Microsoft Azure is  the logical choice for organizations who are already running Windows infrastructure and Windows based applications. It provides seamless migration path and a proven hybrid capability to help enterprise organizations to plan their digital transformation and cloud adoption strategies.

It will be a hot debate for cloud experts to prove a point of who is the best public cloud provider amongst the big players like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Service (AWS), Google Cloud or Alibaba Cloud.  All these public cloud providers have their own strengths and shortfalls and their own advantages against each other.

 

Market Ranking

Figure 1: Public Cloud Infrastructure Market Share

AWS is still the recognized leader in the public cloud space.  Since pioneering the IAAS space over a decade ago, AWS has proven its leadership mainly due to its diverse customer base, broad range of applications, integrations and services, as well as their array of IaaS and PaaS capabilities. 

But with all these statistics of Amazon being the leader , Microsoft Azure is fast catching up and eating a portion of that pie the AWS has held for a long time.  Microsoft Azure is steadily growing and going up the ladder in the past 3 years and it will only get better when big enterprises make their switch of their Windows based environment.

 

Azure is a perfect fit, Best for Enterprises    

Figure 2: Azure Hybrid Capabilities

Microsoft Azure is  the logical choice for organizations who are already running Windows infrastructure and Windows based applications. Being based on Microsoft technologies, Azure can integrate well with Enterprise environments running Windows platform and applications such as Active Directory and Office applications.  

Azure is also an obvious choice if an organization wants to run hybrid platform using their Windows on-premise environment together with MS Azure to run critical or resource intensive applications. It provides seamless migration path and a proven hybrid capability to help enterprise organizations to plan their digital transformation and cloud adoption strategies. The learning curve for Windows and Microsoft administrators is so much easier when moving to Azure than any public cloud platform and infrastructure.

This fact will sure help Microsoft Azure to strengthen up the grip on Enterprise Organizations which have relied on Windows and Microsoft  applications to run their businesses especially with the impending retirement of Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 and MS SQL 2008 and SQL288 R2. 

Microsoft Azure has an advantage over other cloud provider on the following areas:

1.       Quality of Integration
If you’re running a traditional large-scale enterprise business environment that’s running on Windows AD and Office, there’s no other choice than Azure. Azure’s integration and the ability to do on-premises and in the cloud and make it all talk together is huge. Another benefit is the ability to do identity in the cloud and on-prem and make that run smoothly.

2.       The Need for Hybrid
Every customer we have needs hybrid somewhere. There’s really no good hybrid solution in AWS. Microsoft data platforms and services are set up as real hybrid options. Their solutions are well thought out and they understand that hybrid is the way forward for most enterprises.

While Amazon is still testing the hybrid waters, Azure already has its hybrid capabilities in place. It seamlessly connects datacenters to the Cloud. Azure provides a consistent platform   which facilities easy mobility between on-premises and the public Cloud.

Unlike AWS, hybrid apps can be developed on Azure which can take advantage of the resources available within datacenters, at the service provider’s end, or within Azure itself. Azure also provides a broader range of hybrid connections including virtual private networks   (VPNs), caches, content delivery networks (CDNs), and ExpressRoute connections to improve usability and performance.

3.       Security Offerings
Azure has been designed based on Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) which is an industry leading assurance process. It comprises security at its core and private data and services stay secured and protected while they are on Azure Cloud.

Microsoft was the first Cloud vendor to be approved by the European Union’s data protection authorities and the Article 29 Working Party. They were also the first to embrace the new international standard for Cloud privacy, ISO 27018. Thus, Microsoft guarantees the best in terms of safety for all operations and data on the Azure Cloud.

4.       User-friendliness
Amazon offers more features and configurations– if you’re willing to learn the system. IT pros agree that AWS offers a lot of power, flexibility, customization room with support for many third-party integrations. But there is a learning curve with AWS.

If you’re a Windows admin, Azure will be easier to use out of the box because it is a Windows platform and doesn’t require learning something new. It’s simple to integrate on- premises Windows servers with cloud instances to create a hybrid environment. Tools such as SQL database and Active Directory.

5.       Azure vs AWS for Microsoft Shops

Microsoft has long been synonymous with larger enterprise customers. Microsoft Azure makes it easy for those currently using Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange, and other Microsoft technologies to move to the cloud.

For .NET developers, publishing your application to Azure is amazingly simple. Publishing    an app to Azure App Services or Cloud Services takes away all of the headaches of deploying apps and managing servers.

For Microsoft shops, Azure will hold a strong edge. Although, AWS supports Windows, SQL Server and other technologies that .NET developers are used. Amazon AWS has a great SDK for .NET. AWS might be more compelling for .NET developers if there is a particular AWS feature that is needed, that does not have an Azure equivalent.”

In summary, Amazon Web Services may still hold its own standing on this public cloud battle.  However, organization will be deciding on the merits of each cloud provider strengths and how it fits with their cloud adoption strategies.  MS Azure simply has a huge advantage over AWS when looking at the huge Enterprise market segment which are mostly running on Windows platform and Windows-based applications.