Microsoft is introducing a new member to its Azure Stack family. Called Azure Stack HCI solutions, the new member will allow customers to run virtualized applications on modern hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI).
Launched in 2017, the Azure Stack is available in 92 countries with 8 hardware partners and customers, which includes Airbus Defense & Space, KPMG Norway, and iMOKO. It helps enterprises to run cloud applications using infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) across public cloud, on-premises, and in disconnected environments.
However, some enterprises wanted to run workloads on traditional virtualized applications as well. Microsoft is meeting this demand with new Azure Stack offering.
The new solution will come with the same software-defined compute, storage, and networking software as Azure Stack. Customers will be able to integrate it with Azure services for hybrid capabilities. These services can include Azure Site Recovery, Azure Monitor, Cloud Witness, Azure Backup, Azure Update Management, Azure Network Adapter, and Azure Security Center.
Microsoft said that Azure Stack HCI solutions will not only allow customers to run virtualized applications in their own datacenter, but also improve performance and lower the costs.
“Azure Stack HCI solutions are designed to run virtualized applications on-premises in a familiar way, with simplified access to Azure for hybrid cloud scenarios,” wrote Arpan Shah, General Manager, Microsoft Azure, in a blog post.
“This is a perfect solution for IT to leverage existing skills to run virtualized applications on new hyperconverged infrastructure while taking advantage of cloud services and building cloud skills.”
The new solution will also support modern hardware technologies like NVMe drives, persistent memory, and remote-direct memory access (RDMA) networking.
Also read: Azure IoT Edge now supports virtual machines
Azure Stack HCI solutions are now available from partners who offer Microsoft-validated hardware systems.
