Azure

Azure is technology agnostic, which means it works well with both Microsoft and non-Microsoft tech. In fact there is more Linux hosted on Azure than Windows servers. Their services include:

• Azure DevOps

• Azure Virtual Machines

• Azure Blob Storage

• Azure AD

• Azure CosmosDB

• Logic Apps

• Azure Data Factory

• Azure CDN

• Azure Backup

• Azure API Management

Azure in Auckland

Microsoft is building three datacentres in Auckland (New Zealand North zone), located far enough apart to provide resiliance, but close enough to allow synchronous replication. Azure, as well as most of the Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Dynamics services, will become available in NZ “soon”. In the meantime services can be deployed to Australia or other datacentres around the world.

Who’s using it?

Fonterra, PwC, BNZ, ACC, Genesis Energy, ASB… you get the idea. Microsoft loves corporate customers, but are also startup-friendly.

Is AWS or Azure best?

Most solutions can run on both AWS or Azure, and their pricing models are similarly complicated, so it’s not easy to see which would be slightly cheaper for your use-case. It’s best to focus on solutions: Azure is usually best if you’re using a full Microsoft stack, they also have a leading edge for AI tools due to Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI. AWS is our go-to for everything else.

Other Options

Sometimes it’s cheaper to own the hardware rather than rent it: 37signals recently did a cloud exit. If your software can run on Cloudflare (i.e. written in Javascript, C, or Rust), it’s likely lower-cost than Azure. But for the majority of businesses, an AWS or Azure cloud solution makes sense.