Microsoft Azure Infrastructure

Use smart technology, tools, and services to enhance your organisation. Easily integrate your technology to make platform management easier and to offer innovations quickly and safely on a reliable cloud.

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Microsoft Azure is a leading cloud computing platform and service provided by Microsoft, offering a wide range of cloud services, including those for computing, analytics, storage, networking, and more. The Microsoft Azure infrastructure enables organisations to build, deploy, and manage applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed data centres.

As a Microsoft Azure Expert MSP with experience working with organisations across a variety of industries and sectors, you can rest assured that you are in safe hands with Phoenix.

Azure Expert MSP is the highest level of Microsoft accreditation and independently validates our expertise and quality of cloud transformation services, covering planning, migration, optimisation, operation, and management of cloud services on the Azure platform.

Our Microsoft accreditations

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Why migrate to Microsoft Azure?

Migrating to Azure enables organisations to modernise their IT infrastructure, enhance operational efficiency, and unlock new growth opportunities. The process involves moving applications, data, and workloads from on-premises environments or other cloud platforms to Microsoft’s Azure cloud. Benefits of migrating to Azure include:

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Comprehensive service offering

Azure provides a vast array of services, including virtual machines, databases, AI, machine learning, IoT, and analytics, catering to diverse business needs

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Scalability

Azure’s cloud services can scale up or down according to demand, making it suitable for organisations of all sizes and allowing them to handle variable workloads efficiently

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Security

Azure offers robust security features and compliance certifications, ensuring data protection and regulatory compliance

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Cost efficiency

Pay-as-you-go pricing models and cost management tools help organisations optimise their cloud spending

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Global reach

With data centres in more than 60 regions worldwide, Azure provides high availability, low latency, and redundancy

What do organisations use Azure for?

Microsoft Azure offers a wide range of use cases that cater to various business needs, from enhancing operational efficiency to driving innovation. Whether it’s leveraging AI and machine learning for data insights, implementing robust disaster recovery solutions, or enabling seamless IoT integration, Azure provides the tools and infrastructure necessary to transform your organisation’s digital landscape.

Azure provides reliable and cost-effective disaster recovery solutions, ensuring business continuity. For example, Azure Site Recovery can replicate on-premises virtual machines to the cloud

Azure’s analytics services, such as Azure Synapse Analytics and HDInsight, allow organisations to process large datasets and gain actionable insights. According to a Forrester study, companies using Azure for analytics achieve an average ROI of 271% over three years

Azure Machine Learning and Cognitive Services help organisations build and deploy AI models at scale. According to Microsoft, AI-driven insights and automation can increase operational efficiency by up to 30%

Azure IoT Hub and Azure Digital Twins enable organisations to connect, monitor, and manage IoT devices, driving innovation in sectors like manufacturing and smart cities

Azure’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings, such as Azure App Service and Azure Functions, streamline application development and deployment, reducing time-to-market

Azure Arc and Azure Stack allow businesses to manage and deploy resources across on-premises, multi-cloud, and edge environments, providing flexibility and control

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What our Microsoft Azure customers say…

The Brooke Hospital for Animals

“It’s allowed us to get far better visibility of what’s going on in our environment, and which services we need and which we don’t really need anymore.”

Enrico Tizzano, Chief Technology Officer – Brooke

Case Study - Brookes Animal Hospital

University of Stirling

“Phoenix are very knowledgeable. Their in-house knowledge is very, very good. When we have asked questions that they are not able to cover, they’ve been very good at bringing in partners who have that expertise.”

James Blair, Director of Development and Operations – University of Stirling

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Azure VMware Solutions (AVS)

Azure VMware Solution (AVS) enables organisations to seamlessly extend or migrate their existing VMware workloads to the Azure cloud without the need for rearchitecting applications.

AVS provides a consistent and familiar VMware environment, running on dedicated Azure infrastructure, allowing organisations to leverage their existing VMware skills and tools, such as vSphere, vSAN, and NSX, within Azure. This solution offers integrated management, enhanced security, and scalable resources, ensuring high performance and reliability.

