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What is Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft Azure is Microsoft's cloud platform for servers, data and apps. See what Azure can do, how the pricing model works, and when it is the right choice.

In short

Microsoft Azure is Microsoft's cloud platform, where businesses can run servers, databases, applications, backup and AI services in Microsoft's data centres instead of on their own hardware.

Azure delivers both infrastructure (IaaS), platform services (PaaS) and hundreds of ready-made services, all managed through the Azure portal. For Danish SMBs, Azure is typically the route to retiring old servers, gaining built-in redundancy and scalability, and keeping data in EU data centres for GDPR reasons.

The pricing model is consumption-based: You pay only for the compute and storage you actually use, and can reserve capacity at a lower price for predictable workloads. Azure also integrates tightly with Microsoft 365, Entra ID and Microsoft's security tools, so access and security are managed in one place.

MI Support IT designs, migrates and operates Azure environments for Danish businesses, from a single server in the cloud to complete cloud environments with monitoring and security.

Back to the glossary

What is Microsoft Azure?

What is Azure? Microsoft Azure is Microsoft's cloud platform: a global network of data centres where businesses can rent everything from virtual servers and databases to AI services and security tools. Instead of buying and running your own hardware, you create the resources in the Azure portal and pay for what you use.

Azure covers all three service models (IaaS, PaaS and SaaS) and, together with Microsoft 365, forms the backbone of most Danish businesses' Microsoft platform. Microsoft's own documentation at learn.microsoft.com describes the individual services in detail.

What do businesses use Azure for?

For Danish SMBs, the typical uses are:

  • Servers in the cloud: The old physical server (file, application or database server) is reborn as a virtual machine in Azure, with no hardware to replace.
  • Backup and recovery: Azure as a secure, geographically separate backup target and as a platform for disaster recovery.
  • Applications and integrations: Line-of-business systems, websites and APIs running on platform services that scale automatically.
  • Data and AI: Reporting, data analysis and AI services on top of the data the business already has.
  • Security and monitoring: Tools such as Microsoft Sentinel collect logs and detect attacks across the environment.

What does Azure cost?

Azure pricing is consumption-based; there are no fixed package prices. You pay for the compute, storage and traffic your resources actually use, billed continuously. That makes it cheap to start small and scale up, but it also demands governance: Resources left running for no reason cost money every month.

Two concepts are worth knowing: reserved instances, where you commit to a period in exchange for a significantly lower price on predictable workloads, and cost management, Azure's built-in tools for budgets and spending alerts. A well-run Azure solution is reviewed regularly, so capacity matches actual need.

Azure vs. your own server

Should the next server sit in the basement or in Azure? For most SMBs, uptime, security and flexibility argue for the cloud: Azure delivers redundancy, backup power and physical security that a local server room can never match, and capacity can be changed in minutes. Your own hardware can still make sense for the odd specialised system or very large, stable workloads. The trade-off is the same as in the broader discussion about cloud hosting. Read more about the options under cloud and hosting.

How MI Support IT can help

MI Support IT is your partner across the whole Azure journey: We design the environment, migrate servers and systems without unnecessary downtime, and operate it all afterwards, with monitoring, backup, security and ongoing cost management. See our Microsoft Azure solutions, or contact us for a concrete assessment of what Azure can do for your business.

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