Cloud computing allows the ability to access computing resources on demand such as applications, data storage, servers (physical and virtual) networking tools, development tools and much more located in a remote data center, which is managed by a cloud service provider. These services are offered over the internet, and typically require monthly subscriptions or billing based on usage.

This model has gained recognition due to the significant advancements in virtualization and distributed computing as well as improved internet access. It has helped companies check out this site cut costs, increase agility and efficiency, and free up IT staff to concentrate on more strategic initiatives.

Cloud service providers with major scale offer an array of IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) offerings. Their platforms are equipped with powerful connections and automation features that help manage and integrate workloads, as well as advanced machine learning, artificial intelligence, and analytics features that provide higher-quality insights and increase performance.

All three vendors are growing quickly and with Amazon Web Services leading the pack. Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform follow. Each provides a range of services and is able to support a variety of industry and technology categories. For example, AWS has a strong emphasis on IaaS with features such as its elastic compute infrastructure as well as Amazon Elastic Block Store for storage of data. The company has been criticised by some for not being transparent in its pricing structure. However, it gives customers an estimate tool as well as introductory free tiers to allow them to try out.

AWS has a large market share in both IaaS and PaaS, but its customers are increasingly turning at multi-cloud. This approach can limit the risk, avoid vendor lock-in and enable you to use the most powerful features each provider offers. However, it also introduces new challenges like skills shortages and workflow differences between environments.