Azure East Overview and Cost Considerations

Azure East is Microsoft's cloud computing platform in the Middle East region. It provides a comprehensive set of services for computing, analytics, storage, and networking.

Azure East is available in several regions, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. This allows businesses in the region to deploy applications and services closer to their users, reducing latency and improving performance.

The cost of using Azure East depends on the services and resources used. For example, the cost of a virtual machine in Azure East can range from $0.000094 to $0.000742 per hour, depending on the size and type of the machine.

To give you a better idea of the costs involved, let's take a look at the pricing for Azure Storage in Azure East. The cost of storing 1 GB of data in a standard storage account is $0.022 per month.

Microsoft Azure Regions offer a range of geographical locations to deploy cloud services, each containing multiple data centers.

Microsoft Azure operates data centers in over 75 million square feet of space, connected by diverse and global fiber paths that traverse over 175,000 miles.

The company is committed to expanding its presence, with plans to add 50 to 100 new data centers each year for the foreseeable future.

Here are some of the regions where Microsoft Azure operates data centers:

Microsoft Azure is currently building its East US 3 region in the metro Atlanta, Georgia area, with a presence in both Douglas and Fulton Counties.

Microsoft Azure operates data centers in several regions, including Central US, East US, East US 2, North Central US, South Central US, West Central US, West US, West US 2, and West US 3.

Each region has multiple availability zones, which are physically separate data centers connected by a high-speed network. These zones provide redundancy, ensuring that if one zone experiences an outage, your resources in another zone remain operational.

The Central US region, for example, is located in Des Moines, Iowa, and has been operational since 2014. It has three availability zones.

Here's a list of the regions with their corresponding availability zones:

Microsoft is also expanding its presence in the United States, with a new data center region, East US 3, being built in the metro Atlanta, Georgia area. This region will have four data centers, covering 980,000 square feet, and will be operational in the future.

Microsoft Azure's expansive data center portfolio delivers three primary economies of scale, including cost efficiency, resource optimization, and maintenance savings.

Choosing the right Azure region can optimize performance, meet regulatory requirements, and reduce costs. Businesses with global operations might benefit from deploying services in multiple regions to ensure availability and resilience.

Latency, egress costs, and regional pricing all play a role in selecting the optimal locations for your resources. For instance, deploying services in a region closer to your user base can minimize latency.

Microsoft Azure provides a default set of regions and virtual networks (VNets) with each account, but navigating a complex cloud environment can be overwhelming. Managing numerous resources across diverse locations can lead to "shadow IT" or hidden costs associated with unused resources.

Here are the three primary economies of scale that Azure achieves through its data center portfolio:

Holori, a cloud cartographer, can help you optimize your Azure footprint by automatically generating a visual representation of your entire Azure infrastructure. This includes pinpointing your resources across regions and availability zones, alongside valuable cost insights.

Optimizing Azure Deployment is crucial for minimizing latency and egress costs. Understanding Azure regions and availability zones empowers you to make informed decisions for your cloud environment.

Choosing the right region for your resources can significantly impact your cloud spend. Deploying services in a region closer to your user base can minimize latency, while certain regions might offer more competitive pricing.

Holori can help you visualize your Azure environment, identifying underutilized resources and optimizing your overall cloud spend. By leveraging Holori's power, you can gain complete control over your Azure footprint and ensure cost-efficiency and optimal performance.

Microsoft is aggressively expanding its data center footprint globally to meet the ever-growing demand for cloud computing services. This expansion will benefit Azure users with lower latency and increased service availability.

Recent reports suggest Microsoft is doubling its new data center capacity, securing significant additional server space worldwide.

A multi-billion dollar investment was announced for a new data center campus in the UK focused on AI. This demonstrates Microsoft's commitment to regional expansion and innovation.

A new data center in France was also secured with a significant investment of over $4B, showcasing Microsoft's dedication to expanding its global presence.

Azure pricing can vary significantly between regions.

Some regions may offer lower costs but come with trade-offs in terms of latency or redundancy.

Deploying services in a region closer to your user base can minimize latency.

Regional pricing all plays a role in selecting the optimal locations for your resources.

Certain regions might offer more competitive pricing.

Navigating a complex cloud environment can be overwhelming, leading to "shadow IT" or hidden costs associated with unused resources.

Holori can help you identify underutilized resources and optimize your overall cloud spend.

Managing numerous resources across diverse locations can be a challenge.

By visualizing your Azure environment, Holori helps you pinpoint your resources across regions and availability zones, alongside valuable cost insights.

Azure Disaster Recovery is a crucial aspect of designing resilient architectures. Microsoft Azure groups its regions into pairs within the same geography to support high availability and disaster recovery.

These region pairs ensure that one region is prioritized for recovery if both experience downtime simultaneously. This strategic approach can help businesses minimize downtime and data loss.

Microsoft Azure has implemented this feature to provide an added layer of protection for its users. By utilizing region pairs, businesses can design more robust architectures that can withstand unexpected disruptions.

If both regions in a pair experience downtime, the prioritized region will take over to ensure continuity. This means that even in the event of a disaster, businesses can still access their data and applications.

Businesses can strategically utilize these region pairs to design more resilient architectures. This includes planning for data replication, failover, and recovery processes.

Azure ExpressRoute allows organisations to extend on-premise networks into the Microsoft cloud over a private connection.

This private connection is provided by a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) connectivity partner such as Console Connect.

ExpressRoute connections don't go over the public internet, which means more reliability, faster speeds, consistent latencies, and higher security than typical connections over the internet.

With ExpressRoute, you don't need to install and maintain routing equipment in a colocation facility.

Console Connect's platform provides direct and on-demand connections to various Azure regions, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, Japan East, UK South, and North Central US.

The Console Connect management portal offers real-time visibility into network performance across your Azure assets, allowing you to continually adapt and optimise your network connectivity.

Here are the Azure regions you can connect to with Console Connect: