Presented by Yuemin Lu, Rajeesh Ramachandran, and Sam Shteingart at Microsoft Ignite, this session details how organizations can leverage Azure IaaS to optimize infrastructure costs and drive efficiency, using new platform features and real-world examples.

Driving Efficiency and Cost Optimization for Azure IaaS Deployments

Speakers: Yuemin Lu, Rajeesh Ramachandran, Sam Shteingart
Event: Microsoft Ignite 2025
Session Code: BRK176

Overview

This session addresses common cost and efficiency challenges in Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and highlights recent Azure enhancements designed to help organizations reduce total cost of ownership (TCO). The speakers share both strategic frameworks and practical product updates, featuring real examples from Morgan Stanley’s cloud journey.

Key Topics Covered

  • Framework for Optimizing Compute, Storage, and Networking: Comprehensive approaches to architecting cost-efficient cloud environments on Azure.
  • Application Performance Profiling and Power BI Cost Analysis: Use of Power BI to analyze application performance and break down infrastructure costs by region or component.
  • Real Power BI Data Insights: Interpretation of cost data and regional comparisons to guide infrastructure decisions.
  • Storage Improvements: Introduction of storage provisioning advancements, including a 6% reduction in storage cost per GB.
  • Smart Tiering for Azure Blob Storage: New feature for automatically moving data between storage tiers for optimal cost efficiency.
  • Instant Rehydration: Enhances Blob Storage by enabling data to instantly move back to the Hot tier when accessed, improving performance for archived or infrequently accessed data.
  • ExpressRoute Scalable Gateway: Updates allow dynamic scaling up to 40 Gbps, supporting larger and more bandwidth-intensive workloads.
  • Network Monitoring and Cost Optimization: Implementation of log filtering and new AI tools to improve network observability and reduce monitoring expenses.

Real-World Example

Morgan Stanley’s adoption of Azure IaaS is shared, highlighting lessons learned, operational frameworks, and the measurable benefits of adopting the latest Azure capabilities.

Resources

Chapters Breakdown

  • Session Introduction
  • Framework for Infrastructure Optimization
  • Application Performance & Cost Analysis
  • Data Insights and Regional Comparisons
  • Storage Provisioning Enhancements
  • Smart Tiering Demo for Blob Storage
  • Instant Rehydration Capabilities
  • ExpressRoute Scaling
  • Network Monitoring with AI

Takeaways

  • Azure provides a comprehensive, continually evolving set of tools for cost management across compute, storage, and network resources.
  • Using new features like Smart Tiering and ExpressRoute scalability, organizations can achieve significant savings at scale.
  • Power BI and Azure monitoring tools help quantify and manage cloud spend, supporting better decision making for growth and innovation.