Replication to Azure SQL Database
One of Azure's most successful technologies within the database ecosystem is Azure SQL Database. One of the main advantages of this technology is that it completely removes the physical administration that you are probably used to with on-premises SQL Server. We no longer need to manage the hardware, storage, backups, operating system, and the database software itself. Even tasks such as consistency checks (DBCC CHECKDB) are Microsoft's responsibility. This frees you up for other important tasks, such as query optimization and indexing strategies, where you can really focus on making your application faster. The other key driving factor for the move to Azure SQL Database is the built-in, fault-tolerant, highly available infrastructure that equates to a 99.99% uptime SLA guarantee.
You shouldn't be surprised to hear that Microsoft has a cloud-first strategy. With the fact that Azure SQL Database shares the same codebase as on-premises...