Introduction
Organizations increasingly rely on data created outside of traditional datacenters—data that might come from physical systems, operational environments, or distributed locations. This reliance is driven by real operational needs, such as reducing delays in decision-making, minimizing downtime, and improving responsiveness in varied environments where even small delays can impact outcomes.
A key decision for many modern organizations isn't just where their workloads run, but how to balance speed of response with centralized control.
Small form factor deployments of Azure Local (preview) address this challenge by combining local execution with Azure-managed control. Workloads run close to physical systems for fast response, while Azure provides centralized provisioning, governance, and monitoring.
In this module, you'll explore how these small form factor deployments can support scenarios that require low latency, distributed infrastructure, and real-time responsiveness.
Learning objectives
By the end of this module, you'll be able to:
- Evaluate whether small form factor deployments of Azure Local (preview) are appropriate for your edge AI or physical-system scenario.
- Describe how small form factor deployments of Azure Local (preview) work at a high level, including the infrastructure model and supported workload approach.
- Identify scenarios where small form factor deployments of Azure Local (preview) are and aren't well suited.