Cisco 'retires' its Azure Local offering rather than catch up to Microsoft’s changed hardware requirements
Redmond now allows only locked-down rigs with joint software and hardware support for its on-prem hyperconverged cloud and Switchzilla won't go there
By The Register
Cisco has decided to retire its Azure Local offering after Microsoft changed the hardware and partner options supported for the on-premises hyperconverged cloud stack. Cisco’s end-of-life notice says it will stop selling Azure Local bundles in October and will not provide a direct replacement.
The company made the change in a July 24 end-of-life and end-of-sale notice, according to The Register. In a statement reported by the publication, Cisco said it encourages customers to look at alternative HCI solutions with Cisco Compute.
A Cisco spokesperson referred The Register to a Microsoft blog post dated June 16 as the reason for the decision. Microsoft said in that post that it had removed the option to run Azure Local on “Validated Nodes”.
The Register said Microsoft now offers two other ways to run Azure Local: “Premier Solutions” and “Integrated Solutions”. Both involve Microsoft and a solution builder integrating their support services.
Cisco has not given a further explanation for walking away from Azure Local.