Cloud and cloud computing

SHAPE AN AI-READY INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE CLOUD

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?INTRODUCTION

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Migration of data into cloud is the buzzword now a days across the globe. This newsletter gives a glance of several benefits of adopting to the cloud – and how having all workloads in the same place leads to faster performance so you can infuse them with AI services. You’ll also discover how some of the world’s best-known enterprises use their cloud infrastructure to support their AI strategies. Many organisations have come to realise that while moving to the cloud can double their speed and efficiency, leveraging and building on the cloud can also give them enhanced capabilities that can reach 10× multiples.” Deloitte Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud. Virtualization?is the software technology that helps in providing the logical isolation of physical resources. Creating logical isolation of physical resources such as RAM, CPU, and Storage. over the cloud is known as Virtualization in Cloud Computing. In simple we can say creating?types of Virtual Instances?of computing resources over the cloud. It provides better management and utilization of hardware resources with logical isolation making the applications independent of others. It facilitates streamlining the resource allocation and enhancing scalability for multiple virtual computers within a single physical source offering cost-effectiveness and better optimization of resources.

Cloud computing is a buzzword that you may have heard of, but do you know what it really means and how it can benefit you?

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Nowadays,?Cloud computing?is adopted by every company, whether it is an MNC or a startup many are still migrating towards it because of the cost-cutting, lesser maintenance, and the increased capacity of the data with the help of servers maintained by the cloud providers. One more reason for this drastic change from the On-premises servers of the companies to the Cloud providers is the?‘Pay as you go’ principle-based services provided by them i.e., you only have to pay for the service which you are using. The disadvantage On-premises server holds is that if the server is not in use the company still has to pay for it.

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What Is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing?means storing and accessing the data and programs on remote servers that are hosted on the internet instead of the computer’s hard drive or local server. Cloud computing is also referred to as Internet-based computing, it is a technology where the resource is provided as a service through the Internet to the user. The data that is stored can be files, images, documents, or any other storable document.

The following are some of the Operations that can be performed with Cloud Computing

·??????? Storage, backup, and recovery of data

·??????? Delivery of software on demand

·??????? Development of new applications and services

·??????? Streaming videos and audio

What is Virtualization In Cloud Computing?

Virtualization?is the software technology that helps in providing the logical isolation of physical resources. Creating logical isolation of physical resources such as RAM, CPU, and Storage.. over the cloud is known as Virtualization in Cloud Computing. In simple we can say creating?types of Virtual Instances?of computing resources over the cloud. It provides better management and utilization of hardware resources with logical isolation making the applications independent of others. It facilitates streamlining the resource allocation and enhancing scalability for multiple virtual computers within a single physical source offering cost-effectiveness and better optimization of resources.

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Architecture Of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing architecture?refers to the components and sub-components required for cloud computing. These components typically refer to:

·??????? Front end ( Fat client, Thin client)

·??????? Back-end platforms ( Servers, Storage )

·??????? Cloud-based delivery and a network ( Internet, Intranet, Intercloud )

Front End ( User Interaction Enhancement )

The User Interface of Cloud Computing consists of 2 sections of clients. The Thin clients are the ones that use web browsers facilitating portable and lightweight accessibilities and others are known as Fat Clients that use many functionalities for offering a strong user experience.

Back-end Platforms ( Cloud Computing Engine )

The core of cloud computing is made at back-end platforms with several servers for storage and processing computing. Management of Applications logic is managed through servers and effective data handling is provided by storage. The combination of these platforms at the backend offers the processing power, and capacity to manage and store data behind the cloud.

Cloud-Based Delivery and Network

On-demand access to the computer and resources is provided over the Internet, Intranet, and Intercloud. The Internet comes with global accessibility, the?Intranet?helps in internal communications of the services within the organization and the?Intercloud?enables interoperability across various cloud services. This dynamic network connectivity ensures an essential component of cloud computing architecture on guaranteeing easy access and data transfer.

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Types of Cloud Computing

The following are the types of Cloud Computing:

·??????? Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

·??????? Platform as a Service (PaaS)

·??????? Software as a Service (SaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service ( IaaS )

·??????? Flexibility and Control:?IaaS comes up with providing virtualized computing resources such as VMs, Storage, and networks facilitating users with control over the Operating system and applications.

·??????? Reducing Expenses of Hardware: IaaS provides business cost savings with the elimination of physical infrastructure investments making it cost-effective.

·??????? Scalability of Resources:?The cloud provides in scaling of hardware resources up or down as per demand facilitating optimal performance with cost efficiency.

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Platform as a Service ( PaaS )

·??????? Simplifying the Development:?Platform as a Service offers application development by keeping the underlying Infrastructure as an Abstraction. It helps the developers to completely focus on application logic ( Code ) and background operations are completely managed by the AWS platform.

·??????? Enhancing Efficiency and Productivity:?PaaS lowers the Management of Infrastructure complexity, speeding up the Execution time and bringing the updates quickly to market by streamlining the development process.

·??????? Automation of Scaling:?Management of resource scaling, guaranteeing the program’s workload efficiency is ensured by PaaS.

