What is Microsoft Azure? -Guide

In recent years, we have seen a strong growth in budgets allocated to IT solutions. According to the latest forecasts by Gartner analysts, global spending on modern technology this year will reach $5 trillion, indicating an increase of 6.8% compared to 2023. This is a result of growing demand from companies for specialized IT services, such as technical support, IT infrastructure management and software customization.

The potential of cloud computing, on the other hand, is growing, according to an analysis by Fitch Solutions – there are promising prospects in this aspect. Fitch points out that cloud computing is growing seven times faster than the IT sector as a whole. One in four companies is already expected to use cloud services, according to the study. One of the most popular cloud platforms in the world is Microsoft Azure. This is evidenced, for example, by the fact that its resources are used by about 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies, the biggest industry giants.

If you want to learn more about this solution, we invite you to read the following article. In it we explain, among other things, what MS Azure is, what services and benefits it offers.

What is Microsoft Azure? 

Microsoft Azure is a public cloud platform developed by Microsoft, which operates under a PaaS (Platform as a Service) model. The system has more than 200 cloud products and services to facilitate the creation of new business solutions and meet market challenges. The solution’s flexibility allows it to process and store data in such a way as to ensure rapid response to changes. It provides a number of security features, affecting the safety of users. Payment applies only to the resources used, thus not generating additional costs for unused services. Azure, along with AWS and GCP, is among the three market leaders in public cloud services according to a Gartner report.

Services offered by Microsoft Azure

Virtually any company can benefit from public cloud services such as Microsoft Azure. It is a solution for both small and medium-sized businesses and large organizations – Enterprise companies. The platform allows uninterrupted access to computing resources and powerful tools, creating a comprehensive IT environment. Cloud computing allows, among other things:

Data storage

MS Azure provides a large selection of data storage services including hard drives, SQL and NoSQL databases, and data archives, and as a result, this allows it to meet the diverse business requirements of enterprises. Microsoft offers solutions such as simple object storage through file sharing, as well as advanced database solutions and Big Data processing. And all this while maintaining flexibility, performance and security of solutions. The Azure cloud provides many data storage services, and choosing the right one depends on the specific requirements of the application, on the data set and on the planned costs. Data storage services offered by Azure include:

Azure Blob Storage

Azure Blob Storage is Microsoft’s highly scalable and secure object storage solution for the cloud. The Blob Storage service is optimized for storing large amounts of unstructured data (such as text files, images, videos or application data). Unstructured data does not follow any data model or definition, for example, like text or binary data. Blob Storage offers three types of objects: blocks, pages and incremental, which allow you to optimize cost and performance depending on the usage scenario.

Azure File Storage

Azure File Storage is a flexible and convenient cloud-based file management solution. These are simple and scalable cloud file sharing services, allowing applications to access the standard SMB file system. This is ideal for applications where file sharing between users or applications is required, either in the cloud or on local servers. The Azure File Storage solution provides the ability to easily migrate existing applications to the cloud without the need to change code, while offering features such as file snapshots for version management and recovery.

Azure Table Storage

This is a service that allows you to store large amounts of structured data in the form of tables. It is a NoSQL solution, which means that the data is stored in a flexible format, without a rigid schema structure. It’s ideal for applications that require quick access to large amounts of data, such as web applications, mobile applications, or IoT solutions. What sets the Table Storage service apart is its low latency and scalability in the areas of both bandwidth and stored data.

Azure Queue Storage

MS Azure solution that allows you to store and manage large volumes of messages in a queue. It is ideal for building scalable and distributed applications that require reliable communication between different components. The Queue Storage service provides the flexibility to manage the flow of data, giving you the ability to easily scale your applications and providing reliability guarantees through data replication.

Azure Disk Storage

The service provides persistent block-level data storage, similar to traditional hard drives. It is mainly used to provide high-performance data storage for virtual machines and other scenarios where quick access to data is crucial. Azure Disk Storage provides various disk options depending on performance and cost needs, including Ultra SSDs for the most demanding applications.

