Summary: Microsoft released Azure Arc, a control panel that enables management of Azure-based cloud infrastructure resources across multiple clouds and varied deployment models. The idea behind Azure Arc is to enable true hybrid scenarios and position Azure as the indispensable cloud that lives outside walled gardens.
Details: With Azure Arc, end users will be able to manage Windows and Linux servers (running on hosted or public clouds), Kubernetes clusters and Azure data services in a single unified experience (control panel or API). The underlying resources can be Azure, an on-premise or colocation data centre running Azure Stack or even third party public clouds like AWS or Google Compute Engine. In short, Azure Arc will be able to bring Azure-based tools and services to any underlying infrastructure platform and have them talk to each other.
Angle: Azure Arc is the logical next step from Azure Stack and speaks volumes to where Microsoft is headed. It is trying to become the anti-AWS. AWS exudes vendor lock-in and a lack of choice and flexibility. Azure is going the other way and enabling more freedom and the ability to mix and match infrastructure resources however the customer sees fit. Looking at it another way, Azure is moving the battle a bit further away from the infrastructure layer and the platform to being an enabler of operational flexibility and efficiency. Azure wants Azure Arc to empower developers to build in different hybrid scenarios and bring together the disparate workloads and architectures that mark present day IT. Instead of having to make wholesale migrations and an all-in bet on cloud (AWS loved to push the idea of going all-in until it found it went too far and moved away from the term), Microsoft is betting that end users want to move at their own pace and consider other variables when building. Being at the centre of this decision-making is a smart bid to be right in the middle of an important value chain.
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