Azure Migration Cost Guide · Abu Dhabi
A transparent breakdown of Microsoft Azure cloud migration costs for Abu Dhabi SMB and mid-market workloads. We document UAE North region selection, VM sizing, reserved instance options and licensing — with cost drivers (not a quotation or an Emirtech price list) and no partner-tier claims we do not hold.
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In short: This guide explains what drives Microsoft Azure migration cost for Abu Dhabi SMB and mid-market workloads: UAE North region choice, VM sizing, reserved instances and licensing. The cost drivers described are not a quotation or an Emirtech price list, and Emirtech claims no partner tier it does not hold. A site survey or assessment comes first, then a written itemised quotation.
| Who provides it? | Emirtech Technology, based at M44, Mussafah Industrial Area, Abu Dhabi, in operation since 2018. The work is carried out by Emirtech's own engineers. |
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| Where? | Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, served from Emirtech's Mussafah, Abu Dhabi base; there is no Al Ain office. In Dubai: smart home, PABX and IP-PBX phone systems, IT AMC and time attendance by scheduled on-site visits, gate barriers, ANPR, video intercoms and turnstiles by Emirtech itself; CCTV, alarm and access control through SIRA-approved partners, with Emirtech coordinating. |
| What is covered | The cost factors of an Azure migration: region, VM sizing, reserved instances and licensing. |
| Survey and quotation | Emirtech publishes no price list. The cost drivers on this page are a guide, not a quotation; a written, itemised quotation follows a survey or assessment. |
| Credentials | Emirtech is an independent systems integrator. It holds no manufacturer-level credential of its own, and its ADMCC approval covers security systems only, not IT services. |
| Please note | Emirtech does not hold ISO 27001, NESA, ADHICS or PDPL certification for managed security services, and does not run a 24/7 SOC. |
| Last reviewed | 21 October 2026 |
Emirtech Technology is an Abu Dhabi systems integrator (ADMCC-approved for security systems) founded in 2018 and based at M44, Mussafah Industrial Area, Abu Dhabi — reachable on +971 55 651 7843 or [email protected]. We publish this Microsoft Azure cloud migration cost guide to give Abu Dhabi SMB and mid-market clients a defensible, line-by-line view of what an Azure landing-zone, lift-and-shift or re-platform programme actually costs in 2026. Real Azure spend is driven by a small number of decisions: region (we recommend UAE North in Dubai for PDPL-aligned data residency, with UAE Central for paired DR), VM tier and family (B-series burstable for low-utilisation workloads, D-series general purpose for line-of-business apps, E-series memory-optimised for SQL and ERP, F-series compute-optimised for batch), and commitment model — pay-as-you-go versus 1-year or 3-year Reserved Instances (typically 30-65% saving) versus Azure Hybrid Benefit for existing Windows Server and SQL Server licences, versus Spot VMs for interruptible jobs. Storage adds up faster than clients expect: Standard HDD, Standard SSD, Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disk for managed disks; Azure Files (Standard / Premium) for SMB shares; Blob Storage Hot / Cool / Cold / Archive for backups and media; and Azure NetApp Files for latency-sensitive workloads. Database choices — Azure SQL Database (DTU vs vCore, Serverless, Hyperscale) versus Azure SQL Managed Instance versus IaaS SQL on a VM — frequently dominate the bill. Security and observability layers (Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Microsoft Sentinel at pay-per-GB ingest, Log Analytics, Azure Monitor) and identity (Microsoft Entra ID P1/P2, formerly Azure AD Premium) are billed separately. Networking adds VPN Gateway or ExpressRoute circuits, Azure Firewall or NVA appliances, and — most commonly forgotten — egress bandwidth charged per GB out of region. We are an integrator that deploys Azure workloads through authorised UAE channels; we are not a Microsoft Azure Solutions Partner-tier organisation, not an AWS / GCP / Oracle Cloud / IBM Cloud partner, and we do not operate a 24/7 SOC. We do not hold ISO 27001, NESA, ADHICS, PDPL or SIRA certification.
Cost drivers
These scopes describe the migration project itself — assessment, right-sizing, cutover and go-live support — not the ongoing Azure consumption bill. We do not publish a price list. A working cost model against your actual workload inventory, with a written, itemised quotation, is what the free consultation produces.
| Migration scope | Typical workload | What drives the project cost |
|---|---|---|
| Small workload | 3–5 VMs, straightforward lift-and-shift | Number of VMs, data volume, cutover window and testing |
| Single application | One app or service migrated with its dependencies | Application dependencies, integrations, testing and rollback planning |
| Full SMB infrastructure | 10+ VMs, databases, file shares, identity | VM and database count, identity, data volume and phased cutovers |
| Full datacentre exit | Complete on-premises retirement, enterprise scale | Bespoke quote based on inventory, dependencies and programme length |
On top of the project cost, ongoing Azure consumption is billed separately by Microsoft — the monthly bill for a mid-size SMB (10-50 users) running a fully managed Azure environment is driven mainly by VM tier and the Reserved Instance vs pay-as-you-go choice. Call +971 55 651 7843 for a free Azure migration consultation.