SaaS (software as a service)

·??????? Collaboration And Accessibility:?Software as a Service (SaaS) helps users to easily access applications without having the requirement of local installations. It is fully managed by the AWS Software working as a service over the internet encouraging effortless cooperation and ease of access.

·??????? Automation of Updates:?SaaS providers manage the handling of software maintenance with automatic latest updates ensuring users gain experience with the latest features and security patches.

·??????? Cost Efficiency:?SaaS acts as a cost-effective solution by reducing the overhead of IT support by eliminating the need for individual software licenses.

Function as a Service (FaaS)

·??????? Event-Driven Execution:?FaaS helps in the maintenance of servers and infrastructure making users worry about it. FaaS facilitates the developers to run code as a response to the events.

·??????? Cost Efficiency:?FaaS facilitates cost efficiency by coming up with the principle “Pay as per you Run” for the computing resources used.

·??????? Scalability and Agility:?Serverless Architectures scale effortlessly in handing the workloads promoting agility in development and deployment.

Cloud Deployment Models

·??????? Private Deployment Model:?It provides an enhancement in protection and customization by cloud resource utilization as per particular specified requirements. It is perfect for companies which looking for security and compliance needs.

·??????? Public Deployment Model:?It comes with offering a pay-as-you-go principle for scalability and accessibility of cloud resources for numerous users. it ensures cost-effectiveness by providing enterprise-needed services.

Hybrid Deployment Model

It comes up with a combination of elements of both private and public clouds providing seamless data and application processing in between environments. It offers flexibility in optimizing resources such as sensitive data in private clouds and important scalable applications in the public cloud.

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What Is Cloud Hosting?

The infrastructure is where the people start and begin to build from the scratch. This is the layer where the cloud hosting lives. Let’s say you have a company and a website and the website has a lot of communications that are exchanged between members. You start with a few members talking with each other and then gradually the number of members increases. As time passes, as the number of members increases, there would be more traffic on the network and your server will get slow down. This would cause a problem. A few years ago, the websites are put on the server somewhere, in this way you have to run around or buy and set the number of servers. It costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time. You pay for these servers when you are using them and as well as when you are not using them. This is called hosting. This problem is overcome by cloud hosting. With Cloud Computing, you have access to computing power when you needed. Now, your website is put in the cloud server as you put it on a dedicated server. People start visiting your website and if you suddenly need more computing power, you would scale up according to the need.?

Characteristics of Cloud Computing

·??????? Scalability:?With Cloud hosting, it is easy to grow and shrink the number and size of servers based on the need. This is done by either increasing or decreasing the resources in the cloud. This ability to alter plans due to fluctuations in business size and needs is a superb benefit of cloud computing, especially when experiencing a sudden growth in demand.

·??????? Save Money:?An advantage of cloud computing is the reduction in hardware costs. Instead of purchasing in-house equipment, hardware needs are left to the vendor. For companies that are growing rapidly, new hardware can be large, expensive, and inconvenient. Cloud computing alleviates these issues because resources can be acquired quickly and easily. Even better, the cost of repairing or replacing equipment is passed to the vendors. Along with purchase costs, off-site hardware cuts internal power costs and saves space. Large data centers can take up precious office space and produce a large amount of heat. Moving to cloud applications or storage can help maximize space and significantly cut energy expenditures.

·??????? Reliability:?Rather than being hosted on one single instance of a physical server, hosting is delivered on a virtual partition that draws its resource, such as disk space, from an extensive network of underlying physical servers. If one server goes offline it will have no effect on availability, as the virtual servers will continue to pull resources from the remaining network of servers.

·??????? Physical Security:?The underlying physical servers are still housed within data centers and so benefit from the security measures that those facilities implement to prevent people from accessing or disrupting them on-site.

·??????? Outsource Management:?When you are managing the business, Someone else manages your computing infrastructure. You do not need to worry about management as well as degradation.

·??????? Benefits Of Cloud Computing

Top Reasons to switch from On-premise to Cloud Computing

Reduces cost

The cost-cutting ability of businesses that utilize cloud computing over time is one of the main advantages of this technology. On average 15% of the total cost can be saved by companies if they migrate to the cloud. By the use of cloud servers businesses will save and reduce costs with no need to employ a staff of technical support personnel to address server issues. There are many great business modules regarding the cost-cutting benefits of cloud servers such as the?Coca-Cola?and?Pinterest?case studies.

More storage

For software and applications to execute as quickly and efficiently as possible, it provides more servers, storage space, and computing power. Many tools are available for?cloud storage?such as Dropbox, Onedrive, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, etc.

Employees Better Work Life Balance

Direct connections between cloud computing benefits, and the work and personal lives of an enterprise’s workers can both improve because of cloud computing.?Even on holidays, the employees have to work with the server for its security, maintenance, and proper functionality. But with cloud storage the thing is not the same, employees get ample of time for their personal life and the workload is even less comparatively.

Top leading Cloud Computing companies

Amazon Web Services(AWS)

·??????? ?One of the most successful cloud-based businesses is Amazon Web Services(AWS), which is an Infrastructure as a Service(Iaas) offering that pays rent for virtual computers on Amazon’s infrastructure.

Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform

·??????? Microsoft is creating the Azure platform which enables the .NET Framework Application to run over the internet as an alternative platform for Microsoft developers. This is the classic Platform as a Service(PaaS).

Google Cloud Platform ( GCP )

·??????? ?Google has built a worldwide network of data centers to service its search engine. From this service, Google has captured the world’s advertising revenue. By using that revenue, Google offers free software to users based on infrastructure. This is called Software as a Service(SaaS).

Advantages of Cloud Computing

The following are main advantages of Cloud Computing:

·??????? Cost Efficiency:?Cloud Computing provides flexible pricing to the users with the principal pay-as-you-go model. It helps in lessening capital expenditures of Infrastructure, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses companies.

·??????? Flexibility and Scalability:?Cloud services facilitate the scaling of resources based on demand. It ensures the efficiency of businesses in handling various workloads without the need for large amounts of investments in hardware during the periods of low demand.

·??????? Collaboration and Accessibility:?Cloud computing provides easy access to data and applications from anywhere over the internet. This encourages collaborative team participation from different locations through shared documents and projects in real-time resulting in quality and productive outputs.

·??????? Automatic Maintenance and Updates:?AWS Cloud takes care of the infrastructure management and keeping with the latest software automatically making updates they is new versions. Through this, AWS guarantee the companies always having access to the newest technologies to focus completely on business operations and innvoations.

Disadvantages Of Cloud Computing

The following are the main disadvantages of Cloud Computing:

·??????? Security Concerns:?Storing of sensitive data on external servers raised more security concerns which is one of the main drawbacks of cloud computing.

·??????? Downtime and Reliability:?Even though cloud services are usually dependable, they may also have unexpected interruptions and downtimes. These might be raised because of server problems, Network issues or maintenance disruptions in Cloud providers which negative effect on business operations, creating issues for users accessing their apps.

·??????? Dependency on Internet Connectivity:?Cloud computing services heavily rely on Internet connectivity. For accessing the cloud resources the users should have a stable and high-speed internet connection for accessing and using cloud resources. In regions with limited internet connectivity, users may face challenges in accessing their data and applications.

·??????? Cost Management Complexity:?The main benefit of cloud services is their pricing model that coming with?Pay as you go?but it also leads to cost management complexities. On without proper careful monitoring and utilization of resources optimization, Organizations may end up with unexpected costs as per their use scale. Understanding and Controlled usage of cloud services requires ongoing attention.

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Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over multiple locations, each of which is a data center. Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and typically uses a pay-as-you-go model, which can help in reducing capital expenses but may also lead to unexpected operating expenses for users.

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CLOUD COMPUTING

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Cloud Computing is up to?40 times?more cost-effective for a Small and Medium Business (SMB), compared to running an in-house IT system. Microsoft cloud computing is?93% energy efficient?and has?98% lower carbon emissions?than on-site data centers. Below are five environmental benefits of cloud computing. Another example of cloud computing in action is?Amazon’s AWS, said Goldstein. AWS provides cloud services to run Amazon.com , one of the largest e-commerce sites in the world.

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WHAT?CLOUD COMPUTING?REALLY MEANS

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Cloud computing is changing faster than expected, with new features and capabilities released every day. Nowadays,?Cloud computing?is adopted by every company, whether it is an MNC or a startup many are still migrating towards it because of the cost-cutting, lesser maintenance, and the increased capacity of the data with the help of servers maintained by the cloud providers. One more reason for this drastic change from the On-premises servers of the companies to the Cloud providers is the?‘Pay as you go’ principle-based services provided by them i.e., you only have to pay for the service which you are using. The disadvantage On-premises server holds is that if the server is not in use the company still has to pay for it.

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?Here are some trends and predictions for cloud computing:

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·??????? Adoption

Gartner projects that global spending on public cloud products will reach $600 billion in 2023 and end-user spending on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) will grow at 30.6% year-over-year.

·??????? Growth

According to Allied Market Research, the global cloud services market generated $551.8 billion in 2021 and is estimated to reach $2.5 trillion by 2031.

·??????? Trends

Other trends include:

·??????? Increased investment in cloud security and resilience

·??????? Multi-cloud is an increasingly popular strategy

·??????? The AI and ML-powered cloud

·??????? Low-code and no-code cloud services

·??????? Innovation and consolidation in cloud gaming

·??????? Increased adoption, hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, edge computing, serverless computing, AI integration, enhanced security measures, cost optimization, blockchain integration, and green cloud computing

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·??????? FUTURE

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By 2027, cloud will be the pervasive style of computing.?It will not only be a technological approach for delivering applications, but will also serve as the key driver of business innovation.?Cloud Computing Adoption Trends. According to Gartner, global spending on public cloud products is growing at an annual rate of 20.4% and is likely to reach $600 billion in 2023. Gartner projects that end-user spending on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is growing at 30.6% year-over-year. This year, the cloud computing market is projected to reach a value of $680 billion, and it is expected to hit $1.44 trillion by 2029, driven by the worldwide demand for artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and big data.

