Azure Local Roadmap

Greg brings with him over two decades of engineering, product and GTM experience. He has held leadership positions at premier... more

Azure Local, formerly known as Azure Stack HCI, is Microsoft’s primary server host OS for on-premises virtualization and software-defined storage. It is a host OS based on Windows Server for hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), licensed via subscription as an Azure service, and updated on an annual cadence. Azure Local is optimized to be a Hyper-V virtualization host for scenarios including remote offices, edge locations, and datacenter consolidation, and it is designed to connect to Azure to leverage cloud-based management services.

Product: Azure Local

Licensing: Azure Local Licensing

Near Term (2025–2026)

Disconnected operations, the most compelling new feature in Azure Local, is in preview. Beyond the usual bug fixing and polishing, Microsoft needs to clarify who will be allowed to use the feature and how. Microsoft knows that customers want the ability to operate while disconnected from Azure, but it also has a business interest in keeping systems connected for auditing and billing. The current release requires customers to get Microsoft’s permission for disconnected operations, and it is unclear how easy Microsoft intends to make the process.

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