Top Microsoft Azure Features for Emerging and Established Businesses

by Shishir Dubey May 31, 2019

This blog is going to present you with a comprehensive discussion on Microsoft Azure features and functionalities. Also, you will find ways through which you can benefit your business by using Microsoft Azure cloud services productively. So let’s start.

First of all, being a popular and widely used Microsoft cloud service across the globe,

Azure features some of the most productive and beneficial capabilities and advantages for all types and scales of businesses.

But,

What is Microsoft Azure and What to use it?

Microsoft Azure is a Public cloud computing platform from Microsoft that was previously known as Microsoft Windows Azure. With Microsoft Azure, you get a diverse set of cloud-based services that includes cloud computing, cloud analytics, cloud storage as well as cloud-based networking. Moreover, due to the availability of a broad set of Microsoft Azure features and functionalities, you get a dedicated online portal to access convenient and easy to use cloud hosted services and resources.

Through the Microsoft Azure cloud management platform, you can build, test, deploy, and manage your business software applications through data centers managed by Microsoft itself. The Microsoft Azure use cases are primarily divided into three categories viz., SaaS or Software as a Service use cases, PaaS or Platform as a Service use cases, and IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service use cases.

Moreover, to build any of your Microsoft Azure Solutions for online business, you get the support of plenty of programming languages, technology frameworks, and software development tools. Some of them are developed and owned by Microsoft, while third-party vendors provide many others. With that said, there are a large no. of Microsoft Azure Cloud features and benefits of azure stack for cloud computing that help businesses grow rapidly.

Top Microsoft Azure Features & Capabilities Beneficial for Businesses

Let’s see what the Major Features of Microsoft Azure that makes it preferable among small businesses, Mid-scale companies, as well as large scale enterprises, are.

There are many Advantages of Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Services platform available straightaway at the convenient use of everyone. All these cloud computing facilities are available at prices as per your needs and requirements. You start with low prices, and as you scale your business up, you pay accordingly.

Here are the Top Microsoft Azure Features and Business Benefits that can benefit your Online Business Heavily Productivity Wise.

Computing/Infrastructure Features of Microsoft Azure Cloud Services.

First of all, one of the Top Features of Microsoft Azure is the computing and infrastructure services provided by the cloud platform. Under this category, you also get the Microsoft Azure Infrastructure-as-a-Service facilities.

Let’s have a look at all the features and Microsoft Azure benefits available in detail –

Availability of Virtual Machines

With Microsoft Azure IaaS facility, you get the benefit of virtualization and virtual machines. Users can launch their general-purpose virtual machines developed in windows or Linux platforms. You can even pre-configure virtual machines using certain specific software packages also.

Availability of App Services

This facility of Microsoft Azure falls under the Azure PaaS Services section. Through Azure App Services, you can easily publish as well as manage your websites and business web applications. It is yet another one of the greatest Microsoft Azure Features for web developers, mobile app developers, and online business owners.

High-Density Website Hosting service called WebApps

Another excellent benefit provided by the Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform under the PaaS section. Through this, developers and programmers can build websites and web applications using Asp.Net | PHP | Node.JS | Python and quickly deploy to the Azure cloud using the FTP, Git, Team foundation server and Mercurial also.

Here’s another greatest Microsoft Azure features that you can benefit from. Apart from the above technologies, users can select their own set of technologies and tools to develop and deploy their business applications.

Moreover, We Have WebJobs Too

Using this facility, as a user, you can deploy an application to the App Service Environment hosted in the cloud. Also, you can do a lot of background processing through multiple components available such as scheduling option or on-demand option. Furthermore, you can facilitate conversation between WebApps and WebJobs using a Blob, Table, or a Queue service.

Microsoft Azure Features Related to Mobile Services

Apart from computing and infrastructure services, another one of the great features and Microsoft Azure Strengths is the Mobile services provided by the platform. Have a look at each of them.

