Category: azure

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Microsoft Azure Purview


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The latest Azure offering, Purview, is a “unified data governance” service to help organisations manage data across their ever expanding environments – including on-premises, IaaS multi-cloud (Azure, AWS etc.) and also SaaS services. According to Microsoft, Azure Purview will offer automated discovery and classification of data, a map of where it all resides and how it relates to each other, easy searching to locate data, and an overview of how data moves across your organisation.

Given the increasing amounts of data we all create and collect, combined with the rising threat of cyber attacks – at a personal, corporate, and national level – this is a welcome introduction.

Pricing

Azure Purview is (almost) free to try until February 28, 2021 but we can already see an overview of how it will be priced going forward.

First of all, you need to provision the “Data Map” – this is priced based on 2 things…Capacity Units and metadata storage.

Capacity Units

This is a set of resources provisioned in order to keep your Data Map up and running. One Capacity Unit can support “approx. 1 API call per second” and is currently priced at $0.342 per hour.

Metadata storage

This stores the metadata associated with the scanned assets which enables the searching capabilities within Purview. Microsoft talk about this being in a “graph” format – so this appears to be another element of the “Microsoft Graph” being surfaced as part of a product. Pricing is yet to be announced but will be on a per GB basis…I can well imagine many organisations finding themselves with a HUGE amount of this metadata storage!

Scanning

When it comes to scanning your environment, this is charged at $0.63 per “v-core hour” that you consume whilst actively scanning. Microsoft state there will be no “incremental charges” for connectors to 3rd party datastores.

Almost regardless of cost, I think many organisations will find it hard not to use this service – given the worries, risks, and potential fines that data mismanagement can bring. Microsoft have made another strong move to position themselves as an integral part of the future of business. Even if everyone stopped using Windows and Office tomorrow, Azure Purview (and other new services) would keep Microsoft at the forefront of many an organisation’s mind for years to come.

Further Reading

Azure Purview page

Azure Purview pricing

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Microsoft Financial Results: Q1 FY21


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As I think most of us expected, Microsoft’s strong financial results continued in Q1 FY21.

Headline figures

In July – September 2020, Microsoft saw:

  • Revenue up 12% to $37.2 billion
  • Operating Income up 25% to $15.9 billion
  • Net Income up 30% to $13.9 billion
  • Operating Expenses grew by 10% (primarily driven by investments in Azure)

This is a fantastic performance as Microsoft – unlike many of their rivals – continue to grow and thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic. While IBM, Oracle, and SAP are all reporting lacklustre numbers – Microsoft are doing very well. This is mainly due to Microsoft’s wide and varied portfolio – if you don’t want one thing, there are plenty of others they can sell you – but also due to the relevance of their product line-up.

Not only are Microsoft 365 and Azure hugely relevant right now, so are products like the Power Platform and Dynamics 365 as they enable new ways of working and digital transformation. This is a strength many of their competitors don’t have – if you don’t want to buy a big database or an ERP system, that dramatically reduces the options for Oracle & SAP for example.

Product Highlights

  • Office 365 commercial revenue was up 21%
  • Dynamics 365 again grew by 38%
  • Azure saw another quarter of 48% growth
  • LinkedIn was up 16%
  • Surface revenue rose 37%
  • Enterprise Mobility & Security install base has grown to 152 million+ seats

On the flip side – Office Commercial was down 30% showing the move away from on-premises perpetual to cloud-based subscriptions continues apace.

Microsoft also called out “continued weakness” in transactional licensing as they saw a 1% drop in “server products” revenue. To be honest, I’m surprised it isn’t a bigger drop than that…

Another drop in Windows Pro OEM sales (22%) while Windows non-Pro OEM grew by 31%. This will partly be due to organisations de-prioritising laptop refreshes right now but also, I suspect, by users working from home buying themselves new “work” devices. That latter aspect opens up some licensing issues – as volume licensing Windows licenses generally can’t be applied to Windows Home licenses.

Microsoft are in a very strong position and it’s further proof that Satya Nadella has overseen one of the greatest corporate turnarounds for a long time!

Further Reading

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2021-Q1/press-release-webcast

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Microsoft and Nutanix hybrid cloud


Microsoft have announced a partnership with Nutanix to help organisations develop multi-cloud and hybrid cloud scenarios. Nutanix clusters will be added into Azure datacentres – extending on-premises Nutanix environments into the cloud:

https://www.nutanix.com/blog/hybrid-cloud-solutions-with-nutanix-and-microsoft-azure

Software and nodes will be paid for via “Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC)” or PAYG, as well as existing Nutanix licenses being portable into Azure. Azure Hybrid Benefits can be utilised on the “Nutanix Clusters on Azure” and Microsoft’s Extended Support Updates are available too. Additionally, via Azure ARC, various Azure services – including Kubernetes – can be run in on-premises Nutanix environments.

