Microsoft recently introduced Azure AI Foundry, a powerful new initiative designed to help organizations build, deploy, and manage AI agents at scale. This platform combines model orchestration, fine tuning capabilities, and a robust agent runtime giving companies a faster path from prototype to production ready AI.
Exodata, a trusted Azure Expert Managed Services Provider, helps organizations fully leverage these capabilities, from secure infrastructure deployment to long term lifecycle management.
What Is Azure AI Foundry?
Azure AI Foundry is Microsoft’s full stack solution for companies looking to operationalize AI with minimal friction. It’s designed for IT leaders, developers, and data science teams who need to move quickly while staying aligned with enterprise governance and compliance standards.
Some standout features include:
-
Access to 10,000+ models from Microsoft, Hugging Face, and other major providers including support for fine-tuning and custom RAG pipelines.
-
Model Router, which intelligently selects the best-performing model for a given task while managing performance and cost.
-
Agent Service, a fully managed orchestration layer that handles chaining, memory, identity, and connections to enterprise data sources.
-
Built-in compliance and observability, with integration into Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Monitor, and App Insights for full visibility and control, all aligned with Microsoft’s Responsible AI principles.
It’s designed to meet enterprise demands whether that means deploying AI agents for customer service, automating internal workflows, or enabling AI assisted analytics.
The Role of Exodata in AI-Driven Transformation
Exodata’s managed services are purpose built for organizations adopting Microsoft Azure at scale. Our team specializes in guiding companies through every phase of their cloud journey from cloud engineering, migration, and architecture design to AI enablement and operational excellence.
When it comes to Azure AI Foundry, Exodata offers:
-
End-to-end deployment support for model registration, tuning environments, and agent service integration.
-
Security-first architecture, using Azure native tools like Defender, Sentinel, and Entra for identity and access management.
-
Data and analytics integration expertise, connecting agents to existing SharePoint sites, Microsoft Fabric, SQL environments, and Power Platform solutions.
-
Ongoing monitoring and governance, using proven frameworks and real time telemetry to ensure performance, reliability, and compliance.
By combining Microsoft’s platform with our deep Azure experience, we help customers deploy intelligent agents that are production grade, reliable, and aligned with business objectives.
Real-World Possibilities
Companies exploring Azure AI Foundry can unlock a variety of real world use cases, including:
-
AI-powered service desks that respond to customer inquiries across Teams, Slack, and web portals.
-
Operational agents that automatically pull, summarize, and escalate data from internal systems.
-
Finance and logistics workflows that chain multiple agents together to complete multi step tasks using real time data sources.
Each solution is customizable, secure, and fully auditable ideal for industries with strict regulatory and security and compliance requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Azure AI Foundry? Azure AI Foundry is Microsoft’s unified platform for building, deploying, and managing AI applications and agents at enterprise scale. It provides access to thousands of models, a managed agent runtime, fine-tuning capabilities, and built-in compliance tooling, all within the Azure ecosystem. For a deeper look, see the official Azure AI Foundry documentation.
How much does Azure AI Foundry cost? Pricing varies based on the models and services you consume. Azure AI Foundry itself is a platform layer within Azure, and costs are driven by model inference, fine-tuning compute, storage, and agent runtime usage. Microsoft publishes detailed pricing on the Azure OpenAI Service pricing page. Exodata can help you estimate and optimize costs as part of our managed IT services.
Can small businesses use Azure AI Foundry? Yes. While Azure AI Foundry is built for enterprise-grade workloads, its modular design means organizations of any size can start with a focused use case and scale over time. Exodata works with businesses across a range of industries and sizes to right-size their Azure AI deployments and keep them cost-effective.
How does Exodata help with Azure AI Foundry deployments? Exodata provides end-to-end support as an Azure Expert Managed Services Provider. That includes infrastructure design, model deployment, agent orchestration, security and compliance alignment, and ongoing monitoring. We handle the operational complexity so your team can focus on business outcomes.
Start Building the Future with Exodata
Azure AI Foundry represents a significant step forward in democratizing AI for enterprise. But getting from concept to deployment requires more than just the right tools it takes experience, planning, and operational excellence.
Exodata brings all of that and more. Whether you’re already building on Azure or just beginning your journey, we help you build smarter, scale faster, and operate with confidence.
Interested in deploying AI agents in your environment? Let’s start a conversation.