Cloud platform

Microsoft Azure

The hyperscaler that shares its identity plane with the rest of your Microsoft stack.

Kootechnikel architects, migrates, and operates Azure workloads — from a single VM replacing an aging on-prem server to full hybrid estates governed by Azure Arc — with cost, identity, and security controls wired in from day one.

Canadian regions in Toronto, Quebec City, Calgary, and Montreal solve the data-residency conversation before it starts — critical for PIPEDA, BC PIPA, FOIPPA, and health-sector clients.

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What it is

Microsoft Azure is Microsoft's public cloud platform: a global network of Microsoft-owned datacentres (including Canada Central in Toronto and Canada East in Quebec City, with additional capacity in Calgary and Montreal) offering 200+ services spanning compute, storage, networking, databases, identity, AI, and security. Azure is consumption-metered — you pay for what you run, by the second, GB, transaction, or vCPU-hour — with reserved-instance and savings-plan commitments available for predictable workloads.

For SMB and mid-market clients we typically land on a small subset of Azure: Azure Virtual Machines and Azure Files for lift-and-shift of legacy Windows Server workloads, Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery for cloud-based BCDR, Azure Virtual Desktop for published Windows desktops and apps, Microsoft Sentinel as a cloud-native SIEM, Azure SQL Database for application back-ends, and Entra ID (technically an Azure service) as the identity layer.

The strategic value of Azure to a Microsoft-first MSP is that it closes the loop: the same Entra identity that governs Microsoft 365 governs the cloud servers, the same Defender that protects laptops protects the VMs, and Microsoft Sentinel pulls signal from every layer. That vertical integration is something no other hyperscaler can match for a Microsoft-shop client.

Key capabilities

Azure Virtual Machines
Windows and Linux IaaS with hundreds of VM sizes — D-series general purpose, E-series memory-optimized, B-series burstable for dev/test.
Azure Backup + Site Recovery
Managed backup for on-prem servers, Azure VMs, SQL, and file shares, plus DR replication with automated failover runbooks for BCDR.
Microsoft Sentinel
Cloud-native SIEM and SOAR with built-in connectors for M365, Defender, Entra, and 300+ third-party sources. KQL-based detection rules and automated response playbooks.
Azure Virtual Desktop
Published Windows 11 multi-session desktops and RemoteApp, priced on VM consumption plus a minimal per-user licence — the modern replacement for on-prem RDS or Citrix.
Azure Arc
Extends the Azure control plane to on-prem servers, VMs in other clouds, and Kubernetes clusters — so a hybrid estate is governed, patched, and monitored from one pane.
Azure SQL + Azure Storage
Fully managed SQL (Database, Managed Instance, SQL Server on VMs) and Blob/File/Queue storage with geo-redundancy and immutable-blob ransomware protection.
Azure Networking
Virtual Network, ExpressRoute private connectivity, Azure Firewall, Application Gateway with WAF, and Azure DNS for full network fabric control.
Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD)
The identity plane shared with Microsoft 365: Conditional Access, Privileged Identity Management for just-in-time admin, app registrations for custom apps.

Who it’s for

A 60-person accounting firm with an aging Windows Server 2019 file server and Sage application host — lifted to two Azure VMs, files migrated to Azure Files with AD auth, all behind site-to-site VPN, billed hourly.
A Canadian healthcare clinic requiring PHIPA-aligned residency in Canada Central, running Azure Virtual Desktop so clinicians access EMR via any device without PHI ever leaving the datacentre.
A growing SaaS startup needing Azure SQL, App Service, Key Vault with a clean CI/CD pipeline, plus Microsoft Sentinel to satisfy their first SOC 2 audit.

Integrations

Azure integrates natively with the whole Microsoft 365 stack via shared Entra ID. Sentinel ingests from Defender, Entra, Exchange Online, and any on-prem Windows/Linux host via Azure Monitor Agent. Azure Arc brings AWS EC2 instances and on-prem VMware hosts under Azure Policy. Third-party: Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure, Terraform for infra-as-code, GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps for CI/CD, and hybrid connectivity via ExpressRoute to Telus, Bell, Rogers, Allstream.

Partner status & certifications

Microsoft Solutions Partner for Cloud & AI Platforms. Azure-specific specializations include AI Platform on Microsoft Azure, Analytics on Microsoft Azure, Migrate Enterprise Applications to Microsoft Azure, Migrate Windows Server and SQL Server Workloads to Microsoft Azure, and the new Sovereign Cloud specialization. Engineer credentials: AZ-104 (Azure Administrator), AZ-305 (Solutions Architect Expert), AZ-500 (Security Engineer), SC-200 (Sentinel Security Operations Analyst).

Pricing model

Pure consumption — billed per-second on compute, per-GB-month on storage, per-GB on egress, per-transaction on some services. Reserved Instances (1 or 3 year) and Savings Plans provide 30–72% discounts on predictable workloads. We run Azure under a CSP subscription so billing, support, and licensing flow through one invoice.

Why we chose them

Azure is the only hyperscaler where the identity, device, endpoint-security, and cloud-infrastructure consoles share the same tenant and the same Entra object model. For an MSP whose clients live in Microsoft 365, that's not a preference — it's architecture. A single Sentinel alert can see that a compromised Entra user logged into a Windows 11 laptop flagged by Defender and then spun up an Azure VM, with zero cross-vendor log correlation. Plus Canadian regions (Toronto, Quebec City) solve data-residency for regulated clients.