Microsoft Azure

In a 2017 survey, Microsoft Azure was identified as the most-used public cloud, and the one most likely to be purchased or renewed, according to 28% of survey respondents—the highest percentage for any public cloud provider. With results like this, it’s no wonder the number of businesses interested in Azure continue to climb

What is Microsoft Azure?

Traditionally, the only option available to companies was to build and manage the physical hardware needed for computing, including servers, disk storage and Ethernet switches. But today, companies can use a public cloud computing platform like Azure, which purchases and maintains all the computing hardware. This means companies can effectively “rent” hardware resources as needed.

You can pick and choose among Azure’s services to get the support needed for your business operations—namely building, deploying, and managing applications. (We’ll go into more detail on these service levels in Chapter 3.) And because you’re renting the computing resources, you don’t have the costs and inefficiencies (like a dedicated IT department) associated with the physical hardware that naturally goes along with those activities. There are also numerous additional benefits beyond cost and efficiency that we’ll expound on in Chapter 2.

Who uses Microsoft Azure?

Azure is also appealing to many small and medium sized businesses. One reason for this is that it helps SMBs avoid huge capital outlays for equipment; it also removes the burden of upgrades and maintenance, as smaller organizations may not have in-house experts readily available to provide support. And because Azure makes it easy to add or remove computing resources in minutes as compared to hours (or days!), it provides increased flexibility that businesses simply wouldn’t have with a traditional on-premise datacenter.