What is Azure Cloud Services?
Azure is a cloud computing platform that provides everything a business needs to run all or part of its computing operations virtually. In other words, it allows organizations, developers, government agencies, and IT professionals to build, deploy, and manage applications without having to rely on any physical hardware, provided they have an active internet connection.
Azure cloud services refer to the services delivered on-demand to businesses and customers over the internet. If you’re looking to get started with Azure, knowing the cloud’s computing offerings is a great place to begin.
There are well over 200 products that cater to the rapidly changing business needs of modern enterprises, and these services fall into three main categories, namely Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service.
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
IaaS is a popular type of service, which is no surprise since it is the basic Azure offering. In simple words, this service gives you a server in the cloud that you have complete control over, eliminating the need to operate infrastructure and hardware of your own.
If you choose to use this service, you will be responsible for managing everything from the operating system up to applications, middleware, data, and runtime. This level of service has several advantages, such as freedom to use a high-end server without purchasing it, scalability, and flexibility, among others.
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Also known as cloud platform services, this level of services allows you to bolt cloud capabilities to your existing networking. In other words, PaaS is an environment that enables you to develop and deploy custom applications. It supports many program languages and provides the hardware needed to develop and test applications.
All servers, storage, and networking can be managed by the enterprise or a third-party provider while you get the opportunity to focus on what really matters to you – developing business applications to meet the needs of your clients. Other notable attractions to this service option including scalability, automation of business policy, and simple, cost-effective development and deployment of apps.
- Software as a service (SaaS)
Finally, SaaS allows for the development and hosting of applications through third-party vendors that usually charge a certain amount of service. By choosing Azure as the foundation for your apps, you’re leveraging powerful technology and intelligent tools like analytics and machine learning.
Most SaaS applications run directly through your web browser, with good examples being Dropbox and OneDrive. A significant advantage of this option is that you can launch your application quickly without worries about servers or software. The ease of access is a huge attraction also.
All-in-All
Azure is a great option to consider for those looking to migrate their applications or infrastructure to the cloud. Second only to Amazon Web Service, Azure is widely considered the best cloud provider available as it helps businesses rapidly build, develop, and manage simple to complex applications with ease.