Mobile Engagement Services

Through this relatively new feature in Microsoft Azure cloud platform, you can easily monitor and manage the mobile user engagement that your application is getting from the users. Microsoft Azure Mobile Services allows for real-time data analytics tracking that helps you to make a deep dive into the user behavior and generate critical highlights. Apart from that, you also get push notifications that allow you to keep track of significant user engagement aspects.

HockeyApp is a Microsoft Azure Productivity Enhancing Driver

Another great feature of Microsoft Azure is that you get the benefit of HockeyApp. Through this, you can quickly develop, distribute, and do a beta-testing of your mobile apps developed. Hence no need to worry about the availability of necessary tools and platforms to build and test your mobile business apps.

Indeed the Microsoft Azure features under the mobile services section are productive from the business standpoint.

Storage Service Provided by Microsoft Azure

Cloud Storage services are yet another addition to the Microsoft Azure stack features list. Have a look below and see what the primary storage-related features you get from Microsoft Azure are.

First of all, you get the availability of REST and SDK APIs that efficiently helps you to store and access your business application related data on the Azure cloud platform.

Then we have the availability of table services, which is also a NoSQL non-relational database. Using this, you can store your data in structured text form in a partitioned collection of multiple entities. You can access it using a partition key and a primary key.

Moreover, we have the availability of Blob Service. Through this unstructured texts and binary data is stored in the form of Blobs. These blobs can be accessed using HTTP(s) paths. Blobs also provide a specific level of data security-related mechanisms that can let you have full control access to your business application data. Another great benefit of Microsoft Azure for business Software solutions development and deployment.

Furthermore, the presence of Queue services allows effective communication between multiple programs asynchronously. These programs communicate through messages via the queue service.

Last but not least, we have a file service feature in the Microsoft Azure cloud. Through this feature of Microsoft Azure for business application data storage, you can store your data on the cloud by using the REST API and the SMB protocol.

Data Management: One of The Most Impressive Microsoft Azure Features

Moreover, there are another set of productive Microsoft Azure Features and services provided by the Microsoft Cloud platform. There are multiple Azure Database related features that maximize the platform’s efficiency to handle data management tasks and activities. Here are some of those that can benefit your business hugely.

First of all, we have the Azure Search functionality

The Azure search functionality allows you to perform effective data searching in the cloud database by using the REST APIs as well as the SDK APIs.

Apart from that, you also get a NoSQL database service to manage your data in the JSON format effectively. Moreover, you also get a Redis Cache, which is primarily an implementation of Redis.

Then we have the Features of Azure SQL Database

Under this feature of Microsoft Azure, you get the SQL data management on the Cloud. Using the Azure SQL cloud functionality, you can work with your data as well as create and scale your business applications as well as extend them into the Microsoft Azure cloud environment.

Furthermore, that can be effectively done using the Microsoft SQL server technology. Moreover, you can also integrate the SQL database with Active Directory as well as Microsoft System Center and the Hadoop technology.

Another of the Azure Database Features – Azure SQL Data Warehouse

This is one of the essential azure features for enterprises in implementation. It is a full-fledged data warehouse that is managed by Microsoft in its Azure cloud facility. It is a fully-functional data Warehouse specially designed for enterprise-level businesses of any size. Its key highlight is the fast query management system that accounts for high performance and enhanced level of data security.

3 Additional Microsoft Azure Features in Data Management Segment

Another great feature of Microsoft Azure Cloud is Azure Data Factory

Microsoft Azure data factory is the data integration service provided by Microsoft Azure. It is one of the most popular Azure services and features in the data management category and allows you to create and design data-driven cloud-based workflows. Eventually, it helps to orchestrate and automate the movement of data and the way you perform data transformation.

Apart from that, there is Azure Data lake

Microsoft Azure Data Lake is the scalable service provided by Microsoft Azure. Through this facility, you can get the benefits of Microsoft Azure data storage and big data analytics for large scale projects. You can also use it to avail effective query management system as Azure Data Lake can handle huge no of queries together.

