A staggering 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is created daily in 2021. To put this into perspective, 90% of the world’s data has been created in the last 2 years alone. With this volume projected to double every two years, there is a growing need for ways to store and retrieve this huge amount of data.
Companies have realized the pace at which they are collecting data is accelerating, and thus the accompanying hardware costs of storing all of this information. As a result we’ve seen an increase in the demand for cloud computing and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).
Cloud computing infrastructure allows companies to store their data off-site. The storage is provisioned and managed by an external company, and the cost scales with how much space is required. IaaS allows companies to circumvent the upfront costs associated with building and managing their own datacenters and instead opt into a pay-as-they-go or subscription based model of data architecture.
Microsoft Azure, often simply called Azure, is a major player in the cloud computing space. Its compatibility with the .NET framework gives it a clear advantage over AWS or Google Cloud Platform (GPC) as it is much easier for companies to migrate their existing systems onto the cloud.
Azure is 4% — 12% currently cheaper than AWS and has been widely adopted by government institutions due to its unique Security Development Lifecycle (SDL). Azure was the first platform approved by the European Union’s data protection authorities and the only one to currently meet the international standard for cloud privacy, ISO 27018. Due to this increased security, they have also recently snagged a large contract with the US Department of Defense.
As data analytics becomes inextricably tied to cloud computing, I thought it might be a good idea to get a jump on an Azure certification. Microsoft is providing one free voucher to take any of their certification exams ($99 value) in exchange for attending their virtual training days in May 2021.
Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Day: Fundamentals Part 1
19th May 2021,
10:00–12:10
Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Day: Fundamentals Part 2
20th May 2021,
10:00–12:30
Registration to attend this event is free at:
