Azure is Microsoft’s cloud platform. The service offers a suite of software, tools and infrastructure to run applications and store data, including Virtual Machines (VMs), databases, data lakes and other services. It also provides tools for deploying web and mobile applications, and supporting software development. It’s particularly powerful in IT-based sectors such as software engineering and DevOps, but companies from all industries use it to speed up their processes and reach their customers faster.
Its massive toolset includes DevOps capabilities such as CI/CD, version control and release management that make it easy to create, test and deploy new applications. This helps businesses meet the demands of customers, whether it’s during Black Friday sales or a major corporate event. Azure’s instant, unlimited scalability is especially useful in these cases.
It’s available in multiple regions around the world, which means it can be accessed closer to users, reducing latency and improving application performance. It also has a range of services for securing data and applications, including encryption, identity authentication and access management.
Its pay-as-you-go model eliminates upfront costs and scales with demand, making it easy for small businesses to get started. This is a significant benefit for businesses that are not ready to invest in a private or hybrid data center. The service also supports open source software, enabling developers to use the tools they want. Microsoft also offers additional customer support plans for a fee, ranging from developer support to professional direct support.