Cloud Computing applications and platforms are increasing across all industries, serving as the IT infrastructure that drives new digital businesses. It improves cost efficiency, promotes collaboration, aids disaster recovery, increases mobility, and provides flexibility for businesses. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are the leading providers of Cloud services. Azure provides an outstanding flexibility level, offering you the choice to get functionality as needed. Let’s take a look at 10 ways Azure is beating AWS at their own game.
1. Strength as PaaS
Microsoft products, services, and frameworks have been used by organizations for decades and Azure provides a platform for easily migrating or extending these services to the cloud. With Azure PaaS services, developers can continue using the same tools and frameworks that they are already familiar with to develop and deploy applications to the cloud. Along with built-in security and identity capabilities of its PaaS, there are several out-of-the-box applications in the Azure Marketplace that can be leveraged by organizations to reduce development time and shorten time to market for new application features.
Azure PaaS supports all leading development frameworks like .NET, Java, Ruby, Node.JS, PHP, and Python; it also supports DevOps tools like VSTS, Bitbucket, GitHub etc.
2. Hybrid Cloud Capabilities
The Microsoft hybrid cloud supports both on-premises resources and the public cloud without the need for complex workarounds or other products and vendors. Easily move workloads between your data center, service providers and Azure and build hybrid applications that support resources across all three. Unlike Amazon Web Service’s cloud-only approach, Azure provides you lots of options for an effective hybrid cloud strategy without forcing you to snap to a rigid all-or-nothing approach. Azure has assured hybrid cloud services such as Azure Stack, Azure StorSimple and Hybrid SQL Server. These services allow you to bring full Azure functionality to your own premises data centers using the PAYG model for its public cloud.
3. Data and Secured Service Offerings
Azure provides advanced security technology with tools like threat intelligence, advanced threat analytics, Azure Information Protection and multi-factor authorization, allowing you to analyze threats in real-time, responding quickly to suspicious activity.
The security of the Azure Cloud is rooted in the security development lifecycle, which integrates security across all stages of the development process. This helps developers build highly secure software, address security compliance requirements, and reduce development costs.
4. Innovation-driven and customizable
Microsoft adds new features constantly to keep the platform a step ahead. Furthermore, it encourages users to choose the framework, programming language and features that best fit them, which makes the platform very flexible for a client migrating to it.
5. Integrated Environment
Azure introduces to the array an integrated environment for testing, developing, and deploying Cloud apps. Clients can easily choose the framework they wish with open development languages. It also provides flexibility for Azure migration. Thus, services like mobile, web, APIs and templates can easily be used to develop Azure apps. Azure PaaS having extensive capabilities brings apps, data, and devices together as on both on-premises and Cloud as well. Its flexible toolset helps to solve the integration problems or needs, from on-premises to coordination with other things
6. Scenario-Based Solutions, Remote Monitoring — Advanced Tools
Azure has the best environment and tools for development. Azure Developer Tools offer highly flexible and advanced facilities for implementation of applications for push notifications, streaming analytics, IoT deployments, and machine learning capabilities. With faster and stronger PaaS capabilities than AWS, it’s easier for developers to design and deploy applications efficiently. Azure’s IoT Suite provides solution accelerators such as Predictive Maintenance, an end-to-end solution for a business scenario that predicts the point at which a failure is likely to occur, and Remote Monitoring which implements an end-to-end monitoring solution for multiple machines in remote locations.
7 .Net Compatibility
Azure’s compatibility with the .Net programming language is one of the most useful benefits of Azure, which provides Microsoft a clear upper hand over AWS and the rest of the competitors. Azure has been built and optimized to work steadily with both old and new applications developed using the .Net programming framework. It is one of the best options for enterprises to move their Windows apps to Azure Cloud as opposed to AWS or others. Thus, for the several organizations that use .Net based enterprise apps, Azure is the finest choice
8. Gentle Learning Curve
AWS is widely perceived as being complicated. Azure ensures the utilization of the same tried and trusted technologies that several businesses have used in the past and are still using today. These include Windows and Linux, Active Directory, and virtual machines. Moreover, it gives useful tools like XCode, Hadoop, Github, Visual Studios, Eclipse, etc. It also gives several third party tools, solutions, and apps developed by partner-developers on the Azure Marketplace. As a result, the learning curve for the Azure Cloud is good.
9. Best Identity Platform
Microsoft has a long history of developing successful identity and access management technologies, and Active Directory is used by thousands of enterprises of all sizes. While AWS’s identity service only focuses on its cloud, the Azure Active Directory provides a comprehensive identity and access management cloud solution to help control access to thousands of Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications in the public cloud.
10. Integration with Microsoft Products = Cost Savings
If an enterprise is already running Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange, Active Directory, and other core Microsoft products to service critical aspects of your business, it’s only logical to plug Azure into that existing ecosystem. While most of these services will integrate well with AWS, Microsoft has built a more seamless integration experience between its product line and Azure.
By the way, an ‘Enterprise Agreement’ with Microsoft, entitles you to receive discounts and significant incentives. And also, Azure markets up to 72% savings with pay-as-you-go pricing. Companies can also choose to go the hybrid route and maintain their on-premise data centers while reaping the benefits of flexibility and backup security in the Azure cloud.
Conclusions
Azure is great when it comes to Hybrid Cloud, PaaS, and integrating with Microsoft stack of products. Azure Hybrid purchasing options are suitable for the customers that have an existing Windows server license with Software Assurance to move to the cloud and pay only for the base computing rate and deploy hybrid cloud with cost-effective price. Numerous enterprises have observed steady business growth by moving to Azure. As a result, Azure happens to be a better choice compared to AWS.
