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If you are considering TimeXtender, or already use it, you should know that we think TimeXtender runs best on Microsoft Azure. Microsoft Azure is, of course, the best cloud platform to run Windows, SQL Server and other Microsoft data platforms. Running both TimeXtender and your data platform on Azure provides optimal cost and performance for building and maintaining a modern data estate on Microsoft technologies.
Standard reasons for moving applications and data to the cloud include cost reduction; freeing up valuable internal IT resources; and “elasticity” of infrastructure, platform, and application.
At TimeXtender we are all about saving people time – because time matters. And TimeXtender is designed specifically to save a data team significant time (and effort) building a modern data estate for analytics and artificial intelligence. That time is saved when using TimeXtender.
But another way to save time and effort is when you deploy TimeXtender. This time savings benefits the IT department in several ways:
Faster time to value
Found in the Azure Marketplace, TimeXtender deployment templates are available in several configurations. These templates deploy TimeXtender and your choice of corresponding Microsoft data platform(s). For each template, the setup procedure and prerequisites have all been thoroughly tested - reducing the time it takes to prepare your modern data estate and begin deploying data.
Consistent performance
When you run applications on-premises you need to worry about all the factors that could affect your infrastructure: hard drive type/speed, memory, throughput or even if/when a VM operating on a cluster is borrowing resources from other VMs, etc. With Azure all the infrastructure is managed and designed to be optimal for Microsoft data platforms, such as Azure SQL Database and Azure Data Lake, so you don't need to manage these factors to get consistent performance. Plus, Azure SQL Database is a highly available database Platform as a Service that guarantees that your database is up and running 99.99% of time, without worrying about maintenance and downtime.
No infrastructure issues or maintenance
Another key advantage of deploying Microsoft data platforms in Azure is that you do not need to maintain the infrastructure or update software. These activities are done by Microsoft as part of their IaaS (infrastructure as a service) offerings. This means that whether you choose to deploy Azure SQL Database or Azure SQL Managed Instance or Azure Data Lake – you will not need to worry about applying updates or staying current with the latest security patches.
Our customer Komatsu Australia runs TimeXtender on Microsoft SQL Database Managed Instance – realizing 49 percent cost reduction and 25 to 30 percent performance gains with Azure SQL Database Managed Instance. Read more