Microsoft are really working to extend Azure to as many organisations as possible – VMware on Azure, Azure Stack, Azure Arc, and now this. It seems very much the approach they took to Office software on mobile devices – if you allow people to use your service alongside those from competitors, you end up in a better position that forcing them choose one or the other.

The service is currently in public preview – more info is available here and you can sign up to the waiting list here.

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Microsoft Security name changes – September 2020


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Microsoft have always enjoyed a good name change and nowhere has this been more true than their rapidly growing security portfolio. You’ll be pleased to know the pace of change continues following Microsoft Ignite 2020!

What’s changed?

Old nameNew name
Microsoft Threat ProtectionMicrosoft 365 Defender
Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat ProtectionMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Office 365 Advanced Threat ProtectionMicrosoft Defender for Office 365
Azure Advanced Threat ProtectionMicrosoft Defender for Identity
Azure Security Center Standard EditionAzure Defender for Servers
Azure Security Center for IoTAzure Defender for IoT
Advanced Threat Protection for SQLAzure Defender for SQL 

So gone are the various ATPs and Security Centers but now, like Marvel, we’ve got a bunch of Defenders to contend with!

There have also been a range of new features additions which will continue to strengthen Microsoft’s security offering including support for Amazon AWS and Google Cloud.

Further Reading

Microsoft SIEM & XDR features and name changes

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Microsoft Product Terms: September 2020


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Only a few additions again this month but a couple are pretty interesting.

Azure DevOps Server 2020 is added.

Dynamics 365 Sales Premium is added. This is a new SKU that combines the “Sales Enterprise” and “Sales Insight” licenses for £101.80 per user per month – a saving of £7.50 pupm. Naming wise – I’m not sure that having an “Enterprise” SKU inside a “Premium” SKU really makes sense tbh!

Azure SQL Edge is added. This is a new variant of SQL made for the cloud world with features including:

  • Support for ARM architecture
  • Built-in data streaming
  • Network bandwidth optimisation
  • Designed to run in containers

I’ve taken a look at it here.

Azure Stack Edge appears too – this is a physical device you keep on-premises, like a branch office or field location, to “filter, analyse, and transform your data before it moves to Azure”. Lose/damage one and it’s a $40,000 charge!

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Azure SQL Edge – what is it?


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A new variant of SQL – Azure SQL Edge – is available in public preview and was added to the Product Terms in September 2020.

What is it?

This new flavour of SQL is made for the emerging, growing world of the cloud and edge computing – something of a focus for Microsoft over the last couple of years. Azure SQL Edge is based on SQL Server for Linux and, although it contains only a subset of the full functionality, it also includes features not found in SQL Server for Linux or Windows.

It supports both Intel and ARM processors and runs in containers, currently the only supported scenario is Docker hosts running Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or 18.04 LTS. New features include built-in data streaming and in-database machine learning.

When would you use it?

Microsoft say it is aimed at “edge scenarios” – primarily Internet of Things (IoT) – and it allows data to be analysed and processed before it gets to the central infrastructure; this can lead to faster results and also reduced cloud and network bandwidth utilisation. This latter point is an often overlooked aspect of working with the cloud – more data moving around more places means more network usage and, in many cases, more cost too.

“You don’t need an army of database administrators to install and manage SQL Edge on all your edge devices”

As Azure SQL Edge is container-based, you can deploy it from one portal and then simply update the container as needed. If this is indeed the case, it will help with the “do more with less” approach that comes with cloud – where you can easily end up with many more servers and assets than on-premises, without a matching increase in head count!

Pricing

It’s in Public Preview at the moment, meaning it can be used at no cost (in areas where Azure IoT Edge is available) and more details on pricing and purchase model will be released once the preview is over.

*Update – Feb 2025*

Unfortunately, Azure SQL Edge is being retired by Microsoft as of September 30th, 2025.

Microsoft recommend migrating to:

  • SQL Server Express
  • SQL Server Standard
  • SQL Managed Instance enabled with Azure Arc

None of which are particularly similar to the Edge edition.

See the retirement notice here – https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/updates?id=azure-sql-edge-retirement

Further Reading

Azure SQL Edge overview

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Microsoft Product Terms: August 2020


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Nothing too major this month, as expected:

  • The Teams Advanced Communications SKU has been added
  • There are a few updates to SQL Hybrid Benefit info for Server Subscriptions
  • Added extra Power Platforms info covering:
    • Purchase minimums
    • Extended Use Rights for Portals
    • Additional pre-requisites

Nothing new for Power Platform, really just moving key info from the licensing guide to the Product Terms – which is the way it should be.

