Microsoft is closing down its Azure Blockchain Service
Microsoft has announced that its Azure Blockchain Service is to close down this fall. The end date for the complete closure is September 10, but the company has already put a stop on new deployments and signups.
No big announcement has been made about the closure of the service which has been around since 2015 when Microsoft partnered with ConsenSys. The decision leaves existing users with just four months to find an alternative home for their ledgers.
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Microsoft has not given any reason for shutting down Azure Blockchain which will inevitably lead to speculation. Until the company does offer up an explanation -- any requests for details have garnered no response – we can only assume that the decision stems from a lack of customers, increasing costs, or general streamlining.
In a note in the Azure documentation, Microsoft says simply:
On September 10, 2021, Azure Blockchain will be retired. Please migrate ledger data from Azure Blockchain Service to an alternative offering based on your development status in production or evaluation.
Microsoft has put together a guide to exporting data from Azure Blockchain Service and recommends migrating to ConsenSys Quorum Blockchain Service. The GoQuorum Ledger technology is the same as used by Azure's Blockchain.
More information is available here.
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