Last but not least, we have Azure Stream Analytics

Microsoft Azure Stream Analytics is a serverless and scalable event processing engine, and one of the best Microsoft Azure Features in use. Its main feature is that it enables users in the development and execution of real-time analytics based upon a large number of different data streams. These data streams can consist of data sources from devices, sensors, social media platforms, as well as other websites and software applications.

Messaging Services Are Also Included in Microsoft Azure Features List

Moving on further, Microsoft Azure Features and Benefits are incomplete without the mentioning of its messaging services.

Before I discuss them, do you know that There is something called Microsoft Azure Service Bus?

Yes, Microsoft Azure features list also consists of an Azure Service bus through which software applications that run on either Azure on-premises or even off-premises communicate with the Azure cloud facility. Through this not only you can effectively create a business application that is scalable and reliable but also makes effective implementation of the Service Oriented Architecture of Microsoft Azure practically.

So let’s peep into the various types of communication mechanisms that the Microsoft Azure service bus Supports and in overall implementation, makes the Azure cloud platform highly productive and beneficial for businesses.

The first one is Event Hubs.

They mainly provide event and telemetry ingress to Azure Cloud on a massive scale. Moreover, this is done through low latency and high-reliability support. To give you an example, consider tracking data from a cell phone via a GPS location coordinate and that too in real time.

The second one is Queues.

Queues are yet one of the highly useful Microsoft Azure features that supports one-directional communication. There is a sender who sends the request, and then there is a receiver that reads the message from the queue. Even though there are multiple readers present in the Microsoft Azure service bus, still, only one message can be read and then the next as per queue fundamentals.

Then we have Topics.

This facilitates one-directional communication via a subscriber pattern. Topic shares similarity with Queue, but here each subscriber will receive a message copy that is sent to a specific topic. Additionally, the subscriber also gets message filtering facility as an additional benefit.

What completes the list of Azure Cloud Messaging features?

Those are Relays.

A relay is one of the Microsoft Azure features that is used to facilitate bi-directional communication between the sender and receiver end. But there’s a catch. Unlike queues and topics, a relay never stores any in-flight message in its memory. But instead of storing data in its memory, that data gets passed on to the destination application.

You Also Get Media, CDN and Developer Related Features and Services

Apart from the above, other features in the Microsoft Azure cloud platform includes Media services, CDN Services, as well as multiple benefits for the developer community. Here is a detailed list of those –

Media Service provided in Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform

The media-related features of Microsoft Azure fall under the Platform as a Service section also known as PaaS. Azure’s offerings include features for encoding, protection of content, streaming services as well as data analytics too.

CDN Services of Microsoft Azure Cloud

Under the Microsoft Azure new features section, you get a global Content delivery network also known as CDN for all your video files, audio and image files, software application files as well as any other static files. REST APIs manage this network. Through this, you can cache the static files and assets of your website as per your nearest geographical location as it is a globally managed network. Across the globe, there is 54 point of presence locations that helps this Azure CDN Network Exist today.

Application developers getting benefits from Azure Cloud

Software Application Developers get the benefit of another Microsoft Azure features consisting of app insights as well as DevOps tools. This helps in the seamless development and deployment of your business application.

Then Comes Management and Machine Learning Features

Microsoft Azure Key Features also includes provision for management related tasks as well as Machine Learning functionalities. These are some of them –

What are the features of Microsoft Azure Management Services?

Microsoft Azure Cloud Management features include Azure Automation. Through this user can automate manual as well as repetitive tasks that are common in business software application development. First of all, this is a very time-saving feature. Secondly, performing administrative tasks becomes much more manageable and efficient. Through Azure Automation, you can automate processes as well as configuration management too through desired state configuration.

Apart from that, we also have Microsoft Service Management Software or Microsoft SMA as part of Features in Microsoft Azure cloud platform. Primarily, it is a set of software components for effective and efficient management of SQL databases on cloud-based servers. A collection of productive Microsoft Azure Features for sure.

