IntelligentHQ
IntelligentHQ
Skip to content

Hybrid, edge and sovereign cloud

Running and governing Azure services outside Azure datacenters: Azure Arc brings servers, Kubernetes clusters and SQL Server under Azure management; Azure Local runs Azure services on customer-owned hardware, connected or disconnected; Azure IoT Operations is a data plane for edge sites.

3 technology profiles in this area

In this area

Overview

Azure Arc projects non-Azure servers, VMs, Kubernetes clusters and SQL Server into Azure Resource Manager, so Azure Policy, RBAC, tags and Resource Graph apply to them. These control plane features cost nothing extra; services you add, such as Defender for Cloud or Azure Monitor, are billed as usual. Indirectly connected mode was retired in September 2025.

Azure Local is Microsoft's distributed infrastructure for customer-owned hardware, managed through Arc and able to run connected or disconnected. It is priced per physical core plus any Azure services consumed. Microsoft lists local AI inferencing, business continuity through outages, near real-time control systems and strict sovereignty rules among its uses.

Azure IoT Operations is an edge data plane on Arc-enabled Kubernetes with an MQTT broker, connectors and data flows. It can run offline for up to 72 hours and sends processed data to Fabric, Event Hubs or Data Lake Storage.

If nearly all workloads can run in Azure regions, you may only need Arc for the few servers left on premises, or nothing from this area at all.123

Problems it addresses

  • Separate tools per environment1

    Arc applies one Azure inventory, policy and access model to servers and clusters in datacenters, other clouds and edge sites.

  • Data that must stay on site2

    Azure Local targets workloads with sovereignty, low-latency or outage-tolerance needs, connected or disconnected from the cloud.

  • Factory data stuck in OT systems3

    IoT Operations connects OPC UA assets to an edge MQTT broker and normalizes data before it goes to the cloud.

  • AI close to the data4

    Foundry Local runs models on devices with no Azure subscription, and a variant runs on Azure Local for server-scale inference.

A typical workflow

  1. Connect existing servers1

    Onboard on-premises and multicloud servers and Kubernetes clusters to Azure Arc.

  2. Apply policy and security1

    Use Azure Policy, RBAC and Defender for Cloud on Arc-enabled resources.

  3. Deploy local infrastructure2

    Install Azure Local on validated partner hardware and manage it from the Azure portal, CLI or ARM templates.

  4. Add edge data services3

    Install Azure IoT Operations on an Arc-enabled cluster and define data flows for each asset.

  5. Analyze centrally3

    Send processed edge data to Fabric OneLake for dashboards and alerts.

Technologies

  • Platform

    Azure Arc

    Azure Arc represents servers, Kubernetes clusters, SQL Server instances and VMware or SCVMM estates that run outside Azure as Azure resources, so they can be inventoried, governed, secured and updated with Azure tools. Core inventory and access control are free; services you add on are billed.

    • Infrastructure
    • Security
  • Platform

    Azure IoT Operations

    Azure IoT Operations is a set of edge data services (MQTT broker, Akri connectors such as OPC UA, data flows) on Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes at a site. It collects and normalizes equipment data locally, works offline for up to 72 hours, and sends results to Microsoft Fabric, Event Hubs or other cloud endpoints.

    • Data
    • Infrastructure
  • Platform

    Azure Local

    Azure Local, formerly Azure Stack HCI, is Microsoft's infrastructure software for customer-owned servers that runs VMs, AKS clusters, Azure Virtual Desktop and selected Azure services on-premises, managed from Azure through Azure Arc. It can also run disconnected and is billed per physical core.

    • Infrastructure
    • Security

Use cases

Next steps

  1. List the sites and systems that cannot move to an Azure region and the reason for each (latency, law, outages).

  2. Onboard a handful of on-premises servers to Arc to test inventory and policy before scaling.

  3. For factory sites, try the IoT Operations Codespaces quickstart before buying hardware.

Connected areas

Sources

  1. Azure Arc overview (opens in a new tab)Microsoft · Vendor-reported
  2. What is Azure Local? Overview and key benefits (opens in a new tab)Microsoft · Vendor-reported
  3. What is Azure IoT Operations? (opens in a new tab)Microsoft · Vendor-reported
  4. What is Foundry Local? (opens in a new tab)Microsoft · Vendor-reported

Fill out the form below to request your copy.

Name(Required)