By using AVS, organisations can take advantage of Azure’s global reach, advanced security features, and a comprehensive suite of Azure services, facilitating disaster recovery, backup, and cloud bursting scenarios while optimising costs and enhancing operational efficiency.

As a highly accredited Microsoft and VMware by Broadcom partner, speak to us today about the benefits that AVS will bring your organisation.

Azure for Windows Server and SQL Server

Azure provides robust support for Windows Server and SQL Server, enabling organisations to enhance performance, security, and scalability while reducing costs.

By migrating Windows Server workloads to Azure, organisations can benefit from hybrid capabilities, extended security updates, and seamless integration with on-premises environments using services like Azure Arc.

For SQL Server, Azure offers a range of solutions, including Azure SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance, which deliver high availability, automated backups, and advanced analytics. These services ensure optimal database performance with built-in AI, security, and compliance features.

Leveraging Azure for Windows Server and SQL Server allows businesses to modernise their IT infrastructure, achieve greater efficiency, and unlock new insights from their data.

OCRE Framework

The OCRE framework, available to GÉANT members, enables over 10,000 universities and research institutions, served by 40 National Research and Education Network (NREN) organisations across Europe, to benefit from:

  • Significant discounts across Azure services
  • Ready-to-use contracts designed to satisfy national and European public sector procurement regulations and GDPR requirements

Phoenix is the sole provider of Microsoft Azure cloud services to research institutions, universities and NREN members in the UK through the OCRE framework.

Learn more about the OCRE Azure framework here.

Book a free one-to-one session with one of our OCRE Azure Specialists to learn more about the framework and the benefits it can offer your educational institution.

Where to start with Microsoft Azure

Conducting a comprehensive assessment before migrating to Azure is paramount, as it provides a clear roadmap to calculate a total cost of ownership, identify potential bottlenecks, and to streamline the migration planning process. By thoroughly evaluating your existing infrastructure, you gain insights into workload dependencies, resource utilisation patterns, and potential areas for cost optimisation.

This proactive approach ensures a seamless transition to Azure, minimising downtime and mitigating risks.

Our Phoenix Surveyor is broken into two areas depending on your needs:

Surveyor Migrate is designed for organisations looking for the rapid adoption/ migration of workloads and require a “rapid lift and shift” of virtual machines (VMs) and applications.

The rapid lift and shift approach to Azure migration offers organisations an accelerated pathway to unlock the power of the cloud, without the need for complex application redesign or rearchitecting. This method involves swiftly moving existing on-premises applications and workloads to Azure, minimising disruptions and accelerating time-to-value.

Surveyor Migrate not only expedites the migration process but also ensures continuity in operations, enabling you to harness the scalability, security, and innovation of Azure.

Speak to our Azure Specialists today about Surveyor Migrate

Surveyor Modernise provides an assessment of your current application estate. It offers organisations a strategic multi-stage roadmap for the modernisation of its estate over multiple years.

This roadmap leverages Azure native services and aligns each stage with your business objectives, in addition to calculating a total cost of ownership. This approach ensures a tailored transformation that maximises efficiency and innovation.

The result is not just a migration, but a holistic application modernisation that unlocks the full potential of Azure’s native services.

Speak to our Azure Specialists today about Surveyor Modernise

Microsoft Azure Infrastructure FAQs

Azure advanced specialisation partners and Azure Expert Managed Services Provider (MSP) undergo rigorous and independent technical validation of their capabilities to ensure they meet Microsoft standards. Move forward confidently with a partner, like Phoenix Software, with proven abilities and commitments to your success.

Azure is a cloud platform that offers over 200 products and services to help you innovate and solve problems. You can use any tools and frameworks you want to create, run, and manage applications on cloud, hybrid, and edge environments.

Cloud computing is the provision of computing services – including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence – through the internet to enable quicker innovation, adaptable resources, and cost efficiency.

Azure offers a cloud platform that is managed by Microsoft with high security standards. It has multiple layers of security features and special threat intelligence that help detect and prevent threats that change quickly.

Be future-ready

Arrange a free scoping call with our Microsoft Azure Specialists today to discuss your current infrastructure goals and which Surveyor assessment is best for your organisation.

You can also email us at [email protected] or call 01904 562200 – whatever works best for you.