Microsoft Azure
Migration, landing zones and cost control
Azure runs in Canada Central and Canada East, and a region sits inside a single geography that acts as a data residency boundary. Canada Central supports availability zones, Canada East does not, which is the first architectural decision on any Canadian workload. The second is commercial: from 1 February 2027, reservations bought after that date cannot be exchanged for services a savings plan covers, and those bought before it keep one final exchange.
Where the money moves.
Reserved instances
One or three year commitment on predictable compute. Up to 72% saving (Microsoft published).
Azure savings plan
Three year commitment, flexible across compute. Up to 65% saving (Microsoft published).
Hybrid Benefit, Windows
Existing core licences with Software Assurance, plus reservations. Up to 80% saving (Microsoft published).
Hybrid Benefit, SQL
Existing SQL Server core licences with Software Assurance. Up to 85% saving (Microsoft published).
Dev and test
Non-production workloads under Visual Studio subscriptions. Up to 57% saving (Microsoft published).
Business case, landing zone, then migrate and hold.
Business case
Azure Migrate discovery and dependency analysis, sized against real utilization rather than nameplate specs, with the licensing position modelled.
Done looks like: A costed case with year-over-year cash flow, not a shopping list.
Landing zone
A platform landing zone across the eight Cloud Adoption Framework design areas, with Azure Policy guardrails including region restriction.
Done looks like: Subscriptions, identity, network and policy in place before workload one.
Migrate and hold
Move, then operate: Defender for Cloud, Azure Backup, Site Recovery, and a monthly review of reservation and savings plan coverage.
Done looks like: Secure score trending up, committed spend actually consumed.
Extended security updates, stated accurately
Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 extended security updates are free on Azure, and that programme ends 13 October 2026. SQL Server 2014 updates are also free on Azure. From SQL Server 2016 onward, Microsoft moved to a paid subscription, and migrating to an Azure VM no longer provides them free. Windows Server 2016 reaches end of support on 12 January 2027 and Microsoft has published no free-in-Azure statement for it.
Savings figures above are Microsoft published, current at 25 August 2026; Microsoft states actual savings vary by region, instance type and usage.
Talk to AIM about Azure.
Bring your current environment and we’ll walk through where AIM’s CSP program changes the licensing, the architecture, or both.