diff --git a/aitelemetry/telemetrywrapper.go b/aitelemetry/telemetrywrapper.go
index 36c59c212a..7caacf2979 100644
--- a/aitelemetry/telemetrywrapper.go
+++ b/aitelemetry/telemetrywrapper.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ const (
 	azurePublicCloudStr              = "AzurePublicCloud"
 	hostNameKey                      = "hostname"
 	defaultTimeout                   = 10
+	maxCloseTimeoutInSeconds         = 30
 	defaultBatchIntervalInSecs       = 15
 	defaultBatchSizeInBytes          = 32768
 	defaultGetEnvRetryCount          = 5
@@ -330,8 +331,35 @@ func (th *telemetryHandle) Close(timeout int) {
 		timeout = defaultTimeout
 	}
 
+	// max wait is the minimum of the timeout and maxCloseTimeoutInSeconds
+	maxWaitTimeInSeconds := timeout
+	if maxWaitTimeInSeconds < maxCloseTimeoutInSeconds {
+		maxWaitTimeInSeconds = maxCloseTimeoutInSeconds
+	}
+
 	// wait for items to be sent otherwise timeout
-	<-th.client.Channel().Close(time.Duration(timeout) * time.Second)
+	// similar to the example in the appinsights-go repo: https://github.com/microsoft/ApplicationInsights-Go#shutdown
+	timer := time.NewTimer(time.Duration(maxWaitTimeInSeconds) * time.Second)
+	defer timer.Stop()
+	select {
+	case <-th.client.Channel().Close(time.Duration(timeout) * time.Second):
+		// timeout specified for retries.
+
+		// If we got here, then all telemetry was submitted
+		// successfully, and we can proceed to exiting.
+
+	case <-timer.C:
+		// absolute timeout.  This covers any
+		// previous telemetry submission that may not have
+		// completed before Close was called.
+
+		// There are a number of reasons we could have
+		// reached here.  We gave it a go, but telemetry
+		// submission failed somewhere.  Perhaps old events
+		// were still retrying, or perhaps we're throttled.
+		// Either way, we don't want to wait around for it
+		// to complete, so let's just exit.
+	}
 
 	// Remove diganostic message listener
 	if th.diagListener != nil {
diff --git a/npm/cmd/start.go b/npm/cmd/start.go
index 223751ba16..b36d10422d 100644
--- a/npm/cmd/start.go
+++ b/npm/cmd/start.go
@@ -56,7 +56,10 @@ func newStartNPMCmd() *cobra.Command {
 				KubeConfigPath: viper.GetString(flagKubeConfigPath),
 			}
 
-			return start(*config, flags)
+			// start is blocking, unless there's an error
+			err = start(*config, flags)
+			metrics.Close()
+			return err
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -117,7 +120,10 @@ func start(config npmconfig.Config, flags npmconfig.Flags) error {
 	klog.Infof("Resync period for NPM pod is set to %d.", int(resyncPeriod/time.Minute))
 	factory := informers.NewSharedInformerFactory(clientset, resyncPeriod)
 
-	k8sServerVersion := k8sServerVersion(clientset)
+	err = metrics.CreateTelemetryHandle(config.NPMVersion(), version, npm.GetAIMetadata())
+	if err != nil {
+		klog.Infof("CreateTelemetryHandle failed with error %v. AITelemetry is not initialized.", err)
+	}
 
 	var dp dataplane.GenericDataplane
 	stopChannel := wait.NeverStop
@@ -181,11 +187,9 @@ func start(config npmconfig.Config, flags npmconfig.Flags) error {
 		}
 		dp.RunPeriodicTasks()
 	}
+
+	k8sServerVersion := k8sServerVersion(clientset)
 	npMgr := npm.NewNetworkPolicyManager(config, factory, dp, exec.New(), version, k8sServerVersion)
-	err = metrics.CreateTelemetryHandle(config.NPMVersion(), version, npm.GetAIMetadata())
-	if err != nil {
-		klog.Infof("CreateTelemetryHandle failed with error %v. AITelemetry is not initialized.", err)
-	}
 
 	go restserver.NPMRestServerListenAndServe(config, npMgr)
 
diff --git a/npm/metrics/ai-utils.go b/npm/metrics/ai-utils.go
index 20de3009ff..068fdb8f6a 100644
--- a/npm/metrics/ai-utils.go
+++ b/npm/metrics/ai-utils.go
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/klog"
 )
 
+const telemetryCloseWaitTimeSeconds = 10
+
 var (
 	th         aitelemetry.TelemetryHandle
 	npmVersion int
@@ -54,6 +56,15 @@ func CreateTelemetryHandle(npmVersionNum int, imageVersion, aiMetadata string) e
 	return nil
 }
 
+// Close cleans up the telemetry handle, which effectively waits for all telemetry data to be sent
+func Close() {
+	if th == nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	th.Close(telemetryCloseWaitTimeSeconds)
+}
+
 // SendErrorLogAndMetric sends a metric through AI telemetry and sends a log to the Kusto Messages table
 func SendErrorLogAndMetric(operationID int, format string, args ...interface{}) {
 	// Send error metrics
diff --git a/npm/pkg/dataplane/ipsets/ipsetmanager_linux.go b/npm/pkg/dataplane/ipsets/ipsetmanager_linux.go
index d654e589f3..1e1f2eaf7e 100644
--- a/npm/pkg/dataplane/ipsets/ipsetmanager_linux.go
+++ b/npm/pkg/dataplane/ipsets/ipsetmanager_linux.go
@@ -422,6 +422,7 @@ func (iMgr *IPSetManager) applyIPSets() error {
 			msg := fmt.Sprintf("exceeded max consecutive failures (%d) when applying ipsets. final error: %s", maxConsecutiveFailures, restoreError.Error())
 			klog.Error(msg)
 			metrics.SendErrorLogAndMetric(util.IpsmID, msg)
+			metrics.Close()
 			panic(msg)
 		}
 
diff --git a/npm/pkg/dataplane/policies/policymanager_test.go b/npm/pkg/dataplane/policies/policymanager_test.go
index 2ce9b27285..22add8eea0 100644
--- a/npm/pkg/dataplane/policies/policymanager_test.go
+++ b/npm/pkg/dataplane/policies/policymanager_test.go
@@ -115,7 +115,9 @@ func TestBootup(t *testing.T) {
 	metrics.IncNumACLRules()
 
 	require.NoError(t, pMgr.Bootup(epIDs))
-	require.Equal(t, util.IptablesNft, util.Iptables)
+	if !util.IsWindowsDP() {
+		require.Equal(t, util.IptablesNft, util.Iptables)
+	}
 
 	expectedNumACLs := 11
 	if util.IsWindowsDP() {