As businesses adapt to new ways of operating, IT leaders are presented with increasing challenges to achieving sustainable growth. Ensuring your business continues to run without interruptions while adapting and transforming can be paramount. If your company is looking for options to migrate your server estate to the cloud, we have news for you.

Outstanding offers

Extended Security Updates and Azure Migration and Modernization Program support to larger migration projects.

Microsoft has great offers for Windows Server and SQL Server customers looking to move to the cloud. Azure offers free Extended Security Updates for SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012/2012 R2, giving you more time to modernize supported applications for three additional years beyond the 10 years granted by Microsoft Support. Microsoft also allows customers to save significantly when running their workloads in Azure Virtual Machines with Azure Hybrid Benefit, which combined with reserved instances can enable up to 85 percent savings when compared to other cloud services.

To help support your migration and modernization to the cloud, mitigating potential unforeseen risks and costs, Microsoft is expanding the Azure Migration and Modernization Program (AMMP). In the past years, AMMP has helped thousands of customers like Jotun unlock the value of the cloud, bringing together the right mix of resources and best practices at every stage of their journey. We’re now investing significantly more to support your largest Windows/SQL Server migration and modernization projects—up to 2.5 times larger based on project eligibility. This investment will help with your migration in two ways: partner assistance with planning and moving your workloads, and Azure credits that offset transition costs during your move to Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure SQL Database.

Unparalleled innovation

Unlock your SQL Server and Windows Server’s greatest potential in Azure, with unique capabilities and more options for true hybrid cloud flexibility. With Microsoft you can choose the option that aligns best to your business needs, migrating and modernizing servers with solutions like Windows Server and SQL Server running in virtual machines (VMs), Azure SQL managed databases, and hybrid management through Azure Arc.

When you have your VMs in Azure, management becomes simplified with dedicated solutions such as Azure Automanage and Windows Admin Center in the Azure portal. Azure SQL allows you to spend more time innovating and less time patching, updating, and backing up your databases, as Azure is the only cloud with evergreen SQL that automatically applies the latest updates and patches so that your databases are always up to date, eliminating end-of-support hassles. Azure SQL also features built-in AI that automatically tunes databases ensuring peak performance for every database, delivering leading price-performance.

Unmatched security

Security is foundational for Azure. If your company is running SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012/2012 R2, this is the time to consider assessing those environments as they reach the end of support on July 12, 2022 and October 10, 2023 respectively. Not having support means the end of security updates, which may leave your business exposed to security risks and compliance concerns. Azure offers three years of extended security updates. You can learn more here.

Multilayered security is provided across physical datacenters, infrastructure, and operations with cyber security experts actively monitoring to protect your Windows Server and SQL Server, including in hybrid deployments with Azure Arc. Microsoft has more than 3,500 cybersecurity professionals and spends $1 billion annually on security to help protect, detect, and respond to threats, so you can grow a safe and secure business. The Azure platform is a leader in compliance coverage with 90 plus compliance offers that allow you to proactively safeguard your data and streamline compliance. Our commitment to privacy is uncompromising. Our core privacy principle is, you own your data. We will never use it for marketing or advertising purposes, in turn providing you confidence around data storage and security. 

Get started

Learn more about your end of support options for SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012/R2.

Get started with the Azure Migration and Modernization Program (AMMP). Talk to your Microsoft representative to understand eligibility requirements and submit your Windows Server and SQL Server project today.