Then we have Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Features and Functionalities

Also known as Azure ML, Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Services is a component of the Cortana Intelligence Suite. Its main job is to enable the scope of predictive analytics as well as data interaction through natural language concepts and practices.

Apart from that, we also have other azure new features such as Cognitive services. They are another great feature of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. It consists of a set of APIs, Software Development Kits (SDKs) and other services to let developers create highly intelligent as well as engaging and discoverable business software applications.

Finally, we have Azure Functions and IoT Related Features

The list of Microsoft Azure Advantages and features is incomplete without the mentioning of Azure Functions and the provision given for IoT developers. These are some of the unique features of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which enhances the overall productivity experience for both businesses as well as software developers.

What are Microsoft Azure Functions?

Azure Functions are a set of serverless computing architectures. Using these, Azure Users can execute their application code in the form of a Function as a Service privilege. The main benefit of this Microsoft Azure feature is that you don’t have to manage the underlying server-centric resource by yourself and can save a lot of time and money.

What are various Microsoft Azure features when it comes to IOT?

Azure’s set of IOT related features spans across three core components –

Azure IOT hub

Using these features, you can connect and monitor all your devices that are a part of your connected environment. You can also manage all your Azure based IOT assets most effectively.

Azure IOT edge

The foundation of Azure IOT edge is IOT Hub and consist of a fully managed service set. So if you have any cloud bases application deployed on IOT edge devices, you can manage them and their related aspects. Azure IOT edge also enhances the scope of cloud intelligence for IOT services.

Azure IOT central

Last but not least, we have Azure IOT central, which is a fully managed SaaS application under the rights of Microsoft. Through this, you can easily connect, monitor, and manage all your large scale IoT assets. This is extremely beneficial for large scale IOT based businesses that require the management of a vast number of connected devices.

Additional Microsoft Azure Features to Look Out for. 

So did you see that! It’s fantastic that the Microsoft Azure Platform offers such a wide range of features, benefits, and services to almost any kind of user.

But one small aspect – Before we conclude, there are specific additional Microsoft Azure Feature that you should not miss.

• Microsoft Azure is a fast and reliable cloud platform and offers excellent speed in terms of application deployment, operations, and scalability.
• With Microsoft Azure, your business can become more agile.
• Azure has a dedicated integrated development environment, and that is super beneficial for lots of businesses.
• Microsoft Azure has a fully functional project delivery pipeline consisting of tools and techniques for the development and testing of business applications. One of the productive and cost-savvy Microsoft Azure features and services.
• The Azure cloud platform is highly secure and provides excellent Microsoft Azure security features and functionalities.
• It supports two different application deployment models – Classic deployment model and Azure resource manager.
• AzureRoute to Establish a private connect with Microsoft’s cloud facility.
• You also get Azure Hybrid services that help to seamlessly connect three essential components – Azure Websites, Azure Mobile Services, and Azure On Premises.
• You get data resiliency and security through cloud-based encoding and encryption techniques.

Conclusion – What Should Be Your Key Takeaway

So, that was all! An utterly detailed blog on some of the significant Microsoft Azure Features that your business can benefit from. Hope you have understood what is Microsoft Azure used for and,

What new possibilities you can get for your company, no matter the industry segment.

At ChromeInfo Technologies, we have great expertise in various aspects of Microsoft Azure Services. We have highly experienced professionals that can help you –

Build advanced applications for your business using Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.

Do let us know in the form to your right if you have any needs and requirements.

Microsoft Azure is genuinely a huge cloud platform. It provides more than 600 services for companies and businesses all across the globe. It can grow your business fast, productively, and cost-effectively. Also, it’s

An ever-expanding collection of cloud services that can help you overcome serious business challenges and problems most effectively and efficiently. So before you leave,

If you liked this blog on the comprehensive list of Microsoft Azure Features ,

Then do not forget to leave your valuable feedback below in the comments section. We appreciate your valuable opinion and will make the best use of it to improvise further.