Cloud Series: The Cloud Service Platforms

The three well-known cloud service platforms (CSP) are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, each with their differentiating factors. Launching in 2006, Amazon Web Services offers Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). With that, users can choose any configuration to their desired computing power, ram, and storage in a public, private, or hybrid cloud. Launching in 2008, Azure also provides PaaS, IaaS, and SaaS. Like AWS, the computing power, ram, and storage can be configured by the user. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) also launched in 2008 and offers similar services. While sharing a number of similar services, they each have their own distinct productivity implementations. Current trends show that as CSPs continue to increase their market share, companies are choosing to utilize a multi-cloud environment to diversify their use of services across the various vendors to optimize workloads.

What factors play in choosing which services to utilize? A key differentiating factor is region coverage. AWS covers roughly 26 geographic regions, Azure with 60 regions, and GCP covering 29 regions.

AWS: 84 Availability Zones

Azure: 3 Availability Zones

GCP: 88 Availability Zones

AWS has the largest global infrastructure footprint of any provider, and coupled with their vast number of cloud solutions, are considered widely as the preferred choice for cloud services. The AWS platform stands on low costs, scalability, and reliability. However, developers can take advantage of any CSP and select the infrastructure that is closest to their desired target of users when deploying applications to the cloud. As a result, industries such as hospitality and energy (and others) can leverage multiple cloud platforms over various regions to meet their specific business needs.  

It is important to consider aligning the company’s business goals with the cloud platforms’ services. A company that is focused on DevOps may want to look at AWS CodePipeline, Azure Boards, or GCP DevOps and see which meets their users' requirements. A company that is looking towards more automation may want to consider Azure and its impressive tray of AI and machine learning services. Azure also can be a top choice for enterprises already integrated with Microsoft as it allows for a smooth switch to the cloud environment.

Pricing structure will be a strong factor when choosing a CSP. Along with similar services come a similar pricing structure for each cloud platform. Some key factors when choosing which pricing structure is best consider the usage, number of services, and requirements for the organization. AWS, although being the market leader, is seeing a growing challenge by Azure. As Azure continues to emphasize its support for enterprise, it is quickly becoming a great alternative to AWS. GCP continues to grow its presence by specializing in key services such as their contribution to the Kubernetes codebase. All in all, companies will choose the platform that will be advantageous to their specific use cases. As the market grows, companies will look towards using multiple cloud platforms for their multi-cloud strategies to not lock themselves with one vendor.