Where Azure spend actually goes
B-series burstable for idle workloads, D-series general purpose for line-of-business apps, E-series memory-optimised for SQL and ERP, F-series for compute. We right-size before lift-and-shift and model 1-year and 3-year Reserved Instances against pay-as-you-go.
Managed disks (Standard HDD / Standard SSD / Premium SSD v2 / Ultra Disk), Azure Files, Blob Hot / Cool / Cold / Archive, Azure SQL Database DTU vs vCore vs Hyperscale, and SQL Managed Instance — modelled per workload, not per server count.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud per resource type, Microsoft Sentinel at pay-per-GB ingest, Log Analytics retention, Azure Monitor, and Microsoft Entra ID P1 or P2 (formerly Azure AD Premium) — itemised so finance sees true run-rate.
Azure VPN Gateway versus ExpressRoute, Azure Firewall or partner NVA, public IPs, Application Gateway and Front Door, plus per-GB outbound bandwidth — the single most under-estimated line in UAE migration budgets.
We build the cost guide from your actual workload inventory — VMs, databases, file shares, identity, backup and DR — then map each item to a UAE North SKU with clear assumptions. For a working model on your environment, call +971 55 651 7843 or request a free Azure migration consultation.
How we keep the Azure bill honest
We collect 14-30 days of CPU, RAM, IOPS and network telemetry from on-premises hosts before recommending Azure SKUs, so you do not pay for ghost capacity carried over from over-provisioned virtual machines or physical servers.
We model 1-year and 3-year Reserved Instance savings against pay-as-you-go and apply Azure Hybrid Benefit where existing Windows Server and SQL Server licences with Software Assurance qualify — typical compute saving 30-65% on steady-state workloads.
Resource tagging by department, environment and workload; Azure Cost Management budgets with 50 / 75 / 90 / 100% alerts; idle-resource and orphaned-disk reports — so finance sees the run-rate the day a workload goes live, not at month-end.
We default production data to the UAE North region and document any service that has no UAE-region SKU. We are not a PDPL certification body and do not certify compliance; we document residency choices and let your legal counsel make the call.
Cloud cost guides are easy to inflate. The Emirtech scope below is the same document we share with Abu Dhabi clients before any landing-zone work, so expectations on Azure scope, licensing and partner status are set in writing.
If any line above is unclear before signing a statement of work, ask us in writing — we would rather narrow the scope than over-promise on Azure partner-tier or compliance claims we cannot evidence.
Common questions
We do not publish a price list. The cost depends on scope: a small workload (3-5 VMs, straightforward lift-and-shift), a single application migration, a full SMB infrastructure migration (10+ VMs, databases, file shares) or a full datacentre exit at enterprise scale, which is bespoke-quoted. Each is priced from VM and database count, data volume, dependencies and testing effort. This is the migration project cost only — ongoing Azure consumption is billed separately by Microsoft and depends mainly on VM tier and pricing model. Microsoft list prices change; check Microsoft's current price list. We build a working cost model against your actual workload inventory — call +971 55 651 7843 for a free consultation.
UAE North (Dubai) is the in-country Azure region most aligned with UAE PDPL data-residency expectations for production workloads, with UAE Central available as a paired region for disaster recovery. We default production data to UAE North and document any service or SKU that is only available outside the UAE so your legal counsel can review the residency trade-off.
On steady-state production workloads, 1-year Reserved Instances typically save 30-40% versus pay-as-you-go and 3-year RIs save 50-65%. Azure Hybrid Benefit on eligible Windows Server and SQL Server licences with Software Assurance adds further compute and database savings. We model both options against pay-as-you-go in every cost guide so finance sees the gap.
No. We can deploy and tune Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender for Cloud, build analytics rules and workbooks, and forecast pay-per-GB ingest costs. We do not operate an in-house 24/7 Security Operations Centre, and we do not hold ISO 27001, NESA, ADHICS or PDPL certification for managed security services.
No. Emirtech is not a Microsoft Azure Solutions Partner-tier organisation, not an Azure Expert MSP, not a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Direct or Indirect Tier 1 partner, and not affiliated with AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud or IBM Cloud at partner-tier level. We hold no manufacturer-level credential of our own; Azure workloads are deployed via authorised UAE channels.
Egress bandwidth and over-provisioned compute. Outbound data from UAE North is billed per GB and can dominate a small workload's bill if shared file servers, backups or replication targets are not designed correctly. The second hidden cost is VMs lifted-and-shifted at the same size as on-premises hosts that ran at 5-10% CPU utilisation — we right-size first to avoid carrying ghost capacity into Azure.
Call +971 55 651 7843 or email [email protected] to arrange a discovery call, or use request a free Azure migration consultation. We will gather your workload inventory, run Azure Migrate-style discovery and return a UAE North-region TCO with reserved-instance options, tagging plan and assumptions itemised.
Azure Migration Cost Guide · Abu Dhabi
Free site survey · transparent scope · honest costs · ADMCC-approved for security systems · Mussafah M44 home base since 2018.
Need a free Abu Dhabi site visit? Call +971 55 651 7843 or email [email protected] — we reply the same working day across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.