Large companies such as Volvo, NBC, and GE have all used Microsoft Azure to launch new services and deploy new solutions for their clients. But Azure isn’t just for the big leagues. Startups can also use Azure to get the ball rolling and deploy intelligent solutions with little to no investment in their IT infrastructure.

But there is one other major player in the IaaS enterprise market: Amazon AWS.

The rivalry between these two can get heated at times as both have staunch loyalists who will defend their side with voracious ferocity. It’s clear that the clash between Azure and AWS will define a new history.

Having used both cloud technologies, the team at EdgeCollab is of the view that Azure is leading innovation in the IaaS enterprise market.

We may change our minds later, but for now, these are the main benefits of working with Azure as opposed to AWS.

Robust SaaS Features

A major challenge that startups face when delivering solutions is to integrate with large enterprise systems such as Active Directory, Oracle Database, and MS SharePoint. These tools aren’t affordable for an early-stage startup.

However, Microsoft Azure gives you access to their enterprise systems with a few simple clicks. You can simply select the enterprise software you want and you’re good to go. Azure boasts a powerful combination of SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS services. The availably of PaaS allows them to create their own web applications and solutions without having to maintain the required groundwork.

Developers can deploy simple virtual machines and full application stacks across a cloud environment to monitor and manage remote data center infrastructure with ease. Furthermore, the PaaS framework allows companies to deploy customized apps in a relatively short period of time. All of this translates into less administrative costs that leave your team free to focus on core projects.

If you want to deploy your app to multiple servers without having to deal with the actual servers, then Azure is where you’ll feel right at home. It lets you use SQL databases, queuing, and caching – which is a pretty big deal for startups. You also get multiple app deployment options such as Container Service, App Services, Cloud Services, and WebJobs.

AWS doesn’t have as many features or options on their app hosting side. Microsoft has more developer tools that give them a considerable advantage.

Using Microsoft Tech Such as DotNet and C# is Cheaper

As a startup, it is crucial to use precise planning to ensure that your business can manage on a tight budget. This is where Azure comes in handy with their precise pay-as-you-go business model. You can easily manage your budget by only paying for the services you use in each billing cycle.

Without Azure, companies would usually have to spend money on hardware to lay the underlying groundwork (which is subject to costly maintenance). All of this translates into major overhead for startups working on a tight budget. In fact, Azure is up to 5 times cheaper than AWS for Windows Server and SQL.

The best part about Azures is that you can work with .NET for free. There is no need to pay licensing costs, including for commercial use. All the versions of .NET are open-source, allowing you and your teams to use multiple languages and libraries to develop web, mobile, desktop, and video games. The sheer number of things you can do on a limited budget with Azures is limitless.

Azure Offers an Unlimited Number of SQL Servers

SQL has the coolest set of initials in tech and Azure just happens to offer an unlimited number of SQL relational databases as a service. This can save you a ton of expenses for software, hardware, and the need to hire in-house expertise. SQL on its own can serve a wide range of interests, especially if your team has worked its way past the basics and acquired the more advanced SQL skills.

SQL is everywhere and is used by companies both big and small, including Netflix, Instagram, and LinkedIn. You could argue that SQL ‘permeates’ everything and most applications either use SQL or are a derivative of SQL.

Hybrid Cloud Computing is Easier with Azure

Azure makes it easy to work with Hybrid clouds because you can use your onsite servers to run your applications on the Azure stack. You can also set your compute resources to use resources on the cloud when it becomes necessary.

This makes it easy to move to the cloud. Azure also helps you maintain hybrid clouds such as Azure Stack, Azure StorSimple, and Hybrid SQL Server. Microsoft has been in the game longer than Amazon, which naturally serves to their advantage when it comes to the hyper cloud.

Security

One big advantage of using Azure is security. Microsoft has built privacy and security right into the Azure platform and currently have more certifications than other cloud providers. Not only is the entire platform fully protected, but the user is also covered with Azure. This level of protection is necessary because the attack surface of tech startups is getting bigger by the day.

Azure provides relatively simple security features such as application password requirements and multi-factor authentication.

Intuitive User Interface

Microsoft Azure is relatively simple to use thanks to its intuitive user interface. You can use a step by step wizard to install VMs in Azure. Furthermore, you can control individual resource groups with the help of a simple user manager. To top it all off, you can choose from a variety of themes to keep the user interface interesting.

All of these features are super helpful for small startups that have too much to code to write and spend a lot of time on their computer. The optimization options and user-friendly interface make it easy to roll out new solutions relatively quickly.

Scalability is Easier with Microsoft Azure

As your startup grows, so too does its need for performance efficient storage services. Azure makes it easy to scale up data storage dynamically. You can also take advantage of cognitive services, data processing capacities, IoT, and machine learning to develop, test, and launch new web applications.

These were just a few of the several benefits of using Microsoft Azure, which makes them an obvious choice for the team at EdgeCollab. What are your thoughts on the rivalry between Azure and AWS? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.