Arpan Shah, Senior Director for Microsoft Azure, has revealed that Microsoft will begin to implement a support upgrade for Enterprise Agreement (EA) users from May 1. All members who add Azure to their EA between then and June 30, 2017 will be able to immediately access the extra level of support for one year.
The upgrade will act as an automatic and free step up in the support system. Therefore, users who opted out of support will be able to access Azure Standard, which provides basic assistance for technical and subscription issues.
Customers who chose Azure Standard at purchase will be promoted to Professional Direct, which promises quicker response times, the option to increase the priority of their issue, and preventative measures. If Professional Direct is already in action, the user will be able to access even more support infrastructure with Azure's Premium support service.
While new customers will receive the additional support immediately, existing customers will not, with Microsoft promising to upgrade all existing EA users of the platform before September 2016.
Source: Microsoft Azure