In order to give impartial advice on platform and optimize the operation of the IT solutions for our customers in the SMB market, we spend a lot of time gaining insight and testing new solutions.

4 years ago we tested Azure server hosting (IaaS) for the first time. At the time, prices and response times were not competitive with well-established hosting providers.

I sidste uge afholdte vi en workshop med ALSO, for at blive udfordret på den nyeste udvikling. Agendaen var at drøfte Azures muligheder i SMB-markedet og beregne forskellige konkrete priseksempler. 

Our conclusion is very clear; there are still far between the good cases, where the possibility of hyper-optimization of the server operation makes it attractive to use Azure for hosting virtual servers.

The SMB market generally has relatively static needs and even when using discount schemes such as "Reserved Instances" and longer commitment periods, there is unfortunately still a negative performance and price difference.

The freedom of Microsoft's extensive self-service solutions, the possibility of automation and the security of dealing directly with Microsoft are among the most important parameters for choosing Azure over hosting or in-house IT.

We are looking forward to following the development and nevertheless predict that Azure will become the preferred IT platform within the next 5 years, also for the SMB market in Denmark.