complicated. This is evident by the numerous tutorials, user guides, and troubleshooting documents that are out there. Conversely, Azure allows the utilization of the same tried and trusted technologies that several businesses have used in the past and are still using today. These include Windows and Linux, Active Directory, and virtual machines. Moreover, it provides useful tools like XCode, Hadoop, Github, Visual Studios, Eclipse etc. It also provides several third party tools, solutions, and apps developed by partner-developers on the Azure Marketplace. As a result, the learning curve for the Azure Cloud is gentle. - The ‘Enterprise Agreement’ Advantage
If an organization already uses Microsoft software, then it likely has the ‘Enterprise Agreement’ with Microsoft. It is entitled to obtain discounts on the Microsoft software being used as Microsoft usually tweaks these agreements to lower the pricing of Azure. Thus, with the enterprise agreement, enterprises can typically obtain significant incentives for using Azure.