Today Microsoft announced the General Availability of the Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service offering. This includes the new Virtual Machine and Virtual Network capabilities. This release is now live in production, backed by an enterprise SLA, supported by Microsoft Support, and is ready to use for production apps.
Today’s IaaS release also includes new enhancements:
- VM Image Templates (including SQL Server, BizTalk Server, and SharePoint images)
- VM Sizes (including Larger Memory Machines)
- VM Prices (reduced prices 21%-33% for IaaS and PaaS VMs)
Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service allows you to create Virtual Machine and Virtual Networks hosted by the Microsoft Windows Azure Cloud. I already created a blog post how you can create new Virtual Machines in Windows Azure and how you can connect System Center App Controller to manage your Private Cloud, as well as your Public Cloud, hosted in Windows Azure.
New Windows Azure Virtual Machine Compute Pricing
Below are the new hourly on-demand rates for Windows Azure Virtual Machines:
| Size Name | # of CPU Cores | Memory | Windows VM Pricing | Linux VM Pricing |
| ExtraSmall | Shared | 768 MB | $0.02 per hour | $0.02 per hour |
| Small | 1 | 1.75 GB | $0.09 per hour | $0.06 per hour |
| Medium | 2 | 3.5 GB | $0.18 per hour | $0.12 per hour |
| Large | 4 | 7 GB | $0.36 per hour | $0.24 per hour |
| ExtraLarge | 8 | 14 GB | $0.72 per hour | $0.48 per hour |
| A6 | 4 | 28 GB | $1.02 per hour | $0.82 per hour |
| A7 | 8 | 56 GB | $2.04 per hour | $1.64 per hour |
Note that the above prices are for hourly on-demand usage (meaning there is no commitment to use them for more than an hour, and you pay only for what you consume). Complete pricing details for Windows Azure Virtual Machines can be found here.
Commitment Pricing Discounts
You can also optionally take advantage of our 6 Month and 12 Month commitment plans to obtain significant discounts on the standard pay as you go rates. With a commitment plan, you commit to spending a certain amount of money each month, and in return, Microsoft gives you a discount on any Windows Azure resource you use that money on.
You can get more information on the blog post from Scott Guthrie or the Windows Azure homepage.
Tags: App Controller, Hosting, IaaS, Microsoft, Virtual Machine, Virtualization, Windows Azure Last modified: September 6, 2019
