Introduction to Top Cloud Providers
Cloud computing is taking services or applications outside organizations to shared systems. These services or applications will be accessed through the internet and not from the system’s storage. Common categories of cloud services are IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), SaaS (Software as a Service) and PaaS (Platform as a Service). In IaaS, infrastructure is provided by the service provider. Software is provided by the service providers in SaaS. Similarly, Platform is provided in PaaS. Some of the top cloud providers are Amazon Web Service (AWS), Alibaba Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, IBM, VMware, Rackspace, Salesforce and Oracle Cloud. Cloud providers can also be classified based on the private, public or hybrid cloud they provide.
Types of Cloud Providers
Following are the types of cloud provider:
1. Amazon Web Services
Amazon started providing web services in 2006. Amazon provides virtual machines of different configurations to the users as per their requirements. Load balancing means to balance the servers with hardware or software which improves the efficiency of the application. Amazon provides elastic load balancing which can dynamically grow or shrink according to the needs of customers. AWS offers standard, infrequent access and glacier storage services.
Benefits: Some services are PaaS or else AWS is considered as public and IaaS. Amazon also provides a virtual private cloud for users. AWS provides mobile-friendly access- for both Android and iOS type. Users need not worry about the server in AWS, managing servers is done by the service provider itself. Storage and Database are two other features of AWS. Security is a major concern of AWS which they manage efficiently. Also if the user is in need of any software, they can buy it from the Amazon marketplace.
2. Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba Cloud, also known as Aliyun was started in 2009. Alibaba provides cloud services to online businesses and their own systems. This is considered number one in China and globally third in the ranking. Alibaba provides standard, infrequent access and archive storage services. Prices are lower than AWS.
Benefits: Elastic computing is provided like AWS. Storage and database services are available in Alibaba. Distributed servers are available on Alibaba. It provides data warehousing to the customers. It helps to manage the domain names and DNS through the network. Real-time management and monitoring of services are available. Security is provided to safeguard servers from vulnerabilities.
3. Microsoft Azure
Started in 2010, Microsoft Azure is a public cloud service that provides IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS to the users. There are different services including compute, analytics, storage, and networking. There are different product types such as web analytics, storage and so on to help customers choose from different products and to select according to their needs. Azure can be used for data backup and recovery.
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Benefits: Various benefits of Azure are Applications management, flexibility to use any functionality, agility, and compliance with regulations which make it easy to work, storage and updates, security is provided by spy movie environment, analytics support and unified delivery plan to provide end to end solution.
4. Google Cloud Platform
Google provides its own same infrastructure as a cloud which was started in 2008. GCP provides IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS with its public cloud domain. GCP provides Google Compute Engine (GCE), Google Kubernetes Engine (formerly Container Engine) (GKE), Google App Engine (GAE) and Google Cloud Functions (GCF). User has the liberty of creating virtual machines and also can create Docker containers. GCP provides the platform and users need not worry about underlying technologies.
Benefits: Users need not do server management. GCP automatically manages and scales the infrastructure involved. Users can take code from any application and GCP provides the service. It supports code written in JavaScript, Python and Goes language. GCP rapidly helps to move from concept to production by extending the codes.
5. IBM Cloud
IBM Cloud helps the user to develop and run modern apps and services. IBM started to experiment with virtualization in the 1960s. This is a public cloud working with PaaS and IaaS. The cloud helps the users to access and launch the apps quickly; iterations are carried out instantly and successfully. Organizations can choose between metal or virtual servers. IBM cloud supports Python, PHP, Java, and Node.js and provides supports to many other programming languages.
Benefits: IBM Cloud provides public, private and dedicated cloud services according to the needs of the customer. IBM cloud helps in the integration of private and public cloud services. There is higher flexibility in this cloud between open technologies. IBM cloud also helps in integration with hybrid clouds. Access to data, analytics, and cognitive solutions are provided by this cloud. The main advantage is the usage of DevOps.
6. VMware Cloud
VMware cloud is an integrated cloud along with AWS to provide secure and innovative service to users. This was started in 2016. VMware cloud is a public cloud providing both IaaS and PaaS. This combination enables the user to use VM tools and interfaces with the flexibility of AWS. Users need not have knowledge about AWS or an account on AWS to use VMware cloud.
Benefits: VMware Cloud provides integrated cloud infrastructure which includes computing, storage, networking, and security. It has a standardized architecture. Intrinsic security is provided and lifecycle management is automated. Kubernetes is given which is ready to deploy.
Conclusion
Cloud computing helped us in many ways as in data storage, spreadsheets and documents, image editing and video editing, presentations, maps, e-commerce, and many others. Since it is in online data servers, security is a major issue in cloud services. If we are able to manage that, cloud services are really a boon.
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This is a guide to Top Cloud Providers. Here we discuss the different types of cloud providers with their benefits in detail. You can also go through our other related articles to learn more-
