Microsoft today announced the general availability of Azure VMs featuring the Ampere Altra Arm–based processor from September 1. These new Arm-based virtual machines can be included in Kubernetes clusters managed using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). These VMs offer cost-effective and power-efficient options when compared to x86-based VMs.
Until now, developers building Windows on Arm devices have had to build and test their apps on physical devices. To make this process easier, Microsoft will now allow developers to run Insider Preview releases of Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise available on Arm-based Azure VMs. Developers can now use these VMs to run cloud-based software and build and test workflows.
The Azure Arm-based virtual machine families include:
- Dpsv5 series, with up to 64 vCPUs and 4GiBs of memory per vCPU up to 208 GiBs,
- Dplsv5 series, with up to 64 vCPUs and 2GiBs of memory per vCPU up to 128 GiBs, and
- Epsv5 series, with up to 32 vCPUs and 8GiBs of memory per vCPU up to 208 GiBs.
The Ampere Altra Arm–based Azure virtual machines are now available in the US (West US 2, West Central US, Central US, East US, East US 2), Europe (West Europe, North Europe), Asia (East Asia, Southeast Asia), and Australia (Australia East) Azure regions.