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Microsoft FY20 Financial Results


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Microsoft had, as expected, a great Q4 with revenue up 13% to $38 billion, which closed out an equally good fiscal year. Overall revenue of $143 billion, and operating income of $44.3 billion, was driven by revenue increases in all Microsoft’s key areas:

  • Office 365 was up 19%
  • Dynamics 365 was up 38%
  • LinkedIn increased by 10%
  • Azure was up 47%

Although the Azure growth was lower than previous quarters, it still seems healthy enough for now.

Microsoft called out some interesting points during their earnings call, some of which give a good indication of future direction including:

Slowdown in transactional licensing and flat on-premises server revenue: While this may be down, at least in part, to the impact of COVID-19 – it is also where Microsoft are heading. This is also shown by the fact that Office Commercial (on-premises Office) was down 34% -which Microsoft attributed to a combination of COVID-19 and the move to annuity licensing.

As long as those transactional licenses and on-premises server software are being replaced by CSP, Microsoft 365, and Azure – Redmond will be happy. I’ll be keen to see if this numbers start to rise again as the economic situation stabilises.

Bigger, longer Azure contracts: They stated “material growth” in Azure contracts over $10 million which is good news for Microsoft. For everyone in this new subscription based world, locking customers in to longer term deals is a key aim as it makes it easier for the vendor to forecast and budget.

Increased ARPU for Office 365: Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is a key metric for many of today’s organisations and an increase means Microsoft are making more money per user. This could be as they upgrade to higher level plans (E3 to E5 for example) or purchase add-ons to their existing licenses. The Office 365 seat count increased and the ARPU increased, which are both positive for Microsoft.

All in all, a very positive performance from Microsoft that clearly shows their focus on cloud continues to pay off. Looking ahead to this financial year, FY 21, I think we’ll see more focus on E5 – particularly for security and voice workloads, Power Platform continuing to appear in new places, and increased pressure on those organisations looking to remain on-premises.

See the Microsoft press release and figures here.

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Microsoft Product Terms: July 2020


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There was no English document available on the 1st when I did this (I guess the end of FY took it out of them 🤣), so I used the French version…my now 909 day Duolingo streak is coming in handy!

Nothing major changed or announced which is to be expected; being the start of their new financial year (and when everyone goes on holiday), July & August are often pretty quiet. What we’ve got is:

“System Center Configuration Manager” is renamed to “Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager”. The first real sign of anything happening with this new product name since it was announced a few months back.

“Azure Monetary Commitment” is now “Azure prepayment”.

If you have 1 or more licenses of Project Plan 1/3/5, all O365 users on that tenant get limited access to “Project for the web” customer data. No access to Power Platform apps and doesn’t apply to public sector.

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Microsoft Product Terms: June 2020


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June is the last month of Microsoft’s financial year but they’re still made a few changes worth noting in this month’s Product Terms:

  • 5 year reservations for Azure VMs are added – with a 35% early termination fee
  • Azure Hybrid Rights for SQL have been expanded so now:
    • on-premises SQL Server Standard licenses can be used to run SQL Server Enterprise VMs in Azure
    • on-premises SQL Server Enterprise licenses can be used to run SQL Server Standard VMs in Azure
  • Changes to the eligibility for Office 365 and Microsoft 365 F1 & F3 licenses

SQL Server

The core conversion ratio is different for the two new scenarios:

4 x SQL Server Std on-prem cores w/SA = 1 x SQL Server Ent Azure core

1 x SQL Server Ent on-prem core w/SA = 4 x SQL Server Std Azure core

You can see the above table, and the info, on pages 54-54 of the June 2020 Product Terms.

F1/F3 changes

Microsoft have again changed the rules around who is eligible for a “Firstline” SKU. The new requirements are that to qualify for an F1/F3 license a worker must satisfy at least one of these conditions:

  • Uses a primary work device with a single screen smaller than 10.1”
  • Shares their primary work device with other qualifying Microsoft 365 or Office 365 Firstline Worker licensed users, during or across shifts
    • Other licensed Microsoft Firstline Worker users must also use the device as their primary work device
    • Any software or services accessed from the shared device requires the device or users to be assigned a license that includes use of those software or services

The previous guidance, updated in November 2019, was:

“A Dedicated Device is a computing device used for work with a 10.1” screen or larger, used by the user more than 60% of the user’s total work time during any 90-day period.”

These new rules should make it a bit easier for everyone to police but, for organisations already licensed for F1/F3 prior to June 1, 2020, you can continue to license based on the previous rules until your next renewal.

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