Ultima launches 'sustainability calculator for Microsoft Azure'

Tool can help customers to see how moving to Azure will improve their carbon footprints, claims Ultima

Ultima has launched a sustainability calculator to show customers by how much they could reduce their carbon footprint by moving workloads to Azure.

Developed by Ultima's software development arm, Ultima Labs, the carbon footprint calculator is available through its cloud management platform called IA-Cloud.

The tool is one of many new features in the platform's new Quick Assessment tool to help businesses begin migrations to the cloud.

The assessment tool enables customers to review their estates and decide which on-prem workloads are suitable for Azure, and how much it would cost.

A new Migrate tool also enables customers as well as MSPs to build out their Azure environment and leverage Azure Site Recovery to set up replication services. This enables them to replicate on-prem workloads to Azure for testing before committing to migrating to the cloud.

"We are continually evolving our IA-Cloud platform to help our customers and MSPs with their cloud journeys. Sustainability and disaster recovery are key issues for everyone right now and our new features address both these issues," Amyn Jaffer, head of Ultima Labs, said.

"A 2019 study found that Azure is up to 93 per cent more energy-efficient and up to 98 per cent more carbon efficient than on-premises solutions. It's estimated that a greater reliance on cloud computing can reduce per-user carbon footprint by 30% for large companies and 90% for small businesses. Our sustainability calculator is a way of helping companies demonstrate cost savings and the wider benefits of cloud."

Ultima Labs' IA-Cloud claims it can reduce cloud management costs by up to 46 per cent, and reduce consumption by 30 per cent through automation.