Microsoft Azure is an ever-growing platform of integrated Cloud Computing services that enable enterprises to handle their private, public, and hybrid cloud IT and computing needs. Through Microsoft Azure, you can develop modern applications, build your IT infrastructure, set up robust backup and recovery options, and manage your identity and users, among many other use cases.
A one-stop shop for cloud computing, Microsoft Azure now includes over 600 services, and its capabilities are still growing.
How does it work?
At the core, Microsoft Azure is a public cloud computing framework that hosts solutions as Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). These solutions satisfy a wide range of IT needs including virtual computing, data analytics, networking, storage, backup, and disaster recovery, among others.
Microsoft Azure may be deployed as a private or public cloud, or it may supplement your on-prem data center via a hybrid cloud deployment. Azure solutions are available as-a-Service which means you can scale resources up and down as your business needs change.
What is the benefit to my business?
Businesses of all sizes around the globe have taken advantage of Azure’s services and platform to advance their cloud computing strategies. These businesses have restructured their operations to create a more
sustainable, secure, flexible, and scalable platform built upon a public, private, or hybrid cloud deployment.
As a public cloud computing platform, Azure is open-source and supports most languages, operating systems, frameworks, and tools. Azure is super robust, and fast, with affordable pricing plans and capabilities that set it apart in the public cloud computing space.
What can we use Azure for?
1. Backup and Disaster Recovery
Azure includes built-in disaster recovery and advanced site recovery features. It has been built with flexibility in mind, meaning that your data can be backed up in virtually any language, operating system, or location. You can even set your own preferred backup frequency and extent.
Through Azure site recovery, you can enhance tape backups and retain up to 99 years of data with minimal to no capital investment and marginal operating costs. You can also store up to three copies of your data in three separate locations in an on-prem data center and another three copies in a remote Azure data center.
2. Web and Mobile App Development
Azure is the ideal platform to develop, host, or manage your web or mobile application, thanks to its adaptive and autonomous systems that include AutoScale, patch management, and integration with on-prem solutions.
Automated patch management allows your teams to focus on app improvement instead of spending valuable time in app management.
Azure also includes deployment support so that you can streamline updates on code.
AutoScale is an in-built Azure feature that adjusts resources according to your web traffic. This increases the allocation when you have high traffic and saves money when you have lower traffic. You can also link web apps developed in the cloud with on-premises apps so that you can easily access resources within your firewall from external sources.
3. Active Directory Integration
Azure integrates with an enterprise’s Active Directory to enrich its access authorization and identification features. With Azure, you get centralized management, robust security, and a global reach for your DNS.
Your Active Directory environment can be globally distributed which is something no other cloud provider does.
Where you have multiple locations or you have both on-premises and cloud native apps, Azure becomes the centralized tool to give access and manage all other tools, whether on-premises or on the cloud. Through multi-factor authentication, Azure provides an additional security layer to your applications and data without creating extra hassle for system users.
4. IoT Industry Solutions
Microsoft Azure is the perfect platform for companies that wish to invest in IoT initiatives. Your devices can connect to the cloud and integrate with existing on-prem or hybrid infrastructure to power data collection. The Azure IoT hub allows you to manage and monitor billions of sensors/devices to inform business decision-making, decrease system complexity, reduce costs, and increase efficiency.
Thanks to Azure’s enhanced security features, your IoT solutions can operate securely, when ordinarily they presented vulnerabilities exploited by hackers for unauthorized access.
Why Compugen?
With deep experience in end-to-end cloud management, let Compugen focus on what’s happening now so you can focus on what happens next.
Schedule an Azure Discussion and let’s start architecting your Hybrid IT infrastructure.