Cloud computing

The Azure Compute service provides the infrastructure needed to run applications. It allows you to containerize applications, deploy Windows and Linux virtual machines, and take advantage of flexible options for migrating virtual machines to the Azure platform. MS Azure allows applications to run on virtual machines, containers and in serverless environments. Virtual machines (VMs): Allow applications to run on virtual servers running the operating system of your choice. And Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), or container management services, make it easier to deploy, scale and manage containerized applications.

Data analysis

The Microsoft Azure solution enables analysis of large data sets in real time to make business decisions quickly. Microsoft Azure offers comprehensive data analytics solutions that help transform data into useful information. Here are some key data analytics services available on the Azure platform:

• Azure Synapse Analytics: This is an integrated analytics environment that combines data warehousing and big data analytics capabilities. It enables you to quickly gain insights from your data by leveraging SQL, Apache Spark and Azure Data Explorer.
• Azure Synapse Analytics: This is an integrated analytics environment that combines data warehousing and big data analytics capabilities. It enables you to quickly gain insights from your data by leveraging SQL, Apache Spark and Azure Data Explorer.
• Azure Databricks: It’s an analytics platform based on Apache Spark that enables fast processing and analysis of large data sets. It is fully managed and optimized for Azure.
• Azure Data Factory: A data integration service that enables orchestration and automation of data flows between different sources. Ideal for creating complex ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes.
• Azure Machine Learning: A platform for building, deploying and managing machine learning models. Enables the creation of advanced analytical models and their integration with business applications.
• Azure Stream Analytics: A service for processing data streams in real time. Enables real-time analysis of data from IoT devices, application logs and other sources.
• Azure Analysis Services: a managed PaaS service that offers enterprise-class data models in the cloud. Enables advanced data fusion and modeling from various sources.
• Power BI: A data visualization tool that enables interactive reports and dashboards. Integrates with other Azure services for easy sharing and analysis of data across the organization.

Web applications

Microsoft Azure offers a comprehensive solution for developing, deploying and managing web applications. Here are some of the key services and features that MS Azure offers in this regard:

• Azure App Service: This is a fully managed PaaS (Platform as a Service) platform that enables rapid development and deployment of web, mobile and API applications. It supports various programming languages such as .NET, Java, Node.js, PHP and Python.
• Azure Functions: a serverless service that allows you to run code in response to events, which is ideal for creating lightweight web apps and APIs.
• Azure Static Web Apps: Enables rapid deployment of static websites and single-page applications (SPAs) with built-in CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) support and GitHub integration.
• Azure DevOps: An application lifecycle management tool that supports CI/CD processes to automate deployment and testing of web applications.
• Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN): A service that accelerates the delivery of content to users worldwide, minimizing latency and improving the performance of web applications.
• Azure Application Gateway: Provides load balancing and protection for web applications with a built-in application firewall (WAF).
• Azure Monitor and Application Insights: Application monitoring and diagnostic tools that provide detailed information on performance, resource consumption and errors.

The above services enable the development of scalable, secure and efficient web applications that can be easily managed and monitored. By integrating with other Azure services, developers can respond quickly to changing business and technology needs.

Safety and compliance

Microsoft Azure offers a wide range of security and compliance services to help protect data and meet regulatory requirements. Here are some key services:

• Microsoft Entra Domain Services (formerly Azure AD): An identity and access management service that enables users to log in and access applications securely.
• Azure Firewall: Secures Azure resources from attacks by providing advanced network traffic filtering capabilities.
• Azure Security Center: is an integrated security management tool that provides advanced protection against threats in hybrid environments. It enables real-time monitoring, detection and response to threats.
• Azure Key Vault: A service for managing cryptographic keys, certificates and secrets. Enables secure storage and access control of encryption keys and other sensitive data.
• Azure Policy: A compliance management tool that enables you to define, implement and monitor compliance policies across your Azure environment. Helps ensure that resources are compliant with regulatory requirements and internal standards.

