Microsoft Azure is one of the top three cloud computing platforms used by various business organizations. Here, we’ll discuss the basics, use cases, benefits, and examples of Azure infrastructure being the future of cloud computing.
Microsoft Azure is a popular cloud platform with an extensive ecosystem of tools, technologies, applications, storages, frameworks, etc., useful for diverse requirements. It is among the top three cloud solutions in the global market.
According to statistics, Azure’s market share reached 24% in 2024, and the customer base grew by 14.2% from 2023. Since its launch in 2010, Azure has been a tough competitor. Azure, AWS (Amazon Web Services), and Google Cloud continue to be the top three cloud platforms for SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS solutions. The 2024 Azure Market Report states that Azure has 350,000 customers for cloud computing services.
Azure infrastructure as a service (IaaS) can streamline business processes across all verticals and reduce the pressure of maintaining and upgrading the systems on-premises. But what are Azure infrastructure services? Where do data engineering services come into the picture? How can Azure IaaS help a business?
Let’s find out in this blog.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a cloud computing service where the entire IT infrastructure (storage, networking, backup, applications, virtual machines, etc.) is hosted on a remote cloud server. It allows businesses to save money through the pay-on-demand pricing model. Businesses can reduce the expenses of maintaining the data silos in each department and upgrading the hardware periodically. With IaaS, organizations also gain access to real-time insights and can quickly embrace advanced technologies.
Azure infrastructure as a service encourages flexibility, scalability, and reliability of the IT system in an enterprise. From a startup to an established enterprise, any business can invest in Azure IaaS and build a robust cloud-based IT infrastructure. Existing setups can be migrated to the cloud, or a new infrastructure can be built and deployed on the Azure cloud. This depends on various factors like business requirements, timeline, budget, legacy systems, long-term objectives, etc. Testing, implementation, integration, storage, data backup and recovery, web app development, etc., are a part of the services. Since it is a complex process, most organizations prefer collaborating with certified Microsoft Azure partners to handle the task. This ensures complete access to the tools and apps in the Microsoft marketplace and the necessary expertise to keep things running seamlessly. A certified partner has the necessary experience and skills to customize Azure cloud infrastructure to suit the business needs.
Data engineering is the process of designing, building, and maintaining data systems to collect, store, and analyze large datasets and derive meaningful real-time insights. It combines many responsibilities and the core part of the data-driven model. Azure data engineering services are provided by certified data engineers who offer end-to-end support in managing data and data systems on the cloud.
An Azure data engineer will integrate, transform, and consolidate data from multiple sources to make it possible to derive insights. From building data pipelines to handling structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data in large quantities and helping stakeholders understand the analytical reports, a data engineer has much to do.
Data engineering companies also offer Azure IaaS solutions and help businesses build the data warehouse/ data lake on the cloud platform. The experts create the necessary system connections to make the insights accessible to employees through customized dashboards. This helps in making proactive data-driven decisions.
Azure infrastructure encryption offers built-in security features and capabilities to keep the business data and systems safe from unauthorized access. It also helps organizations adhere to data privacy regulations based on geographical location and industry standards. With Azure, businesses can reduce the risk of cyber threats and protect user data.
Maintaining individual IT systems with data scattered throughout the enterprise is not only cost-intensive but also stressful. This reduces data quality and can result in outdated or incorrect insights. With Azure infrastructure as a service, organizations can build a unified and centralized IT infrastructure that anyone in the enterprise can access. It is a simplified and efficient way to run the business processes.
Maintaining legacy systems can be a costly exercise for businesses as they become outdated over the years and will no longer be compatible with new technologies. Organizations have to periodically invest in new hardware and pay for maintenance services to make sure they can access the latest tools in the market and gain a competitive edge. By switching over to Azure infrastructure as a service, most business hardware can be eliminated. Employees access the virtual machines from their devices and can work remotely.
One of the biggest advantages of data engineering services and IaaS is automation. Instead of wasting time and resources on manually performing repetitive actions, businesses can automate even complex tasks. This reduces the workload on employees and minimizes the risk of human error. Additionally, the workflows are streamlined into an order that maximizes efficiency without compromising quality or control.
Remote working has become a norm in recent times. Employees have to have access to business systems, data, tools, and dashboards irrespective of their location. At the same time, people without authorization (hackers, scammers, etc.) should not be allowed to gain control over the business processes. Azure IaaS balances these two aspects with ease. It encourages remote collaboration between teams but also provides restricted access to confidential data.
Azure infrastructure as a service encourages the standardization of business processes and applications by developing a unified platform to manage all tasks and systems. Furthermore, the third-party apps and tools belong to the Microsoft ecosystem and follow the same standards. This results in improving consistency in performing day-to-day activities and achieving the desired results every time.
Another benefit of Azure infra developer is the flexibility it offers to businesses. The cloud platform supports hybrid and multi-cloud deployments, enabling IT experts and administrators to manage workloads onsite and offsite from a single interface. Moreover, the requirements can be upgraded or downgraded whenever necessary, thus resulting in cost-effectiveness as well.
