Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure is the public cloud computing platform and product brand of Microsoft Corporation. It provides on-demand computing infrastructure and a very broad catalogue of cloud services — virtual machines and compute, storage, networking, databases, analytics, artificial intelligence and machine-learning services, Internet of Things, identity and security, developer tooling, and managed software-as-a-service offerings such as Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 integrations. Azure is sold on a consumption and subscription basis to enterprises, governments, startups and developers, and is one of the largest public cloud platforms in the world alongside Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. The platform was introduced in 2008 as "Windows Azure" and became generally available in 2010, initially focused on platform-as-a-service hosting for .NET applications. It was renamed Microsoft Azure in 2014 as Microsoft repositioned it as a general-purpose cloud spanning infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service and software-as-a-service. Under CEO Satya Nadella, who took over in 2014, Microsoft made a "cloud-first" strategic pivot, and Azure became the company's principal growth engine and the centre of its commercial narrative. Azure's positioning rests on hybrid and multi-cloud flexibility (notably Azure Arc and Azure Stack), deep integration with Microsoft's enterprise software estate — Windows Server, Active Directory/Entra ID, SQL Server, Office/Microsoft 365, GitHub and Visual Studio — and a large partner and reseller ecosystem. Microsoft also markets Azure as a compliance-rich cloud with extensive regional data-centre footprints and certifications, and has invested heavily in AI infrastructure and services, including its Azure OpenAI Service and its partnership with OpenAI. Azure is not separately listed; it is a brand and business unit within Microsoft Corporation, which trades on NASDAQ under the ticker MSFT. Revenue is reported inside Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud segment. The brand competes primarily with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, and increasingly with Alibaba Cloud, Oracle Cloud and regional providers in specific markets.

Microsoft's cloud ambitions were publicly articulated in the late 2000s by chief software architect Ray Ozzie, who argued that Microsoft needed to move its software into internet-scale services. The result was announced at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in October 2008 as "Windows Azure", a platform-as-a-service environment for hosting .NET applications in Microsoft data centres. Windows Azure became generally available in February 2010, initially with compute, storage and a relational database service, and was sold through consumption-based pricing. Through 2010–2013 Microsoft broadened the platform from PaaS toward infrastructure-as-a-service, adding virtual machines, virtual networks and a growing set of managed services, and it built out regional data centres in the United States, Europe and Asia. In 2014 the service was renamed Microsoft Azure to signal that it was no longer tied to the Windows operating system and covered infrastructure, platform and software services. The decisive shift came with Satya Nadella's appointment as CEO in February 2014 and his "mobile-first, cloud-first" strategy. Azure was repositioned as the centre of Microsoft's commercial business, with enterprise agreements, Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 bundled around it, and with hybrid offerings such as Azure Stack (announced 2015, shipped 2017) and later Azure Arc (announced 2019) aimed at customers keeping workloads on-premises or in multiple clouds. Microsoft also acquired GitHub in 2018, strengthening Azure's developer story. From 2019 onward Microsoft invested heavily in AI infrastructure and in its partnership with OpenAI, launching Azure OpenAI Service and embedding AI capabilities across Azure. Azure grew into Microsoft's fastest-growing large business and the anchor of its Intelligent Cloud reporting segment, and Microsoft became one of the three dominant global public cloud providers. The brand continues to expand its regional footprint and its portfolio of data, AI, security and industry cloud services.

• 2021

  Azure OpenAI Service made available, bringing OpenAI models to Azure.

• 2019

  Azure Arc announced for multi-cloud and on-premises management.

• 2018

  Microsoft acquires GitHub, strengthening Azure's developer platform.

• 2015

  Azure Stack announced for hybrid cloud deployments.

• 2014

  Renamed Microsoft Azure; Satya Nadella becomes Microsoft CEO and sets cloud-first strategy.

• 2010

  Windows Azure becomes generally available.

• 2008

  Windows Azure announced at Microsoft Professional Developers Conference.

Enterprise-grade public cloud with strong hybrid, identity, developer and AI integration, sold as part of the Microsoft software ecosystem.

• Azure Virtual Machines

• Azure Kubernetes Service

• Azure SQL Database

• Azure Blob Storage

• Azure OpenAI Service

• Azure Arc

• Azure Stack

• Microsoft Entra ID

1. 1Microsoft Azure official siteazure.microsoft.com
2. 2Microsoft Corporation official sitemicrosoft.com
3. 3优克联旗下乐宠它推出宠物AI智能体并宣布完成旗下AI养宠生态的全线升级163.com