# Ascent Technology: Absolute Data Excellence

> Enterprise data platform and Azure consulting services delivering modernisation, database optimisation, governance discipline, and ISO 27001\-certified support for complex enterprise environments\.

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## Pages
- [Home](https://www.ascent.tech/): Advisory\-led enterprise data platform modernisation and Azure consulting services designed to strengthen performance, governance, and long\-term operational discipline across complex environments\.
- [Vendor Relationships](https://www.ascent.tech/about/vendor-relationships/): Ascent Technology is technology\-independent and multi\-platform – a Microsoft Direct CSP, Solutions Partner across four designations, AWS Consulting Partner, Google Cloud Partner, Oracle Certified Principal Partner, and Trellix Premier Partner\. The page sets out the cloud platforms, database management systems, and security vendors Ascent supports across client environments\.
- [Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider \(CSP\)](https://www.ascent.tech/products/cloud-platforms/microsoft-cloud-solution-provider-csp/): Ascent Technology is a Microsoft Direct CSP and Solutions Partner\. Buy Microsoft licensing and run Azure through a single accountable partner, with consolidated Rand invoicing, local partner\-led support, and hands\-on cost governance\. Independent of our consulting, strongest alongside it, and built for how South African businesses procure cloud\.
- [Legal Notices](https://www.ascent.tech/legal-notices/): Your relationship, interaction and communication with Ascent Technology, your use of this Web Site and of any Products or Services that we provide to you may be governed by various terms and conditions, which are binding on you\.
- [About](https://www.ascent.tech/about/)

## Posts
- [Four Microsoft Dates Before February\. The Cost Is in the Calendar\.](https://www.ascent.tech/microsoft-licensing-changes-2026/): Between July and February, four dated Microsoft changes decide what the estate will cost – list pricing, billing cadence, currency policy, commitment rules\. Johan Lamberts names the pattern commercial drift, walks the calendar date by date, and sets out the decision each one forces before 1 October\.
- [The Board Now Owns the Database](https://www.ascent.tech/king-v-data-governance-board/): King V has made the governing body accountable for data – its classification, its access, its integrity, its third parties and the assurance on all of it\. Most boards will answer with a policy and a paragraph\. Johan Lamberts on the questions that will travel down the table instead, and why the evidence has to exist before anyone asks\.
- [Support Ended for SQL Server 2016\. So Did the Microsoft Subsidy\.](https://www.ascent.tech/sql-server-extended-security-updates-cost/): Extended support for SQL Server 2016 ended on 14 July 2026\. The deadline is routine; what changed underneath it is not\. For a decade Microsoft subsidised deferral through free Extended Security Updates on Azure\. That subsidy is gone – and with it, the case for waiting\.
- [Your Last SQL Server End\-of\-Support Deadline](https://www.ascent.tech/migrate-sql-server-2016-azure/): SQL Server 2016's end of support has issued the next invoice in a cycle South African enterprises have been funding for decades – the recurring project that keeps everything exactly as it is\. Johan Lamberts on the standstill project, the newly priced cost of waiting, and the one migration that ends the queue\.
- [SQL Server 2016 Support Has Ended – and the Rules Have Changed](https://www.ascent.tech/sql-server-2016-end-of-support/): Extended support for SQL Server 2016 ended on 14 July 2026\. No further security updates, Extended Security Updates now chargeable in every environment including Azure, and Windows Server 2016 follows in January 2027\. The facts, the deadlines behind this one, and the supported paths forward\.

## Categories
- [Newsflashes](https://www.ascent.tech/category/newsflashes/)
- [From the Desk of the MD](https://www.ascent.tech/category/from-the-desk-of-the-md/)
- [Client Case Studies](https://www.ascent.tech/category/client-case-studies/)
- [Campaigns](https://www.ascent.tech/category/campaigns/)
- [Awards and Accolades](https://www.ascent.tech/category/awards-and-accolades/)

## Tags
- [Case Studies](https://www.ascent.tech/tag/case-studies/)
- [SQL Server](https://www.ascent.tech/tag/sql-server/)
- [Azure](https://www.ascent.tech/tag/azure/)
- [Microsoft Partner of the Year](https://www.ascent.tech/tag/microsoft-partner-of-the-year/)
- [Data Platform Modernisation](https://www.ascent.tech/tag/data-platform-modernisation/)

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- [Side Bar](https://www.ascent.tech/layout_category/side-bar/)

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