Today’s organizations are rethinking how they build and manage data platforms. It’s no longer just about spinning up infrastructure — it’s about doing it securely, scalably, maintainably, and with compliance baked in from day one. Enter the Datalance™ Landing Zone and Azure Verified Modules (AVMs). In this blog, we’ll walk through how we’re bringing that vision to life by blending these two powerhouses to modernize infrastructure delivery.

By integrating Azure Verified Modules (AVMs) into the Datalance framework, enterprises can evolve their infrastructure-as-code approach using Microsoft-authored modules that adhere to best practices and ensure consistency, security, and compliance.

What is Datalance?

Datalance™ is a solution accelerator built by AIS to simplify and accelerate the delivery of enterprise-grade data platforms using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) and code-first principles.

We built Datalance™ to bring agile principles and an ‘everything as code’ mindset to data. It offers native integration with Azure services and emphasizes security, observability, data lineage, and scalability through automated deployments and policy enforcement – all baked right into the deployment process.

The AVM Advantage

Azure Verified Modules (AVMs) are Microsoft-authored and certified modules aligned with Azure Well-Architected Framework principles. They abstract the complexity of deploying and configuring Azure resources by providing composable building blocks that can be easily embedded into enterprise deployment pipelines.

As we have said before, think of them like well-tested LEGO blocks for your Azure infrastructure. Instead of building everything from scratch, you can pick and choose the modules you need, knowing they will work together. Each AVM includes:

  • Deployment logic using standardized Bicep/Terraform
  • Security baselines and best practices (RBAC, diagnostic settings, tags)
  • Input validation and output standardization
  • GitOps compatibility through version-controlled deployments

Converting to AVM

To modernize the existing Datalance landing zone, we first identified all core infrastructure components defined in the original Bicep templates. Where AVM-compliant modules were available, we replaced the legacy modules with their AVM equivalents, ensuring compatibility and leveraging standardized best practices. For components without existing AVM modules, we refactored the original Bicep code to align with AVM specifications, including parameterization, outputs, and metadata. Here are just a few of the modules we’re using:

1. Core Networking
2. Identity & Access Management
3. Data Services
4. Monitoring & Diagnostics
5. Compute & App Services

We deploy all of this through CI/CD pipelines—using tools like Azure DevOps. All changes go through pull requests, all infra is version-controlled, and promotions happen seamlessly between dev, test, and prod.

Benefits of Using AVM for Datalance Landing Zone

  • Accelerated Provisioning: AVMs streamline infrastructure deployment. Less custom code = faster deployment
  • Consistent Security: Built-in security baselines, RBAC, and diagnostics ensure every deployment meets enterprise security standards by default.
  • Operational Consistency: GitOps + AVMs = stable, repeatable, low-drift environments.
  • Lower Maintenance Overhead: Microsoft handles updates, so you don’t have to.
  • Improved Observability: Native integration with monitoring and diagnostics modules provides enhanced visibility and proactive alerting for platform health.
  • Modular Scalability: Composable AVMs allow teams to add or update services easily.
  • Auditability and Compliance: Version-controlled modules and policy enforcement simplify audits and regulatory compliance.

Industries like finance, defense, healthcare, and energy can benefit most from this pattern due to their need for auditability, strict policy enforcement, and scalability.

Final Thoughts

Using Azure Verified Modules inside the Datalance Landing Zone isn’t just an upgrade. We’re turning infrastructure into something smarter, more reliable, and way easier to manage at scale. AVMs help us move faster without compromising on security or governance, and they give us a foundation we can build on with confidence, transforming your organization.

So if you’re staring down a massive data platform overhaul or trying to wrangle a sprawl of infrastructure definitions, maybe it’s time to take a fresh look with Datalance and AVMs. You don’t have to trade agility for control — you can have both.

Ready to Modernize Your Data Platform?

Reach out to AIS and explore how Datalance with Azure Verified Modules can help you build a platform that’s fast, secure, and future-ready.