The Growing Popularity of Microsoft Azure Cloud Services

Let’s start with a little history lesson before diving into the benefits of Microsoft Azure Cloud Services. Microsoft, makers of the popular Xbox video game consoles, recently made its largest acquisition ever by spending $68.7 Billion to acquire Activision Blizzard, publisher of famed video game franchises like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, and Candy Crush.

While this deal is focused on bolstering the Xbox business, it will also impact Azure, Microsoft’s cloud division. Moving Activision Blizzard to Microsoft Azure could be in the works down the road, as that is exactly what was done after Microsoft acquired Minecraft developer Mojang Studios for $2.5 billion in 2014. They slowly moved their new company off of rival Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Azure is a cloud-computing platform that allows users to rapidly build, deploy, and manage secure applications to scale, on-premises, in the cloud, or both. It is built on a broad stack of services that allow you to quickly provision resources, connect with existing on-premises active directory and domains, and create scalable, cross-platform applications.

We’ve created this Microsoft Azure guide to help you in your decision-making process.

Flexibility of Microsoft Azure

So, instead of needing expensive onsite infrastructure, you pay for access to computing resources provided by Microsoft Azure’s massive hosting infrastructure. Anything that can run on a physical server (e.g., email, databases, file storage, Active Directory) can run on a virtual machine hosted by Azure. This Microsoft Azure guide will help you understand all of its benefits. 

The Benefits of Microsoft Azure Cloud Services

Unlike having physical, onsite hardware, Azure allows you to quickly deploy infrastructure so you can scale efficiently and on a predictable budget. In addition to the benefits highlighted in the Cloud Computing Trends article, Azure is built on a consumption-based cost model, which means you pay for capacity by the second. You can increase or decrease computing capacity as needed, and you only pay for what you use. 

Guaranteed Connectivity

Connectivity is extremely important for businesses to remain efficient. Azure offers uptime guarantees for its services. For example, they offer 99.9% uptime for their virtual machines. Compliance is also critical for many organizations. Azure has comprehensive compliance coverage with over 95 offerings, including HIPAA, ITAR, FedRAMP, ISO, and NIST.

Azure Cloud Services Security 

An essential piece of this Microsoft Azure guide is to demonstrate how Azure can keep your system protected. Microsoft uses its experience to implement and improve security-focused practices to ensure the protection of services and data. Click here to learn more about how Microsoft protects your data. Here are some of the methods Microsoft uses to protect your data: 

• Encryption: Microsoft uses multiple encryption methods, protocols, and algorithms to protect data at rest and in transit
• Threat management: Microsoft cloud services have built-in protections against malware and Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, and utilizes advanced threat analytics to flag unusual activity in the cloud infrastructure
• Network security: Microsoft uses multiple strategies to protect data, including firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention, and traffic isolation to protect VMs

What About Amazon Web Services? 

So far, in this Microsoft Azure guide, we haven’t discussed alternative options like Amazon Web Services. Although Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds the most significant market share in public cloud services, Microsoft Azure fundamentally serves a different market. To get a sense of how partners currently view the top cloud platforms, CRN recently conducted its inaugural Cloud Barometer survey, which asked partners to rate their satisfaction with the leading Infrastructure-as-a-Service platforms across five key categories. Survey respondents awarded the highest overall rating to Microsoft Azure, followed by AWS at No. 2 and Google Cloud at No. 3.

The Microsoft Azure Advantage

We hope that this Microsoft Azure guide has made the advantages of Azure obvious. Many companies are not running their business solely on cloud services; they want a cloud service with some physical infrastructure they still manage. To accommodate this need, Microsoft has developed a true hybrid cloud offering. With this flexibility, companies can use their on-premises resources when needed while seamlessly transitioning to the cloud to scale. 

Get Started with Microsoft Azure

One of the most important points we want to make in this Microsoft Azure guide is the widespread accessibility of the system. Azure provides the most extensive global footprint of any cloud provider and is rapidly opening new regions and availability zones. With the widespread availability of regions, customers can house their data in a location that’s right for them. Click here to learn more about the Microsoft Azure platform. Contact us today to get started with our Microsoft Azure consulting services and learn more about how we can help your business harness the power of Azure.

The Dataprise Cloud Migration Process follows a proven process of: Assess > Plan > Azure Foundations Deployment > Optimize > Manage.

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Dataprise is a leading Microsoft managed cloud solutions provider for businesses large and small. Our team of IT consultants, which includes 40+ Azure Certified Experts, will be able to add new workloads, move legacy systems, leverage additional bandwidth, and more. We will design and deploy the right cloud solutions that will best benefit your company and its end users. Additionally, with abilities to deliver an IT assessment and translate your findings into an infrastructure management plan, our team will be with you every step of the way so that you can focus on what’s most important, your business.