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Introduction
Not every workload can move to the public cloud — at least not immediately. Data sovereignty requirements, regulatory constraints, latency sensitivity, and legacy application dependencies keep many workloads anchored on-premises. Azure Stack HCI offers a compelling solution: hyper-converged infrastructure that runs in your data center but integrates deeply with Azure, delivering cloud benefits on-premises.
What Is Azure Stack HCI?
Azure Stack HCI is a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) operating system from Microsoft that runs virtualized Windows and Linux workloads on-premises. It uses Storage Spaces Direct for storage virtualization, Windows Server Software Defined Networking for network virtualization, and Hyper-V for compute virtualization. Critically, Azure Stack HCI is managed through the Azure portal and requires an Azure subscription, making it a true hybrid cloud solution.
Key Azure Services Available on Azure Stack HCI
Azure Stack HCI enables several Azure services to run on-premises. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) on Azure Stack HCI allows you to run containerized workloads on-premises with the same management experience as AKS in Azure. Azure Virtual Desktop on Azure Stack HCI brings cloud-managed VDI to your own data center. Azure Arc integration provides unified governance and policy management across your HCI environment and Azure.
Business Cases for Azure Stack HCI
Healthcare organizations that must keep patient data on-premises but want modern infrastructure management benefit greatly from Azure Stack HCI. Manufacturing companies with factory-floor systems that cannot tolerate internet latency use Azure Stack HCI for edge computing scenarios. Organizations with data center lease commitments that extend several years can modernize infrastructure management while honoring those commitments.
Licensing and Cost Considerations
Azure Stack HCI uses a subscription-based licensing model billed per physical core per month through Azure. This model includes the HCI OS, Windows Server guest licensing, and Azure management capabilities. Organizations with existing Windows Server Datacenter licenses can apply them to Azure Stack HCI through Azure Hybrid Benefit, significantly reducing costs.
Conclusion
Azure Stack HCI is the ideal solution for organizations that need cloud-like capabilities on-premises. Ozy Solutions helps organizations evaluate, deploy, and manage Azure Stack HCI environments. Contact us to explore whether Azure Stack HCI is right for your infrastructure.
Learn more about our Azure Hybrid Cloud services or visit Ozy Solutions to get started today.