Security and disaster recovery are the strong points of Azure infrastructure as a service. The built-in security controls protect the business data, systems, and processes around the clock. Furthermore, businesses can opt for multilayer security to strengthen security controls and prevent unauthorized access. The cross-region disaster recovery feature ensures business continuity and easy data availability despite natural disasters or region-level outages.
When using Azure IaaS, it takes less time to build, deploy, and release apps and new products into the market. That’s because developers have access to all the necessary tools, frameworks, and components to build even complex applications quickly. Automation further speeds up development and testing, giving businesses more time to capture customers before competitors.
With Azure’s big data engineering services, organizations can generate higher returns on investment and increase their profits in the long run. Cloud solutions may require an initial investment but deliver consistent and steady returns over the years. However, this is possible when enterprises hire reliable service providers and certified Microsoft partners to manage the cloud solutions.
Azure infrastructure as a service makes it easier to develop new software and test it in multiple environments without spending too many resources on the process. Azure gives access to the various components required to build and deploy any software in several cloud environments. In fact, developers have access to customized pre-configured elements to rapidly build and release an application into the market.
Though websites and web apps can be hosted on many platforms, relying on Azure IaaS ensures better scalability that too for a lower cost. Businesses with complex and large eCommerce websites will find it convenient to optimize the resources and increase uptime through Azure infrastructure as a service. This reduces the risk of missed opportunities. Moreover, the business can manage all its IT systems, processes, websites, apps, and databases on a single cloud platform.
Data is vital for every business and plays a crucial role in decision-making. The increasing adoption of data-driven models has led many businesses to migrate and build their data repositories on cloud platforms. The Azure infrastructure diagram inherently includes data storage like a data warehouse or a data lake. By saving the business data on the cloud, the management can increase its security, provide permission-based access, and retrieve it whenever necessary. Also, there’s no need to spend huge amounts on maintaining an in-house data center.
Organizations from the government sector, banking, travel, eCommerce, space research, etc., need high computing capabilities to handle the constant load on their systems. Azure IaaS eliminates the restrictions on usage by allowing businesses to scale quickly and run resource-intensive applications around the clock. While the expenses will increase proportionally, the cost will still be much less than running the IT infrastructure on-premises.
Big data analytics involves massive amounts of datasets with more data being added every second. Azure data engineering services empower organizations to use advanced analytical tools powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning to derive real-time insights through big data analytics. The process is automated and streamlined to reduce the consumption of resources without compromising accuracy.
The following are some examples of Azure infrastructure as a service. These tools are a part of the Azure ecosystem and can be accessed by businesses to set up seamless integrations.
Azure Synapse Analytics is an enterprise analytics service that speeds up the process of analyzing and delivering insights in a business. It is integrated with other Azure tools and SQL technologies.
Azure Databricks helps businesses connect multiple data sources to a single processing and analytical platform. It enables large-scale business intelligence using generative AI.
Microsoft Purview is a portal that gives businesses access to data compliance, data security, data governance, and risk management solutions. Organizations can increase the visibility and gain more control over their data.
Azure machine learning (ML as a Service) is a part of Azure infrastructure as a service and is used to manage and accelerate the ML project lifecycle in an enterprise. Businesses that want to use AI and ML models can benefit from this solution.
Microsoft Fabric is an AI-powered analytics platform from the Azure IaaS ecosystem. It offers a unified solution for enterprises to streamline and manage data movement, data ingestion, data processing, transformation, real-time routing, and reporting. Similarly, businesses can also opt for Azure Service Fabric, a cloud-based platform to deploy, manage, and scale microservices-based applications.
Azure infrastructure as a service can reduce expenses, optimize resource consumption, increase flexibility and scalability, and provide real-time insights through a reliable cloud-based setup. Data engineering companies provide tailored and end-to-end Azure IaaS services for businesses to migrate or build their IT infrastructure on Microsoft Azure cloud.
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Microsoft Azure has one of the best ecosystems of diverse apps, tools, and technologies for setting up IT infrastructure on the cloud. Azure IaaS can bring much-needed flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency to the business. Collaborating with a certified Microsoft Azure partner empowers firms to explore the full benefits of using a cloud-based IT infrastructure.
Check out these helpful links to learn more.
Microsoft Azure is ideal for startups, SMBs, emerging businesses, MSMEs, and large enterprises from various industries. While IT companies hugely benefit from cloud computing services, they aren’t the only ones who need to invest in the cloud. Any organization that wants to make its IT systems more agile, flexible, scalable, and secure should opt for Azure cloud solutions.
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and PaaS (Platform as a Service) are cloud service models. While IaaS deals with computing resources like storage, servers, and networks, PaaS handles the framework to develop and deploy applications on a remote cloud. PaaS acts as a host much like IaaS but doesn’t give the same level of control and freedom. However, it is easier to manage and configure.
A few examples of IaaS are as follows:
The cloud platforms offer various tools and apps to build and deploy the infrastructure on a remote cloud (public, private, or hybrid).
Yes, IaaS is better than PaaS as it provides more control over the IT infrastructure. Businesses can use the components to design any kind of setup and customize it as required. While aspects like reliability, data security, and scalability depend on the service provider, IaaS is definitely a better option among the two.
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