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The three most recurring benefits are typically focused on security, scalability and agility. Digital innovation with AI requires a safe environment to store, analyse and move data – no matter where it’s from or who’s using it. On-premises systems simply aren’t suited to handle the data required to run advanced AI and analytics. If organisation plans to innovate with AI (and consequently start handling even more data), the first step is clear: to innovate with AI it helps to have a secure infrastructure. Challenge Cloud benefit Trust is a top priority, so introducing AI would require even more money and resources to ensure security, privacy and compliance at every juncture. Multi-layered security because AI models require so much data, it’s hard to know how much processing power or storage is needed at any given time, making it challenging to allocate budgets and resources. Cost-effective scalability With so many data sources and environments, getting the right data to the right people takes time, slowing project timelines and making it hard ?to pivot with changes. Agility at a competitive pace Cloud is the foundation of a modern IT environment and serves as an essential enabler for other powerful technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) and quantum computing. Without cloud, those technologies are difficult or impossible to implement.” Deloitte Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud. Stimulated security in the cloud Migrating to the cloud has a significant impact on security strategies. At a time when threats pose a constant risk, the cloud offers more robust security measures and compliance standards that can exceed what’s possible on-premises – especially for organisations with a limited labour force or technical skill set.

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Cloud environments come with security-enhancing features like encryption, authentication and monitoring tools that safeguard data and applications. The cloud’s centralised nature simplifies security management, making it easier to adopt measures across different services. Plus, cloud providers offer regular updates and patches that can improve protection against emerging threats. As a result, migrating to the cloud can lead to a more fortified and well-managed security posture, which helps prevent costly breaches and loss of trust. 00 security professionals and the most compliance certifications of any cloud provider, Microsoft is the only dual cloud provider and security supplier on the market. Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud.

Enhanced scalability

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A lack of scalability in infrastructure makes it challenging to allocate computing resources where and when they’re needed most. As a result, hardware is underutilised during periods of low demand and overextended when peak times hit. When infrastructure can’t scale quickly enough to meet demand, this may experience downtime or service disruptions, resulting in lost productivity and potential revenue losses. Everything today is in constant flux, which means your infrastructure must be able to shift with the changes – without added costs or disruptions. Cloud services offer an elastic environment that lets easily scale resources up or down in response to fluctuating demands. Unlike on-premises systems, the cloud can adapt to handle sudden spikes in user activity without compromising performance. This flexibility can considerably reduce overprovisioning or underutilising resources, saving costs and freeing up those resources to create value elsewhere. We had a scenario where we needed to boost compute by 10 times for just a weekend. We dynamically scaled up and back down using Azure with zero business interruption.” Marcel Malan Head of Group IT Operations and General Manager, AIA Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud.

Rapid, agile innovation

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The decision to migrate to the cloud profoundly impacts your speed of innovation. The cloud offers a wide range of automation tools that help streamline different processes, allowing your teams to focus on strategic tasks instead of manual operations. This automation provides an ‘express lane’ for faster development cycles, letting deployment new services and products much faster than usual without causing disruption or downtime to end users. The cloud’s enhanced speed-to-market capabilities also help organisations respond promptly to sudden changes. When new capabilities emerge or trends shift (which seems to be happening every day), the cloud makes it possible to adapt quickly so your organisation can stay a leader in your industry. On a more human level, cloud resources also make it easier to collaborate and share knowledge between teams, enabling a process of innovation that’s guided by possibilities rather than limitations. As a result, businesses that migrate to the cloud often experience a significant boost in innovation, productivity and their ability to pivot on a dime in a constantly changing market landscape. 80% of companies report operation improvements after adopting the cloud. Zippier Increased innovation and productivity with Azure. 45% more efficient DBA teams and 29% more productive IT infrastructure management teams IDC, 87% faster deployment of IT resources IDC, 45% faster delivery of applications with Windows and SQL Server in Azure IDC Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud.

?A new horizon of opportunities:

