daniel-lee-msft announces Microsoft 365 Local’s general availability, bringing Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business to Azure Local with enhanced jurisdictional control, security, and compliance capabilities for sovereign workloads.

Microsoft 365 Local Launches for Sovereign Cloud Deployments

Microsoft 365 Local is now generally available, delivering a new deployment framework that allows organizations and governments to run core collaboration tools—Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, Skype for Business Server—on Azure Local for robust data sovereignty and compliance.

Key Features and Architecture

Infrastructure Management

  • Azure acts as the central control plane for managing wide-ranging workloads
  • Full-stack deployment visibility in Azure portal, spanning servers and clusters
  • All hosts and VMs are Arc-enabled by default for built-in monitoring (connectivity, health, security updates)

Security and Compliance Controls

  • Network Security Groups managed with SDN (software defined networking) via Azure Arc
  • Security baseline of over 300 settings enforced across host/VMs, covering:
    • Network security
    • Identity and access management
    • Privileged access
    • Data protection
  • Built-in compliance features help organizations meet local regulations and reduce risk

Integration with Azure Services

  • Unified management with Azure Monitor and Microsoft Defender for Cloud
  • Security alerts, health checks, and recommendations integrated for proactive governance

Disconnected Operations Coming

  • Azure Local disconnected operation support planned for early 2026—enabling fully offline sovereign deployments for sensitive workloads

Additional Resources

Version: 1.0 (Updated Nov 17, 2025)

Author: daniel-lee-msft

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