According to reports, “Microsoft secured the No. 2 position in the IaaS (Infrastructure as a service) market with revenue surpassing $5 billion in 2018, up from $3.1 billion in 2017”. The progress of Microsoft Azure has been credited to its innovative services and open offerings by experts.
Azure cloud is a cloud computing providing platform that offers users the opportunity to utilize a range of complex functions, services, and resources through a laptop and a stable internet connection.
It is interesting to note that despite the widespread use of cloud technology, the number of companies that are offering dedicated servers for cloud services is still limited to only a top few, and Azure continues to consistently remain a top contender in the digital race. Before we dive into what services Azure cloud provides and the potential they entail for its users, it is prudent to first define what Azure cloud exactly is.
What is Azure Cloud?
Azure Cloud or Microsoft Azure is a cloud technology project that materializes the idea of renting out IT infrastructure, digital storage, processors, and servers in a highly secure environment to small businesses, corporations, and individuals.
Put simply, Azure cloud provides a gateway for small businesses or start-ups to utilize a range of complex and highly specified services for their business models; effectively eliminating the disadvantage of not having enough money to develop software, applications or websites of the same standard as their competitors.
Azure makes use of: Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) products to add diversity to their functionality and offer users a complete spectrum of online resources.
Most commonly, Azure cloud is used to test mobile and software applications online. These software applications can be built, tested and launched in the cloud space without having to utilize any personal hardware.
How does Azure this?
Azure Cloud is able to do this by developing a specialized network of data centers across the globe. As of April 2018, Azure cloud was available in 140 countries and 50 regions, with more than 40 data centers across the world (Source). Azure is also credited to be approximately used by 80-95% Fortune 500 companies, like Samsung, Apple iCloud, eBay, and Pixar to name a few.
Each of these data centers contains hundreds of servers that have unimaginable capabilities and capacity in machine learning, virtualization, coding, development, and much more.
How much does it cost?
Azure operates on a utilization model, where there is open access and users only pay for the services they use; rates vary for different services. The pay per use model of Azure is perhaps the most attractive feature for growing businesses or those who are just starting out. It assists to deter the initial risk that every business faces on whether the idea will flop or rise. Will you become an overnight success story or disappear in a month? This consequently makes the decision of investing in company infrastructure and resources in-house extremely difficult.
Azure cloud eliminates this stress because it empowers business models by providing a platform that only charges users for the services that they utilize and is equipped to accommodate increasing load as it grows with time.
What Services are provided by Azure?
Azure has been designed to empower developers and businesses to create, improve, develop, test, and upscale new applications and software. To be able to do this, the platform must provide services that are both specific and efficient.
There are as many as 600 different services that Microsoft offers through Azure alone. Though extremely varied, they are all focused on empowering the average user to utilize countless resources via the cloud without worrying about arranging server infrastructure or paying for physical server utilization.
Surely, azure has successfully managed to provide an unimaginable range of services, all of which can be selected and adjusted to fulfill individual business requirements.
Some of the key services that are provided are as follows:
- Data Storage Services:
- Data Management
- Virtualization
- Messaging
- Compute Services
- Cognitive Services
- Media Services
- Content Delivery Network
- Machine Learning
- Security Services
- IoT services
The potential and capability of each service is dependent on the nature of your business model and size. By choosing relevant services for your data via the cloud computing platform, businesses can effectively create a complete business framework entirely managed and updated on the cloud.
Why is Azure important for the future?
In review, we can cloud that the capabilities of Azure cloud are absolutely monumental and the role it can play for businesses of varying sizes is increasingly important.
As more and more companies switch to azure, a rising demand for professionals experienced with its use will occur and azure cloud training will proportionately become a progressively valued asset. And for those young entrepreneurs who have an innovative business idea in their head but have yet to put it in action, you should invest your time wisely by completing azure cloud training to understand what is the complete range of this platform and how Azure training benefit your business because surely the cost-effective offerings of azure is guaranteed to make it a valuable resource for every business.