?AI and the cloud Infusing AI into your operations requires a set of systems and proficiencies to ensure you’re not just exchanging one headache for another. AI adoption and cloud migration go hand-in-hand for companies who want to lay a reliable groundwork for future innovation. Cross-industry Azure AI use cases: | Optimise physical spaces. Using spatial analysis, Azure AI Vision helps you automate real-time video analysis so you can understand how people are utilising physical spaces. | Break down communication barriers. Azure AI Speech lets you innovate voice-enabled apps to transcribe speech-to-text and generate lifelike text-to-speech accurately. | Accelerate content and code generation. Azure OpenAI Services helps teams build apps using large-scale AI models to provide advanced writing assistance and code generation. | Discover previously impossible use cases. Using Azure AI Services containers, developers and data scientists of all skill levels can deploy AI applications anywhere from the cloud to the edge. | Use advanced machine learning and deep learning. Build, train and deploy machine learning models with low-code and no-code tools with Azure Machine Learning and Azure Databricks. | Accelerate document processing. Azure Form Recogniser helps extract text, key-value pairs, tables, structures and other information to accelerate document processing. Early adopters reported a 35% improvement in innovation and a 33% improvement in sustainability by investing in AI over the past three years. IDC Integrating Azure AI Services across your infrastructure, data and applications can improve productivity and increase output by 150%. Forrester Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud 9 The Azure advantage for AI adopters Accounting for almost a quarter of the cloud market share (and rising), Azure is already one of the world’s leading cloud infrastructure and services providers, making daily strides to become the most reliable cloud provider for building an AI-ready infrastructure. It stands out as a reliable cloud provider for several reasons. Extensive investments in AI research and development have resulted in a robust ecosystem of AI tools and cloud-native services within Azure, making it a one-stop shop for AI solutions. Azure offers a comprehensive suite of cloud native and fully managed services that help handle many of the steps and responsibilities that come with building, deploying and scaling AI models. Across industries, more businesses are turning to Azure to support their AI strategies. From their cloud or hybrid environments, they’re working to deploy next-generation AI solutions faster and more efficiently than had ever seemed possible. In the following pages, read about the different advantages of migrating to Azure, and how those advantages translate into tangible business outcomes. We were surprised that Microsoft Azure offers such a breadth of advanced AI capabilities, like abstract summarisation, which are way beyond even the specialist AI providers.” Jon Nicholls Global Chief Information Officer, Arthur D. Little Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud 10 Advantage #1: Improved control of costs Cost efficiency is always at the forefront of business leaders’ minds. Therefore, Azure provides many resources to help you see exactly where your cloud cost savings would come from. These tools can help you manage spending, calculate total cost of ownership (TCO) and optimise your existing Windows Server and SQL Server licences using Azure Hybrid Benefit. But the cost benefits don’t stop there. Once you’re working in the cloud, Azure AI offers many more opportunities to discover new revenue streams, reduce wasteful spending and build long-term customer loyalty – all of which can greatly impact your bottom line. In a Forrester Consulting study, researchers surveyed early Azure AI adopters and created a composite organisation to illustrate the average impact it had on ROI: ?150% increase in work output thanks to automation and the enhanced ability to develop and sell new services. ?7% reduction in costs using AI and machine learning to make better decisions and spot opportunities to optimise (equalling USD 16 million over three years). 25% improvement in productivity for employees working on machine learning activities and 60% reduction in document processing, resulting in savings of more than USD 1 million over three years. Using Azure OpenAI Service to help automate some of [the] more common tasks will be an important change to the way we operate. There will be meaningful time and cost savings.” Jeremy Legg Chief Technology Officer, AT&T 1 The Total Economic Impact? Of Microsoft Azure AI Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud,

?Advantage

?Migrate on your terms When it comes to migrating to the cloud, you have many different options for how to get there. The key thing is to chart a course that optimises your existing tools and talent so the migration process doesn’t put additional strain on your teams and systems. With cloud migration, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution. Each company has unique requirements and skill sets, which is why Azure offers different avenues to suit each organisation’s needs. Whether you’re going for a multicloud environment, hybrid environment or just looking to take the first preparatory steps, Azure has a pathway that starts where you are so you can migrate on your terms. Today, many companies opt for a hybrid approach to maximise their existing on-premises investments while also taking advantage of Azure services and infrastructure. Azure Arc offers a gradual ‘on-ramp’ for companies that want the benefits of the cloud while still maximising their on-premises infrastructure. Azure Arc extends Azure to enable flexible application and service deployment across data centres, edge locations and multicloud set-ups, simplifying governance and management across these environments. It integrates non-Azure and on-premises resources into Azure Resource Manager so you can manage virtual machines, Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure Database for PostgreSQL as if they were in Azure. Additionally, Azure Arc supports cloud-native application development by providing a consistent development, operations and security model, with custom locations for deploying Azure services instances on Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes clusters. Businesses using a hybrid approach achieve a more agile and scalable development environment by 42% and accelerate business agility and innovation by 40%. G2 Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud 12 Advantage #3: High performance for Windows Server and SQL Server Migrating your SQL Server workloads on Azure Virtual Machines allows you to use the full SQL Server, minus the hardware. It also offers flexible licensing options that lower your TCO with a pay-as-you-go model so you can create SQL Server VMs according to your specific operation systems and versions, deployable on Linux or Windows. You can run Azure virtual machines securely from many regions around the globe, with high availability/disaster recovery and automated management capabilities that make it much simpler to manage than on-premises VMs. Azure Hybrid Benefit is a cost-saving offering that enables you to optimise your hybrid environment while reducing costs by using your existing licences for Windows Server, SQL Server and Linux subscriptions. With Azure Hybrid Benefit, you can potentially achieve up to 85% savings compared to the standard pay-as-you-go rate by applying your Windows Server and SQL Server licences. This benefit extends to the Azure SQL Platformas-a-Service (PaaS) environment, allowing you to maximise cost-efficiency. Furthermore, Azure Hybrid Benefit facilitates the adoption of Azure Arc-enabled SQL Server Managed Instance using your existing SQL Server licensing. This helps you meet compliance requirements by offering unlimited virtualisation options on Azure Dedicated Host and the Azure VMware Solution. According to a GigaOm study, using Azure Hybrid Benefit over a three-year commitment, customers can get mission-critical performance for SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines up to 57% faster and costing up to 54% less than AWS EC2 on a price-performance basis. Automated patching sets up maintenance windows and ensures that restarts from system updates happen at the best time for the database. | High availability and disaster recovery (HADR) for both Azure-only and hybrid solutions help ensure business continuity in the event of a disruption or maintenance operation so you can minimise the impact on customer workloads. | Automated backup for Azure virtual machines automatically creates database backups to help protect your data from deletion or corruption. It also lets you configure long-term retention (LTR) for when rules require that backups be available for long periods. | Azure Virtual Desktop enables access to Windows 11 and Windows 10 from virtually anywhere in the world. Azure SQL Managed Instance was the only data store that could hold our data and process the number of transactions that we have.” Minh Duong Customer Hub Senior Manager, American Airlines. SQL Transaction Processing and Analytic Performance Price-Performance Testing – 22.585 – Microsoft – Gigaom Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud 13 Advantage #4: Training resources for all skill sets Cloud migration’s biggest concern is the perceived lack of management skills. A Gartner survey of 437 global firms revealed that IT executives see talent shortage as the most significant barrier to deploying emerging technologies (like the cloud) for strategic business purposes. Many IT leaders worry they don’t have the tools or training to seamlessly transition their teams to using Windows Server, SQL and VMware in the cloud, and some feel they’d need to hire scores of tech professionals and engineers to handle it effectively. Adapting to new technology – and having the confidence to use it freely – requires the right learning resources and expert support. Azure helps fill in the talent gaps by continually releasing new learning modules, workshops and step-by-step documentation to support your cloud migration from any skill set starting point. Furthermore, they’ll also benefit from expert Azure support at every step of the migration to ensure a successful launch into the cloud. Advantage #5: Go to market faster with cloudnative capabilities Becoming ‘cloud native’ is the natural step forward after ‘cloud friendly’. Cloud-native capabilities allow you to build and run scalable applications directly in your public, private and hybrid clouds. From there, developers can take advantage of different microservices and serverless functions so they can build and deploy new apps quickly. Moreover, thanks to container orchestrations with code-to-cloud pipelines (such as Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS),) it’s possible to deploy securely with almost no downtime. From coding and debugging to deployment and management, the cloud-native approach helps ensure your apps are optimised for any architecture and device: | Microservices: Fix bugs and manage updates without having to redeploy the whole application. | Serverless solutions: Eliminate time spent on infrastructure-related activities with low-code/no-code services and developer-friendly APIs. | Containers: Bundle your application’s code with the necessary configuration files and libraries into a container image that developers can deploy to the host operating system with zero or minimal modifications. Leaders … are using more advanced cloud services such as AI and ML, cloudnative development and edge computing/IoT.” Deloitte 3 Gartner Emerging Technology Roadmap 2021-23 Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud 14 Advantage #6: Enable AI innovation at scale All these benefits contribute to the ultimate goal’s success: infusing your business operations with advanced Azure AI capabilities that will provide even more cost savings, operational efficiencies and robust security features. Organisations worldwide use Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Machine Learning and Azure AI supercomputing infrastructure tools to deliver more excellent value and cost savings without forcing IT teams to take on more than they can handle. Once you’ve migrated to the cloud, your team will be able to innovate AI at scale according to your business goals and IT team skill sets and resources. One of the defining qualities of a reliable cloud infrastructure is a commitment to the responsible use of AI. At Microsoft, Responsible AI encompasses six key principles: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency and accountability, providing concrete guidance beyond the usual high-level AI principles. It establishes company-wide regulations that ensure you adhere to ethical AI principles when developing and deploying AI technologies. Six principles of Responsible AI Fairness: AI systems must treat all individuals equitably. Reliability and safety: AI systems should consistently perform securely and safely. Privacy and security: AI systems must prioritise security and safeguard privacy. Inclusiveness: AI systems should empower and engage everyone. Transparency: AI systems should be easy to comprehend. Accountability: Individuals should be answerable for AI systems. New technology poses exciting opportunities, but people need assurances that they won’t be put at risk by taking advantage of them. End users want privacy, inclusivity, transparency and accountability with their AI systems, so they can interact with AI-enabled applications without fear or hesitancy. Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud 15 Azure across industries: Three migration success stories Discover how Azure customers use their cloud-enabled scalability and agility to achieve new heights of productivity and customer satisfaction. AT&T enables rapid innovation and AI adoption with a cloud-first strategy AT&T has a goal to be the best broadband provider in the United States. Toward this goal, the company is investing in growth initiatives and technologies that will provide better connectivity and experiences for customers and employees. By 2019, AT&T had amassed approximately 7,500 applications and was maintaining an intricate infrastructure of mainframes and servers scattered across 34 data centres around the globe. Many of their on-premises servers were being underutilised, and the IT teams faced massive complexities trying to manage home-grown software in applications that were sometimes decades old. The company wanted a more straightforward and more cost-effective infrastructure that would let them respond quickly to market changes and deliver new solutions faster – which meant switching to a cloud-first strategy. The tech team at AT&T spent six months assessing its 7,500 applications, deciding which to retire, migrate to the cloud or consolidate with other apps. Ultimately, they retired a third, shifted another third to the cloud and kept the remaining third in a leaner set-up spanning just six data centres. The cloud-bound applications were divided into two groups: one needing source-code changes (which they called ‘modernisation migration’), and the other needing minimal adjustments (called ‘optimisation migration’). The modernisation migration involved minimal code changes, using a VMware-hosted app from MySQL to Azure SQL Managed Instance. In contrast, the optimisation migration focused on optimising the footprint, which included replacing logging tools with Azure Monitor’s Log Analytics. Now, they can operate every type of workload, compute type and operating system – from Windows to any flavour of Linux – from a scalable, simplified cloud infrastructure. By the end of 2022, the company had shut down 10 of its 34 data centres and is working to close an additional 18 data centres. With a new cloud-first approach, AT&T developers can deliver innovations faster and more responsive to the market and customers. On top of that, the company is also using Azure AI capabilities to automate a variety of tasks, such as computer configuration management to identify potential problems or add capacity. The technology team is also training a tenant of ChatGPT on Azure to help employees complete HR tasks. Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud 16 Migration results: Establishing a cloud-first strategy saves AT&T development time and hardware costs and significantly reduces data centre costs related to energy, real estate, networking and administration. | Moving workloads to Azure reduced costs by about 30% on average. | Whereas a developer used to spend weeks or months procuring the infrastructure they needed to test and deploy an application, now they can execute those tasks in minutes. | AT&T now can monitor and analyse its consumption of Azure resources so teams can identify waste in the environment and spot opportunities for course correction. In this new Azure environment, the infrastructure is available to developers immediately along with a set of services and capabilities that come along with Azure, which makes it a lot easier for people to innovate.” Jon Summers Chief Information Officer, AT&T Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud 17 The NBA accelerates modern app development in the cloud to deliver better experiences NBA employees, referees and production professionals work tirelessly to create magic on the basketball court – and beyond. The IT Application Development Group at the NBA understood that the best way to enhance experiences for fans everywhere was to modernise their digital experiences on the cloud. The team realised the importance of speed and agility in their operations and understood that a simple ‘lift-andshift’ approach from on-premises to the cloud wouldn’t cut it. The company needed a significant code overhaul, using Microsoft applications and services like Azure Blob Storage, Azure App Service and Azure SQL Database to modernise both the code and data to achieve faster time-to-market, improved productivity and enhanced scalability. The initial phase of this transformation involved consolidating all their resources into a single location. The NBA previously operated applications and managed data across various platforms, including on-premises, hybrid cloud and virtual machines. By partnering with Microsoft, they were able to delegate many of the tasks related to OS patching, performance and security to Microsoft teams, enabling the NBA to concentrate their efforts on modernisation. Migrating everything to Azure and utilising Azure App Service not only automate many of the tasks NBA employees were doing themselves – scaling, repo management, security, etc. – but also made the app coding process more seamless with low code and no code scenarios. Additionally, the move has helped the IT team integrate AI capabilities and services into their apps and platforms, improving both the game-watching experience and employees’ day-to-day lives. Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud

?Migration results:

Migrating to Azure has allowed the NBA to innovate new apps and capabilities that personalise the end-user experience and deepen fan loyalty. | The NBA innovated a new app called Referee Engagement and Performance System (REPS), resulting in an almost 1,000% increase in the performance volume conversations within the referee organisation since the web and mobile app launched. | The NBA also used Azure to consolidate 50+ apps into a single sign-on experience called NBAOne to help employees easily handle day-to-day operations. | Edge services with Azure have helped reduce the page download time and increase SEO dramatically. [The] number one thing in having a cloud partner in Azure is the ability for us to have a playground where we can go in and quickly experiment new things, test out new features and use the functionality that comes out of the box natively from a cloud perspective, be it the Azure SQL Database, or Azure Functions, or Azure Templates.” Sahil Gupta Senior Vice President and Head of Application Development Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud 19 Insurance provider AIA embraces a cloud-based future to improve cost savings and sustainability As a multinational insurance and financial services provider, AIA is the largest company headquartered in Hong Kong listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. AIA’s extensive reach extends to 18 markets, serving over 17 million group insurance members and issuing more than 40 million individual insurance policies. Given the intricate nature of today’s digital landscape, AIA faces a multitude of pressing IT challenges and objectives. AIA’s various markets operate with distinct requirements, product offerings and strategies, creating a culture of decentralised innovation. However, the company also maintains centralised guidance in crucial areas such as security, data compliance and sustainability goals. Essentially, the company’s approach is that of an enterprise with a start-up mindset, striking a balance between structured and rigorous technology implementation while allowing for creative problem-solving rather than imposing rigid solutions. In late 2018, AIA embarked on a cloud-first transformation, selecting Microsoft Azure for a comprehensive overhaul of its extensive IT infrastructure. With substantial IT environments and complex on-premises deployments, AIA was experiencing annual growth of approximately 30% in infrastructure and computing. Surprisingly, cloud applications accounted for less than 5% of their total computing workload, with the majority residing on-premises. With nearly half of the world’s population residing in AIA markets, the company needed the capability to effortlessly scale and deliver services across all these regions and markets. As part of the company’s cloud-first initiative, AIA has incorporated cutting-edge technologies, including AI, virtualisation, highly scalable storage and other advanced capabilities. They achieved this by implementing Azure Virtual Machines, Azure AI Services, Azure Data Lake Storage and Azure Data Factory.

