One of the “Big Three” in cloud computing, Microsoft’s Azure platform focuses on hybrid cloud environments and can be used for a wide range of workloads including DevOps, IoT, blockchain, and big data analytics. One of its biggest advantages is the ease with which it integrates with Windows-based devices, something that Google Cloud and AWS have difficulty matching.
Not all analytics services are created equal and not all cloud storage is built for big data analytics. Azure offers finely-tuned analytics services that are faster and less costly than the other cloud providers making it a worthy contender for your big data solutions needs.
Azure has become the cloud of choice for many large organizations, including Coca-Cola, Samsung, and FedEx. In fact, more than 95% of Fortune 500 companies use Azure to provide cloud services. Azure Data Lakes Store (ADLS) paired with Azure Data Lake Analytics (ADLA) makes for a great addition to your larger data management strategy.
Azure uses machine learning tools to transform your company’s data into actionable insights. It includes a range of products designed to make it easy to combine any data at any scale, build and deploy machine learning models at scale, and perform big data advanced analytics:
Azure supports a wide range of operating systems, programming languages, frameworks, databases, and devices, allowing you to leverage tools and technologies you already use and trust.
In addition to its global availability, major advantages to the platform include:
Finally, Azure’s pay-as-you-go model makes for a cost-efficient platform that you can build on as needs increase. IT admin costs are minimized as are hardware and maintenance expenses.
Microsoft’s well-known commitment to transparent analytics and big data services allows your business to store critical data in the cloud and facilitates the making of quick, real-time decisions that can have a significant impact on your organization’s bottom line. While both AWS and Google Cloud provide similar capabilities, Azure’s sheer speed puts it in a class by itself.
Moving forward, Azure’s ever-expanding set of cloud-based computing services will continue to make the development of mobile apps, designing of IoT devices, and connecting to online storage and database resources far easier, without the need to manage hardware. That’s a terrific recipe for innovation and growth.