If you are not familiar with Microsoft Azure, it is a Microsoft created cloud computing service. You can deploy, test, build and manage applications and services. All of this is done using Microsoft-managed data centers, through their global network.
It all began back in October 2008 when the Azure’s code name was secretly called, “Project Red Dog.” By 2010 Microsoft renamed the cloud computing service to “Windows Azure.” March 2014 a new name was adopted, and the cloud computing platform became permanently known as, “Microsoft Azure.”
Even though it is ranked third, as one of the most used cloud platform and service products; in just four short years under the new name, it has gained considerable ground behind Amazon AWS and Amazon EC2, while surpassing Google; which is no simple task when competing with those two online giants.
Are More Companies Starting To Use Azure?
IT Consulting firms in Fort Lauderdale have seen tremendous growth with Azure’s use. They also found that across numerous industries, more and more are coming onboard. Especially when Office 365 is a program they are currently using in their business, but their company isn’t using the platform to its fullest extent.
We will say this, Microsoft Azure is not the number one cloud computing platform; but with nearly a quarter of a million businesses using the services and growing, more IT firms are joining the ranks to assist their clients with this fast-growing product.
Those IT Consultants with quite a bit of Azure knowledge, information, and experience with the product; are readily assisting more clients than they had in the past; this also gives them a head start and an advantage with newcomers to the product and platform.
They have also found more companies are showing a stronger interest to switch over to Microsoft Office 365. Below are some of the common questions consultants get asked about the cloud computing services.
What Does Microsoft Azure Cloud Computing Service Provide and Support?
It provides:
- (SaaS) – Software as a Service – subscription-based software licensing and delivery model
- (PaaS) – Platform as a Service – allows customers to develop, run, and manage applications
- (IaaS) – Infrastructure as a Service – online services providing high-level APIs
It supports:
- tools
- frameworks
- programming languages
Which includes third-party and Microsoft-specific software and systems
How Many Different Cloud Platforms and Services Are There?
Of the known platforms and services currently used; there are roughly 81 products and 1,946,505 companies using these products. The top five, in ranked order, are Amazon AWS, Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Engine, and finally Rackspace.
Here is their position in the marketplace, their percentage of market share they hold, and how many companies are using the product:
#1 Amazon AWS – (32.65%) – 635,594
#2 Amazon EC2 – (20.42%) – 403,961
#3 Microsoft Azure – (12.24%) – 234,731
#4 Google Compute Engine – (11.22%) – 214,686
#5 Rackspace – (7.14%) – 141,215
For a full list of cloud platforms and services, they can be found here at iDataLabs.
How Many Companies and Industries Use Microsoft Azure?
From 2015 to present, 234,731 companies are using Microsoft Azure. Most of the companies are in the United States and the Computer Software Industry. But other professionals, which ask the question, do want to know if their industry has CEOs and business owners using this product.
In order from top to bottom are the leading industries using the cloud computing platform:
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- Hospitals and Healthcare
- Construction
- Nonprofit Organization Management
- Real Estate
- Financial Services
- Retail
- Marketing and Advertising
- Management Consulting
For a complete breakdown of the different industries, they can be found here at iDataLabs.
What Countries Use Microsoft Azure?
Currently, ten countries are using the Azure cloud computing platform and services. The United States is the primary country. Business professionals who travel from country to country for their company, need the answer to this question; in the event, the service is not available in a foreign land they have to visit.
In numerical order, the top ten countries and the number of companies, using the cloud computing service, is listed from highest users to least:
- United States – 129221
- United Kingdom – 20096
- Canada – 7635
- Australia – 6625
- Netherlands – 5592
- France – 3447
- Germany – 3381
- Sweden – 2587
- India – 2472
- Spain – 2198
How Many Employees Per Company Are Using Azure?
There will be business owners that will assume having an unusually low number of employees, at a company, their business would not need the service. However, the top two listed shows a more considerable amount of companies using cloud computing, with the lowest staff totals. Also, when you combine the two sums, there is an enormous amount of businesses onboard, then the six groups below them in full.
Listed below it is recorded by employee numbers per company first and then a number of companies using the Azure platform.
- 1-10 Employees – 60050 Companies
- 10-50 Employees – 68500 Companies
- 50-200 Employees – 34591 Companies
- 200-500 Employees – 10999 Companies
- 500-1000 Employees – 4898 Companies
- 1000-5000 Employees – 5323 Companies
- 5000-10000 Employees – 1092 Companies
- 10000+ Employees – 1721 Companies
How Many Services Does Microsoft Azure Offer?
Microsoft Azure offers over 600 services. Listed are the top five services along with what’s available in each service:
- Messaging – Event Hubs, Queues, Topics, and Relays
- Mobile Services – Mobile Engagement and HockeyApp
- Compute – Virtual Machines, App Services, Web sites, and WebJobs
- Storage Services – REST and SDK APIs, Table, Blob, Queue, and File Services
- Data Management – Azure Search, Cosmo DB, Redis Cache, StorSimple, SQL Database, SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Data Lake, Azure HDInsight, and Azure Stream Analytics
Looking at the different stats, the thousands of companies currently using the cloud computing services, and with over 600 listed services, an experienced Fort Lauderdale Microsoft Azure IT consulting firm could step you through the process pretty quickly.
Like this article? Check out Do “IT” Faster with Microsoft, Revolutionize Your Company Schedule with Microsoft Staff Hub, Work from Anywhere Using Microsoft Office 365 Apps to learn more.
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