While their containerised workloads are primarily based on Linux, they also utilise both Linux and Windows virtual machines on the Azure platform. AIA’s developers have also transitioned to building cloud-native applications using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and clusters to efficiently orchestrate and manage container resources through a unified control plane. Furthermore, moving to Azure has helped AIA jump-start AI initiatives, delivering more than 100 major projects that use AI and analytics, enhancing multiple business domains including recruitment, training, underwriting and claims handling. Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud 20 Migration results: AIA’s ongoing infrastructure evolution has resulted in many gains for the company, which includes using cloudnative technologies as much as possible. The company also reports a significant reduction in its data centre carbon footprint, which will help it meet its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. | Compared to AIA’s previous on-premises set-up, the company has realised a cost savings benefit of more than 20% with Azure. | In one scenario in which the company needed to boost computing by 10 times for a single weekend, the company was able to scale up and back down with zero business interruptions. | AI can now process 1.2 billion transactional reports a month, which is up four or five times from its previous capacity. It’s a new way of reporting on financial metrics, which required a massive change in how we work with countries and their data, and it was much richer data. We’d have needed to implement additional data centres just to manage the compute.” Marcel Mala Head of Group IT Operations and General Manager, AIA Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud 21 Trusted security in the cloud Azure is a Leader in The Forrester Wave? Infrastructure-as-a-Service Platform Native Security (IPNS) category, receiving top ratings in several categories including risk visibility, encryption and Zero Trust criteria. Azure also excelled in the strategy category, demonstrating strong product vision and community engagement. From development to runtime, keeping your multicloud and hybrid environments secure requires a comprehensive cloud-native application protection platform. Platforms like Microsoft Defender for Cloud enable a multicloud approach to security by centralising and unifying your security needs across private and public clouds. Being a leader in the data security platform market helps Azure customers safeguard sensitive data from internal and external threats, including intellectual property, trade secrets, customer information and personally identifiable data. The result is a stronger sense of trust and greater peace of mind during innovation. | 100+ compliance offerings, including in 50+ global regions and countries (US, European Union, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, India and China) | 35+ compliance offerings specific to key industries including health, government, finance, education, manufacturing and media | 3,500 security experts actively monitoring to protect your data | 65+ trillion threat signals analysed daily Our investors and users are familiar with Microsoft and view its platforms as trustworthy. That also makes us more reputable and helps us cultivate trust among our customers.” Michael Javier Co-founder and CEO, CWallet Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud.

?22 Conclusion With an expected USD 1 trillion in value generated for US Fortune 500 companies by 2030, cloud adoption is poised to deliver significant results for companies who move their infrastructure and databases to the cloud. What does that mean for you and your business? It means now is the perfect time to migrate to the cloud. Migrating to Azure offers numerous benefits for your organisation, including: | Cost savings: Apply existing Windows Server and SQL Server licences to Azure Hybrid Benefit for a pay-as-you-go model and reduce spending on redundant hardware. | Flexibility and scalability: Scale up or down compute, storage and network resources without concerns about physical infrastructure. Choose from public, private or hybrid cloud deployment models based on security and compliance needs. | Code-to-cloud security: Cloud-native security with Microsoft Defender for the Cloud helps safeguard data and apps from threats, giving you continuous visibility of your multicloud and hybrid environments. | Innovation and productivity: AI, machine learning, IoT, blockchain and serverless computing help address business challenges and streamline the software development lifecycle, from planning to deployment. | High-performance support for Windows Server and SQL Servers: Critical applications run seamlessly without requiring your teams to learn a drastically different skill set. The assessment and use of AI, triggered by generative AI, is starting to dominate the planning and long-term investment agendas of businesses and cloud providers will play a significant role in the evaluation and adoption of AI enablement services.” Rick Villars Group Vice President of Worldwide Research, IDC Build an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud. Secure your infrastructure on the cloud Migrating your Windows Server and SQL Servers to Azure is the first step to building a lean, secure and cost-effective infrastructure capable of continuous modernisation. With cloud-native security and more compliance offerings than any other cloud provider, the team can protect your applications and resources in every stage of their development – from code to cloud – so organisation can take larger and more meaningful strides to meet ?goals.

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Building an AI-Ready Infrastructure in the Cloud with its limitless scalability, the cloud has helped many businesses surpass traditional boundaries and encourage new ways of delivering value with data. Now, companies across industries are migrating to the cloud to adopt AI technology that lets them create better customer experiences, accelerate app development and fortify security against threats – all from a flexible, unified cloud infrastructure. A Deloitte survey found that, “Eighty-eight percent of respondents view [the] cloud as a cornerstone of their digital strategy and believe it is vital to driving revenue and maintaining a strong position in the marketplace.” Part of that digital strategy is adopting cloud infrastructure and using cloud databases to support the full scope of data management required for building intelligent AI apps, extracting deep insights, reducing time-to-market for new products and more. While IT leaders and business decision makers each have their areas of focus when it comes to using the cloud, the ultimate goals of embracing a hybrid model tend to be similar across organisations and industries: Maximise cost savings and ROI to drive business growth. Achieve new heights of performance to deliver better products and services. Secure data and processes against emerging threats to build trust among customers and employees. Equip teams to use the latest AI technology so they can innovate rapidly and confidently in a constantly changing landscape.