Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure is a public cloud computing platform from Microsoft that offers a range of cloud services, including computing, analytics, storage, and networking. Users can choose from these services to develop and scale new applications or run existing ones in the public cloud. Additionally, Azure offers four different forms of cloud computing: infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), software as a service (SaaS), and serverless.

The Azure platform is designed to help organisations overcome challenges and achieve business goals. Microsoft operates Azure on a pay-as-you-go model, which means subscribers receive a monthly bill that charges them only for the specific resources they have used.

Microsoft Azure Services

Microsoft Azure has 600 different services, divided into the following categories: Compute services, Identity, Mobile services, Storage services, Communication services, Data management, Messaging, Media services, CDN, Developer, Management, Azure AI, Azure Blockchain Workbench, Functions & Internet of Things (IoT).

Below are some of the popular services: 

• Virtual machines allow users to launch Microsoft Windows and Linux virtual machines.

• Cosmos DB - this is a NoSQL database service that implements a subset of the SQL SELECT statement on JSON documents.

• Azure Active Directory synchronises on-premises directories and enables Single Sign-On (SSO).

• CDN (Content Delivery Network) - This service is designed to work in integration with a number of other services, including web apps, Azure cloud services, and storage.

• SharePoint - SharePoint is a web-based collaboration platform that can be integrated with Microsoft Office. It is mainly used for sharing documents internally and externally.

• Key Vault - This is a service that you can use to store and generate certificates and keys.

• Mobile Engagement - collects real-time analytics that highlights user behaviour. It also offers push notifications to mobile devices.

• Azure Communication Services - provides an SDK (Software Development Kit) for creating web and mobile communication applications that include SMS, video calling, VOIP and PSTN calling, and web-based chat. 

• Azure Data Explorer - provides big data analytics and data exploration capabilities.

• Microsoft Azure Machine Learning (Azure ML) - provides tools and machine learning frameworks for developers to create their own machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) services.

Advantages of Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure is among the most popular cloud platforms with Google Cloud and AWS. The advantages of Microsoft Azure are:

• High availability - it is almost available and usable everywhere in the world.

• Security - there are strict rules regarding safety, and they use a standard security model: detect, assess, diagnose, stabilise, and close.

• Scalable - Microsoft Azure makes it very easy to scale up and down.

• Cost-effective - the pay-as-you-go model makes the platform cost-effective because you only pay for what you use.

 Disadvantages of Microsoft Azure

Despite its popularity, it also has some disadvantages:

• Complexity - for larger companies, it will be worthwhile to investigate a SaaS management solution with someone specially trained to manage your Azure platform.

• Hidden costs - Azure services are all subject to data transfer costs, often leading to stacked hidden costs.

• Support - despite its high-quality products and global reach, Microsoft is not very good at dealing with many customers and treating each customer as a unique individual.