Microsoft has announced a new deployment option in Azure OpenAI that provides more flexibility and control over data privacy and residency for companies in the United States and European Union.
With Azure OpenAI Data Zones, customers can process and store data within specific geographic areas without compromising performance.
According to Microsoft, Data Zones allow for cross-region load balancing within a selected boundary, offering more flexibility than regional deployment alone. For example, the United States Data Zone will include all of the Azure OpenAI regions that are located in the country.
“By spanning multiple regions within these areas, Data Zones offer a balance between the cost-efficiency of global deployments and the control of regional deployments, making it easier for enterprises to manage their AI applications without sacrificing security or speed,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post.
Microsoft explained that Data Zones can simplify the often complex and tedious process of managing data residency requirements. It also enables customers to select the latest and most powerful models to scale their AI solutions while still meeting data residency requirements.
These new zones are now available for Microsoft Azure Standard customers, and will be coming soon to Provisioned customers.