Benefits of using Microsoft Azure

Using the Microsoft Azure cloud can bring many benefits to organizations. The main one, one that is more general, is gaining a competitive advantage without having to increase the investment budget. Using MS Azure cloud solutions allows you to deliver products and services to the market faster, including through increased efficiency in customer service. Besides, it gives you the ability to act quickly, supports remote working and employee mobility. Each user scales his or her business according to his or her own needs, incurring costs only for the resources consumed, and can use the saved funds to achieve other business goals.

Proper implementation and use of the Azure platform allows you to increase efficiency, minimize costs, protect your organization’s key resources to properly scale your business. For more benefits of using Microsoft Azure, see below:

A. Time and cost savings

Storing company data in the cloud allows a great deal of savings, which significantly affects the company’s budget. Significant savings in resource, maintenance and real estate costs can be achieved, as well as the ability to optimize workloads for the cost of running them. What exactly makes cloud solutions possible to reduce costs?

No need to buy and maintain own infrastructure

Using the Azure cloud eliminates the need to buy and maintain your own infrastructure, which brings many benefits. First of all, there is no need to invest large sums in the purchase of servers, network equipment and other infrastructure components – the cost of resources for their maintenance and operation goes away. It should be remembered that the fees for maintaining, as well as repairing and upgrading servers and other equipment are high, while cloud computing relies on remote resources. In the case of our own servers, we also need to hire people responsible for this area, which entails additional costs. Using the MS Azure cloud, instead of large capital expenditures, users incur operating costs, paying only for the actual use of resources.

Faster deployments with ready-made templates and tools

Using ready-made templates and tools in the Azure cloud significantly speeds up the process of deploying new applications and services. For example, Azure offers a wide range of ready-made templates that allow you to quickly deploy popular applications and services. This saves time on configuration and installation. It is also worth mentioning that the use of templates ensures consistency and standardization of deployments, which minimizes the risk of errors and facilitates infrastructure management.

B. Scalability

The MS Azure cloud adapts to each organization’s business needs and grows with it. Given that you only pay for the use of specific computing power, you can increase or decrease the resources you need at any time. How?

Ability to customize size and computing power to meet current needs

Azure enables automatic scaling of resources in response to changing workloads. For example, if an application experiences a sudden increase in traffic, Azure will automatically allocate additional resources to ensure smooth operation. In addition, there’s also the option to manually adjust resources, such as virtual machines, databases or network services – all depending on current business needs. It’s also worth noting that thanks to the pay-as-you-go model, the customer only pays for the resources it actually uses. This ensures optimal budget management and avoids costs associated with unused resources.

C. High availability

The Microsoft Azure cloud guarantees high availability of services, so users can access their data and applications from anywhere, anytime. Cloud servers are typically located in different locations, which minimizes the risk of access interruptions.

Guaranteed service availability of 99.95%

MS Azure offers Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that guarantee 99.95% availability for many services. This means that services will be available most of the time, minimizing the risk of downtime.

Automatic restoration in case of failure

With its distributed architecture, data and applications are replicated across different data centers, ensuring business continuity even if one of them fails. MS Azure has availability zones, which are separate groups of data centers in a single region. Each zone has independent power, cooling and networking, which minimizes the risk of failure. Data is replicated between zones, ensuring availability even if one zone fails.

D. Safety and compliance

The security of data in the cloud is being improved constantly. Data in the cloud is encrypted, and in most cases we also have the ability to configure our own security settings. Besides, security is enhanced by built-in tools for backup, monitoring and allowing auditing of data access.

Azure regularly rolls out automatic security updates to help protect against the latest threats. As a result, organizations can rest assured that their systems are always protected from new security vulnerabilities.

In addition, the Azure cloud is compliant with many international security and privacy standards, helping organizations meet regulatory and industry requirements. MS Azure ensures compliance with, among others: ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27018 certifications and SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3 standards. The solution is also compliant with RODO (GDPR) and HIPAA regulations.

MS Azure cloud from summ-it

Not sure how Azure can help your organization? Are you looking for the best way to use this system? Or do you need help implementing and operating cloud solutions?

Contact summ-it – we will help in all these aspects, improving the functioning of your organization.