IDC predicts that cloud computing will be a $107 billion industry by 2017. Today 82% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy and, increasingly, enterprises plan to use a portfolio of clouds, with 82% reporting a multi-cloud strategy.
Gartner’s recent 2015 Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Magic Quadrant present mention Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure in the Leaders Quadrant. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the oldest player and has held the leading position for over five years now.
Below, I’ve made a high level comparison between the marketing leaders Microsoft Windows Azure and Amazon Web Services.
Although AWS had a great start and still rules the market, Microsoft is catching up fast, as they continue to invest in their cloud infrastructure and to match Amazon’s services and flexibility.
In any case, for organizations that made significant investments in Microsoft technologies, Azure is definitely in a favorite position.
How Does the Epitome of Spyware Differ from Other Malicious Software?
AWS vs Azure - A high level comparison between the giants in cloud computing
1. AWS vs. AZURE
High level Comparison
between the Giants of
Cloud Computing
2. MARKET SHARE
around twice the
scale of its nearest
rival, Google (4%)
31%
market share
MARKET
LEADER
9%
market share
3. CUSTOMERS
Powers hundreds of thousands
of businesses in 190 countries
around the world.
Customers include: Netflix, AirBnB,
Aon, Channel 4, Financial Times, Dow
Jones, Kurt Geiger, Lonely Planet,
Nasdaq, Nike, Nisa Retail, Pfizer, and
the Royal Opera House. A full list of
AWS customers can be seenhere.
57%+ of Fortune 500
companies use Microsoft
Azure
Customers include: Skanska,
Heineken, 3M, Dyson, Paul Smith,
Mazda, GE Healthcare, Trek,
McKesson, Milliman, Towers Watson,
NBC Sports, TVB). Pearson, Ford, NBC
News, Dunnhumby and Easyjet, other
4. COST
Price calculator here
Amazon EC2 instances are
priced per hour
Price calculator here
Azure instances are
priced per minute
Working out pricing can be a challenge since pricing structures are sometimes
complex. Still, prices are roughly comparable, but it is hard to compare apples to
apples. There are so many particularities in configuration and measuring of
computing units or services offered (compute, storage, database, traffic, etc).
However, the big differentiator should not be in the price as they can fluctuate
quite significantly, as both Azure and AWS strive to remain competitive from a
price point of view, nor in the buying servers per hour features, the big difference
should be in the layered services, and the breadth and depth of service.
5. STORAGE
• its Simple Storage (S3)
• Elastic Block Storage (EBS)
• Elastic File System (EFS)
Import/Export large volume
data transfer service
• Glacier archive backup and
Storage Gateway, which
integrates with on-premise
environments.
• its core Azure Storage service
• Azure Blob block storage
• Table, Queue and File storage
• Site Recovery
• Import Export
• Azure Backup
6. INFRASTRUCTURE
Owns the largest data centers in the
world. They are located in 9 regions
around the world: 3 in the US and 6
scattered strategically around the
globe, in Europe, Brazil, Singapore,
Japan and Australia; A tenth one is
coming in China.
A worldwide network of Microsoft-
managed data centers across 22
regions—more countries and regions
than Amazon Web Services and
Google Cloud combined. Azure is also
the first multinational cloud provider
in mainland China.
Both Azure and AWS provide excellent networking capabilities,
allowing applications to be deployed at local or global level
7. FLEXIBILITY
AWS is a language and
operating system agnostic
platform. You choose the
development platform, the
programming model, the
services you use, allowing you
to focus on innovation, not
infrastructure.
Azure supports a broad selection
of operating systems,
programming languages,
frameworks, tools, databases
and devices. Azure supports the
same technologies millions of
developers and IT professionals
already rely on and trust.
8. SECURITY
Amazon Web Services also
owns industry-recognized
certifications and audits: PCI
DSS Level 1, ISO 27001, FISMA
Moderate, FedRAMP, HIPAA,
and SOC 1 (formerly referred to
as SAS 70 and/or SSAE 16) and
SOC 2 audit reports.
Microsoft owns various industry
recognized certifications and
audits.
Was the first:
• Cloud provider recognized by
the European Union’s data
protection authorities for
their commitment to rigorous
EU privacy laws
• First cloud provider to adopt
the new international cloud
privacy standard, ISO 27018.
9. SIMILARITIES
Both AWS and Microsoft Azure offer similar capabilities to some degree, along the
lines of compute, storage and networking.
• They share the common elements of a public cloud: self-service and instant
provisioning, autoscaling, plus security, compliance and identify management
features.
