IDC Enterprise Worth Research: A 306% ROI inside 3 years utilizing Ubuntu Linux on Azure

Research contributors shared that Azure offers a extra environment friendly and efficient platform for his or her Ubuntu workloads, maximizing their worth in core enterprise capabilities and supporting new know-how adoption.

Companies at the moment are beneath strain to innovate quicker, cut back prices, and keep safe—all whereas getting ready for an AI-driven future. As a part of this shift, many organizations are turning to Microsoft Azure to modernize their infrastructure. In doing so, they discover that migrating to Azure helps meet these evolving calls for by enhancing agility, strengthening safety, and laying the inspiration for AI readiness.

Microsoft Azure helps your migration and modernization journey with providers constructed for Linux and Open Supply. Central to this transformation is Ubuntu, Canonical’s enterprise-grade Linux distribution, which integrates seamlessly with Azure’s IaaS and PaaS. Collectively, they ship excessive efficiency, reliability, and enterprise help—plus a broad set of instruments to make migration clean and environment friendly.

To deliver a data-driven perspective to those advantages, Microsoft commissioned Worldwide Knowledge Company (IDC) to conduct a enterprise worth examine* based mostly on interviews with organizations that moved their Ubuntu workloads from on-premises to Azure. Research contributors shared that Azure offers a extra environment friendly and efficient platform for his or her Ubuntu workloads, maximizing their worth in core enterprise capabilities and supporting new know-how adoption. Utilizing the information derived from these interviews, IDC analysts created a typical buyer profile to signify widespread experiences and enterprise outcomes. The consolidated knowledge from examine contributors reveals that working Canonical Ubuntu workloads on Azure delivers the next advantages:

• 306% three-year return on funding with an 11-month payback on funding.
• 35% decrease three-year price of operations.
• 63% quicker to deploy new compute assets and 52% quicker to scale to new enterprise alternatives.
• 85% much less unplanned downtime affecting customers.
• $30.63M increased income per group per 12 months.

Quantified advantages of Ubuntu on Microsoft Azure

IDC interviewed stakeholders concerned with Ubuntu workloads on Azure, uncovering important advantages cited by contributors, together with:

Run mission-critical workloads with sturdy efficiency and suppleness

Organizations working workloads comparable to knowledge analytics, engineering simulations, and machine studying, expertise elevated agility and operational effectivity with Ubuntu on Azure. By leveraging Ubuntu on Azure, companies can scale seamlessly and reply swiftly to altering market circumstances, guaranteeing optimum software efficiency whereas accelerating innovation and sustaining a aggressive edge.

“With Ubuntu on Azure, we’ve unlocked AI adoption. We will scale improvements and experiment with applied sciences like GenAI, ML, and massive knowledge analytics with out infrastructure constraints.”

The examine contributors additionally highlighted the benefit of migrating Ubuntu workloads to Azure and the power so as to add or take away capability as wanted. Beneficial properties in agility and growth have been notable, with customers in a position to regulate and scale their Ubuntu environments extra quickly and flexibly in Azure, decreasing deployment-related friction on growth and enterprise actions.

“Scalability is without doubt one of the causes we moved to Ubuntu on Azure. We now have speedy scaling and versatile deployment, which improve our responsiveness to enterprise wants by nearly 40%.”

Strengthen safety and empower your IT groups

Safety was one other standout profit for organizations adopting Ubuntu on Azure. They skilled enhanced operational resilience and lowered publicity to safety and efficiency dangers. Azure’s built-in safety instruments, together with Microsoft Defender for Cloud, supply steady safety evaluation menace detection, and actionable suggestions. This allows IT groups to proactively establish vulnerabilities, reply swiftly to potential threats, and keep sturdy safety, finally supporting enterprise continuity and fostering belief with prospects and stakeholders.

“Ubuntu on Azure offers built-in security measures comparable to Microsoft Defender for Cloud, which is a steady safety evaluation and actionable suggestions. This proactive method helps us establish vulnerabilities earlier than they are often exploited, which is what all of us are searching for.”

As well as, IT groups have been in a position to shift their focus from maintenance-heavy duties to extra strategic, innovation-driven efforts, together with AI initiatives. The transition to Azure simplified operations, streamlined growth cycles, and enabled groups to make quicker progress on business-critical tasks by leveraging built-in AI instruments and infrastructure that help speedy experimentation and deployment.

“With Ubuntu on Azure, we leverage AI and refocus our IT crew. Managing on-premises infrastructure was troublesome, however Azure AI providers enhanced our purposes and drove innovation. We’ve shifted IT assets from upkeep to strategic tasks, enhancing productiveness by 25%.”

Cut back operational prices whereas scaling effectively

Organizations additionally realized important price efficiencies with Ubuntu on Azure. By benefiting from Azure’s pay-as-you-go pricing and eradicating {hardware} upkeep burdens, companies achieved notable infrastructure and licensing financial savings.

IDC discovered that prospects lowered the price of working Ubuntu workloads by a mean of 35% over three years, saving $6,500 per Azure VM. Many additionally noticed a 29% discount in annual infrastructure prices, equating to roughly $581,100 per 12 months.

“Ubuntu on Azure has lowered our direct IT prices by 40%, and it additionally optimizes our useful resource allocation, so now we have higher operational effectivity and employees time financial savings.”

“Ubuntu on Azure provides important price financial savings and scalability in comparison with on-premises options. It additionally offers wonderful integration and interoperability and helps tackle knowledge challenges, enhancing completeness, accuracy, and availability to help enterprise selections.”

Be taught extra from the IDC examine

*IDC White Paper, sponsored by Microsoft, The Enterprise Worth of Ubuntu on Microsoft Azure, doc # US52857024, January 2025.