If you are conversant with cloud computing platforms a digital business can utilize, no doubt you might have heard of, or even used Microsoft Azure. There are many services your virtual business can take advantage of from the platform. However, does its description of having “limitless potential” stand? Read on and find out what it does and how your business can utilize it. what’s more, you will discover some of the benefits your business can reap from using Microsoft Azure.
What is Microsoft Azure?
The cloud computing space consists of two great names; Amazon Web Services, AWS, and Microsoft Azure. Fortunately, we are diving deep into the latter, so why not begin by finding out what it means?
Microsoft Azure is an online public cloud computing platform. It allows users to access and manage cloud services and resources. Importantly, the provider of all these is Microsoft. Some of the computing solutions it offers to deal with virtual computing, networking, and storage. Additionally, this is a reliable platform that is secure and available globally. Nonetheless, it works regardless of the operating system you are using, the tool, framework, or even the language. The good thing is, it isn’t so pricey. Besides, it is the fastest-growing cloud computing platform.
Therefore, Microsoft Azure is one of the numerous cloud computing platforms that are making work easier for businesses in this digital era. It is no longer a surprise to find businesses incorporating their services into their processes for efficiency and to save on cost and time. Notably, there is an increase in the number of businesses adopting cloud computing services from platforms like Microsoft Azure, one of the giants in the field.
However, how does the platform work?
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How Does Microsoft Azure Work?
Before you discover how Microsoft Azure works, why not find out the requirements? So, what do you need to get the cloud computing services and resources offered in Microsoft Azure? First, you need a stable internet connection. The next important thing is to get connected to their official portal. With these two, you are good to go and the journey towards transforming and scaling your business begins.
Remember, you do not need to pay anything to start using the platform. The only payment you will make is when you use the services. This is because the model it adopts is the pay-per-use one, similar to its competitor, Amazon Web Services. Thanks to this model, you don’t have to pay for everything. On the contrary, you will only pay for the service you use depending on the cloud computing needs of your business. Therefore, you will receive a monthly bill of the charges you should pay fr the resources you have used.
The 4 main forms of cloud computing in the platform are;
- Infrastructure as a Service, IaaS
- Platform as a Service, PaaS
- Software as a Service, SaaS
It is interesting how the services of this platform are spread globally, with over 42 data centres. What’s more, the plans of increasing this number are underway.
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What Are the Services?
Are you wondering what the specific services on this platform are? Well, it offers more than 200 services, all of which are put into 18 categories. These categories range from analytics, compute, storage, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), security, databases, and management tools to developer tools. Let us find out more about the major services and how you can utilize them in your business.
- Storage
There are different storage types you can choose to use depending on what your business needs. The service categories befit storage for any type of data; whether structured or unstructured. If you want storage for big data, or to archive some data, there is room.
- Networking
This is another major category of the services in the Microsoft Azure platform. It has the Content Delivery Network to deliver content to users, and the Virtual Network to enhance private communication between Azure services. The services available under the networking category aid in managing traffic, balancing loads, and protecting the network against attacks such as distributed denial-of-service, and DDoS, attacks.
- Compute Services
The services help a user manage virtual machines and batch jobs. Also, you can configure the resources in this category with a private or a public IP address depending on how accessible it should be to others.
What Can Microsoft Azure Do For Your Business?
Microsoft Azure is a crucial tool for various businesses in any industry. Why? You can use it to perform different tasks. Such include
- Developing, Testing, and Hosting Applications
If you would like to develop an application for your virtual business account, Microsoft Azures makes this possible. You can create any web on the platform. Once you have developed an application on Azure, you don’t need to use it without knowing how it works. Take advantage of the testing provision on the platform and use it to test the application. The third way in which you can use the platform is to host your application after testing it.
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- Creating Virtual Machines
Azure can help you create any virtual machine regardless of its configuration. An extension to the virtual machines is the virtual hard drives for massive data storage. it is important to note that the most popular use of the platform is in the running of these virtual machines.
- Integrating and Syncing Features
When you want to integrate and sync virtual devices and directories, Microsoft Azure allows you to achieve this.
- Hosting Database
This is another common use of Azure. There are numerous serverless relational databases and non-relational databases.
- Securing Data
Security is important in any business. Thankfully, azure understands its assignment in this regard and ensures it protects your data, keeping it secure on its platform.
- Backup and Disaster Recovery
If your business or organization needs to retain its data, especially for a long-term period, you can use Microsoft Azure. Its storage is a good archive and acts as a backup when your business will require the data.
Conclusion
Microsoft Azure comes second after Amazon Web Services. The good news is that it is growing at a fast pace, and any business including virtual markets can adopt this cloud computing platform for different services to save costs and time. Also, tech-forward businesses can explore a variety of opportunities on Microsoft Azure. Remember, Microsoft Azure, aims to assist new companies and existing global businesses to handle their challenges and achieving their goals. Therefore, if you want a platform that can complement and expand the IT infrastructure in your business, you can use Azure.
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