• They both make continuous investments in meeting new demands
• They both developed machine learning and IOT features
• Both support Docker containerization
10. PROS
• AWS marketplace has a large
number of third party software
services
• Enterprise friendly services –
highest rating from a CIO
perspective (Forrester Enterprise
Public Cloud Platforms)
• Flexible
• Easy to use open source tools
• Instant provisioning of new servers
• Programmatic/API access to do
everything
• Microsoft’s strong presence within
all major organization
• Good development and testing
tools (according to Forrester)
• Microsoft’s strong presence within
all major organizations
• Strong PaaS capabilities
• Familiarity of Windows and other
Microsoft tools
• Good for hybrid applications
• Keeping data storage simple
• Keeping performance predictable
with SQL database – it comes
equipped with SQL database
functionality
11. CONS
• AWS hybrid cloud strategy – Many
organizations prefer to keep sensitive
data in house (eg: financial companies),
using the public cloud for other purposes
• It can get hard to navigate through AWS
complex features
• All servers are virtual
• Instance types are rigid
• Can get expensive at on demand rates if
elasticity is not needed
• Cross region communication is not
natively available – “availability regions”
• Because some AWS value-added services
are built on EBS, they fail when EBS fails
• The are some restrictions when it comes to
Microsoft in supporting other platforms
beyond Windows Server but this long
mentioned argument seem to have been
overpassed – for example the support for
Linux operating system is getting much
better, especially since Redhat has gone
under Microsoft’s umbrella or since
Microsoft released a Linux Certification for
Azure: https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/learning/mcsa-linux-azure-
certification.aspx
• everything is virtual – can be also good and
bad – resources are distributed dynamically
and the user doesn’t know the load is
distributed among all virtual servers
• if used as hybrid, it takes longer and
requires encryption
• requires internet access to manage
13. Premier
technology
consulting
firm
that
delivers
custom
software
development
services
to
clients
ranging
from
leading
global
brands,
to
niche
players
and
dynamic
startups
Unique
Group
structure
gives
access
to
huge
range
of
IT
application
technology
skills
600+
technical
and
business
consultants
in
our
group
1000+
projects
delivered
on
time
and
on
budget
ISO
9001
and
ISO
27001
certified
teams
Advanced
certified
technical
and
consultancy
expertise
(Microsoft,
Oracle,
SAP,
Java,
big
data,
testing)
and
senior
project
management
knowledge
About
Euro
IT
Group
“Bringing
a
fresh
new
approach
to
IT
outsourcing
and
nearshore
delivery“
14. Our
delivery
locations
All
locations
in
Central
and
Eastern
Europe
Refreshing,
open,
approach
to
client
engagement
and
project
delivery
Daily
direct,
3
hour,
flights
2
hours
time
difference
to
UK
Access
to
world
class
talent
High
quality
English
speakers
15. • Euro
IT
Group
will
combine
the
relevant
elements
of
our
expertise
and
experience
to
deliver
business
solutions
for
your
needs.
• This
engagement
model,
with
its
flexibility
and
adaptability,
means
we
are
ideally
placed
to
solve
any
application
related
problem
as
your
IT
specialist.
• Our
core
services
and
core
technologies
are
the
building
blocks
on
which
our
solutions
are
built.
ENGAGEMENT MODEL
EXPERTISE &
16. • We
offer
discrete
solutions
to
known
business
challenges
and
build
bespoke
solutions
for
your
specific
requirements.
• Our
delivery
models
encompass
the
full
range
of
development
options
and
our
ability
to
engage
from
nearshore
with
UK
presence,
as
required,
gives
you
full
control
over
costs.
• We
offer
a
refreshing
approach
to
commercials,
enabled
by
our
unique
structure.
• Our
final
building
block
to
deliver
the
right
business
solutions
for
you
is
in
depth
knowledge
of
your
industry
sector.
This
means
we
talk
your
language
and
understand
the
business
impact
of
our
solution.
Banking Insurance
HourlyT&M
Application
Development
.NET, Java, PHP/LAMP, C/C++
Amazon, Windows Azure, Salesforce
Ios, Android,Windows Phone, Blackberry, HTML5
Ruby on Rails, Python, Embedded Software,
Databases, Sharepoint, SAP, Microsoft, Oracle,
Other Technologies
Application
Testing
Application
Support
IT
Consultancy
Project
Management
Business
Analysis
Fixed Price
Nearshore
Agile
System Integration
Information Security
EnterpriseMobility
Web Applications
CRM &Loyalty
MobileApplications
BusinessIntelligence
Cloud Strategy
eCommerce Development
Cloud Migration
Big DataConsultancy
Big Data Dashboards
Iterative Waterfall Prototyping
Onshore Combined
SLA driven
Team
Augmentation
Dedicated
Team
Leasing ITC Retail eCommerce Travel Healthcare Media
B U S I N E S S S O L U T I O N S
Industry
Expertise
Commercial
Models
Engagement
Models
Delivery
Models
Discrete
Solutions
Core
Technologies
Core
Services