Two zones or three? A design framework for zone-resilient Azure workloads

By Dustin Ward

Takeaway: Zone resiliency isn’t a single number you apply to a whole workload. The useful question isn’t “how many zones?” but “how many zones does each component need to survive the loss of one?” Decide zone patterns component by component, use service-managed zone redundancy wherever it fits, and reserve three-zone designs for the components that…

The Economics of Agent Optimization: From pilots to measurable returns

By Dustin Ward

This blog post is the first of a four-part series called The Economics of Agent Optimization which shares the strategies, capabilities, and proof points to help you optimize agent costs and run AI as a managed investment system on Microsoft Foundry. The AI conversation in most enterprises has moved from the whiteboard to the budget…

Built to bounce back: How Azure resiliency evolved

By Dustin Ward

In this article Resiliency as a shared responsibility, not a handoff Platform foundations that reflect reality: zones, regions, and sovereignty Azure features and capabilities strengthen resiliency outcomes Bridging intent to execution through experiences on Azure How you can build Resilience in Azure Azure Essentials Resiliency in the cloud is often described in terms of availability,…

Accelerate modern Linux workloads with Azure Files

By Dustin Ward

In this article Speed up AI and data-intensive workloads Scale cloud-native applications with shared storage Modernize enterprise applications with less disruption Build more with partners and ISVs Azure Files Linux workloads are evolving quickly as organizations modernize on-premises Linux applications, adopt cloud-native architectures, and build new AI and data-intensive pipelines in the cloud. As this…

Modernize your data with Azure Storage: Plan and migrate with confidence

By Dustin Ward

Enterprise storage migrations are rarely just about copying data. They are about protecting business continuity, maintaining performance, managing cost, and giving teams confidence when terabytes or petabytes of data sit at the heart of critical applications. That confidence is difficult to build when migration planning is fragmented. Many organizations still rely on a patchwork of scripts, third-party tools, and…