Choosing between Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud
Shifting to Cloud Computing: Why Do It at All?
Cloud storage has taken the world by storm and there are some significant reasons behind it. Everyone remembers the days when every bit of office work had to be documented in triplicate. Not only did it waste money, it also wasted a lot of time. This is where technology enabled a leap — and things started moving to the cloud.
But even that had its shortcomings. The process was still redundant and the document shared online would not be automatically updated across its multiple copies whenever someone edited them. Some would argue that this was a good thing as it afforded a simple but effective form of security. However, with the advent of cloud computing solutions, none of these things are of concern any longer, and here are a few reasons why:
● Increased Flexibility and Convenience: Create a document and upload it to a cloud platform. Anyone with unrestricted access can change it accordingly; can track the changes as well. There is a unique copy of the document that is reflected uniformly across all users.
● Reduced Management Issues: Cloud computation solutions are usually billed on the go. As a result, the budgetary and management issues can be minimized using the cloud.
● Scalability: It is extremely simple to scale up the magnitude of any operation when on a cloud platform. Through cloud application development, new resources are instantly available at a very cheap rate and the more people use it, the cheaper the services get.
The Showdown — AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud
Amazon AWS
Amazon Web Services has been a top-notch provider of cloud application development platforms that are tiered in terms of usage. Offering over a hundred different platforms ranging from Core Computation and Content Delivery Networks to IoT and Game Development, AWS offers the complete set of solutions across more than six modes of payment and hundreds of templates in every programming language.
The Pros
● Enterprise-friendly services are scalable and flexible to the core. For high-end computational services, it does not get better than this. The pay-as-you-go feature enables the subscribers to avail only the features that are required without having to buy features with no value to their business.
● As its logo suggests, Amazon makes it a point to provide all services from A to Z. In fact, there are nearly a hundred different platforms for dedicated cloud application development tailored for different purposes and comes with special hardware for each.
● Security is no joke with AWS; elements like the configuration options, management policies, and reliable security make it much easier to trust their cloud services. The best thing is that there are layers of security encryptions that protect everyone’s data.
● Autoscaling is a developer’s dream and this dream definitely comes true with AWS. Leave all the unimportant management issues on autopilot. It is absolutely safe in the hands of Amazon Web Services. This allows the developer focus only on the development and programming.
The Cons
● The Hybrid Cloud structure of AWS is a definite setback. Hybrid clouds are cloud computing solutions that integrate a private cloud and a third-party public cloud. While this has its merits, using third-party solutions can lead to unexpected situations.
● The unlimited number of options is definitely a good thing. But despite the high quality of resources and the endless list of services, AWS is not a very user-friendly option and requires some knowledge of the environment beforehand for best use.
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft requires no introduction to anyone on the planet as a behemoth in the tech space. It should be of very little surprise to anyone that Microsoft offers its own cloud computing solutions. Known simply as Azure, the Microsoft cloud platform has a superb track record and is well-known to provide the best answers. Flexible billing, affordable pricing, and a host of certifications are all to be expected from this global giant in cloud application development.
The Pros
● Development of any form of technology is meaningless without testing. Azure ranks the highest with regards to testing tools and cloud application development which is certainly for the better. With tools made for testing everything, from mobile apps to IoT devices and Digital Marketing to Business SaaS apps, there is no way to go wrong with MS Azure.
● Azure offers a better Platform as a Service or PaaS when compared to other platforms strictly because it sticks to a private cloud computing environment and does not share the access to any third-party cloud servers. The PaaS of MS Azure is extremely sturdy.
● Azure Autoscaling options make it easy to work with the cloud environment. There is something extremely freeing about not having to worry about the billing details and payment plans when a developer is on a coding binge and Azure enables this option fully.
● Since this is a Microsoft product, it integrates extremely well with other Microsoft products as well. This includes Windows Server, System Center, and Active Directory. Adding to it is the use of Virtual Machines for better performance.
The Cons
● Power outages are extremely annoying and Azure comes with its own share of outages. The sense of helplessness is almost overpowering and the sad thing is that Microsoft Azure does have data backup and restoration facilities. So, while the data is still secure for everyone, there will be times when it becomes totally inaccessible.
● While Azure has outstanding support within Windows and other Microsoft environments, its capabilities are still painfully limited to other platforms. This can be the worst thing for cloud computing solutions because of the intended universal nature of cloud technology and its advantages over managing huge data centers.
Google Cloud Platform
Google has actually been extending its cloud services for free without anyone noticing it in the Gmail app. The universally loved email service has a 15 GB free cloud storage that makes it a preferable choice over other email service providers. But this is not the full extent of Google Cloud Platform by a long shot. Google prides itself in charging exactly on usage and unlike its core competitors, bills per minute instead of per hour. There is also no disputing the quality of the services that makes Google Cloud Platform a fan favorite amongst the developers across different platforms and programming languages worldwide.
The Pros
● In terms of Data and Analytics tools, nothing beats Google and there is no disputing the fact. From the newbie to the seasoned developer, everyone admires how effectively and easily the Google Cloud Platform integrates data from different platforms and uses it.
● Google has been at the leading end of major technological advancements recently and they realize that the future of Cloud Computing or any sort of computing is rather volatile. This is why they create technology that is unlikely to be hampered by future technology or at least upcoming technology. They call it ‘Future-Proof Infrastructure’.
● The services that Google Cloud Platform provides are completely serverless. What this means is that the resources of the server are maintained dynamically by Google Cloud Platform itself. This reduces data lag, low site-load speed, and improves the CDN.
● Like its core competitors, Google Cloud Platform also provides auto scaling. Additionally, the developers can create custom machine types as per convenience. The scalability and the sheer processing capabilities of the GCP are almost overwhelming.
The Cons
● The Google Cloud Platform, for all its remarkable features and advancements, is still very young and this means a smaller variety of services in terms of cloud computing solutions. This is not to say that the existing solutions are any poorer, though!
● There is little to no server coverage for Google Cloud Platform in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. The servers are remarkable in the United States, but there is a lot of need for aggressive expansion especially in South America and Africa.
A Few Things to Consider Before Shifting to Cloud
There are lots of things that need some serious thought before just shifting to cloud application development.
The first thing to consider is compartmentalization of data — sorting out what data to migrate and what data to keep locally. Deciding the best deployment model for the company is important — IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS. Of course, in case of a migration, the organizational paradigm and the resource handling must be radically changed as well. These are only a few of the things to keep in mind before shifting to cloud technology. The advancements are huge in the field, but in order to make certain that the results are as promising as they sound, it is best to do personalized thorough research.
