Cloud computing has become a popular way of delivering and accessing software, infrastructure, and platform services over the internet. Among the leading cloud computing providers are Azure from Microsoft and Google Cloud from Google. Both platforms have their unique features, strengths, and limitations. This article will explore Azure vs. Google Cloud: A Comparison to Help Differentiate the Best Cloud Platform.

Azure is a cloud computing platform from Microsoft that offers a range of services and tools for building, deploying, and managing applications and infrastructure. Azure offers various cloud services, including computing, storage, networking, databases, and analytics, among others. Azure is a popular choice for enterprise organizations because of its integration with Microsoft's ecosystem, including Windows Server, Visual Studio, and Active Directory.

Google Cloud is a cloud computing platform from Google that offers various services for infrastructure, platforms, and software. Google Cloud offers a range of services, including computing, storage, databases, networking, and machine learning, among others. Google Cloud is popular among developers and startups because of its extensive cloud services, scalability, and flexibility.

Pricing is a crucial consideration when choosing between Azure and Google Cloud. Both platforms offer pay-as-you-go models, which means you only pay for the services and resources you use. However, the pricing structure for each service varies depending on the platform. Azure generally has a lower entry cost, while Google Cloud offers more flexible pricing options.

Both Azure and Google Cloud offer a range of services and features for cloud computing. Azure offers more than 200 services, while Google Cloud offers more than 100 services. Azure is popular among enterprise organizations because of its integration with Microsoft's ecosystem, while Google Cloud is popular among developers and startups because of its flexibility and scalability.

Security is an essential consideration when choosing between Azure and Google Cloud. Both platforms offer various security features, including network security, identity management, and encryption. Azure offers a more comprehensive security framework, including compliance certifications and security features for various industries. Google Cloud offers advanced security features for infrastructure and application security.

Scalability is a significant factor when considering cloud computing. Both Azure and Google Cloud offer scalability features to meet the growing needs of businesses. Azure offers various scaling options, including virtual machines, containers, and serverless computing. Google Cloud offers scalability options, including compute engine, Kubernetes, and serverless computing.

Performance is an essential factor when choosing between Azure and Google Cloud. Both platforms offer high-performance computing options. Azure offers a range of performance options, including virtual machines, high-performance computing, and data analytics. Google Cloud offers various performance options, including high-performance computing, big data processing, and machine learning.

Support is an essential factor when considering cloud computing. Azure offers various support options, including community support, basic support, and premium support. Google Cloud offers various support options, including community support, developer support, and enterprise support.

In conclusion, Azure and Google Cloud are two of the leading cloud computing platforms in the market. Both platforms offer a range of services, features, and pricing options for businesses of all sizes. Choosing between Azure and Google Cloud depends on various factors, including pricing, services, security, scalability, performance, and support. Ultimately, businesses must choose the platform that best meets their unique needs and requirements.

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Azure vs Google Cloud: A Comparison to Help Differentiate the Best Cloud Platform - Devdiscourse

The rapid adoption of mobile devices and the internet has fueled significant growth in Indonesias digital economy in recent years, with e-commerce, online media, and ride-hailing services driving further expansion. To support digital innovation, the government has taken steps such as building infrastructure, providing funding for startups, and offering digital skills training.

FunP Innovation Group, a Taiwanese conglomerate specializing in digital advertising and technology, recently secured funding of US$3.12 million from Ennoconn Corporation to develop smart retail and cloud solutions for Indonesia and other APAC countries through its business unit, cacaFly.

The potential of digital technologies such as AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and IoT for businesses and the government has been demonstrated by a recent PwC study that showed that Indonesias GDP could potentially increase by US$10.7 billion between 2021 and 2025 if cloud computing is implemented.

Cloud computing not only creates economic value but also has a positive environmental impact by reducing the need to travel. The study also revealed that 89% of SMEs already use cloud computing, resulting in over a 20% increase in revenue. Approximately one-third of large enterprises reported saving 40% on costs due to cloud computing.

Ennoconns capabilities in AIoT, together with our own in cloud computing and marketing technology,equals the opportunity to develop pioneering retail solutions for Indonesia and beyond, said Brian Yang, funP group Co-founder, and Chief Strategy Officer. We are excited to increase our footprint in one of the fastest-growing markets in the world, with a rapidly expanding middle class.

Ennoconn chair and CEO Steve Chu (left) and president Nelson Tsay

Having already established a presence in the Indonesian market, FunP group has continued to expand through its subsidiaries, cacaFly and TenMax. In collaboration with PT Metrodata Electronics, Tbk, cacaFly formed a data-driven digital marketing agency, PT cacaFly Metrodata Indonesia (CMI), while TenMax opened an Indonesian office to work on digital advertising solutions.

The organized retail market in Indonesia is growing rapidly, with companies expanding their stores and exploring business potential in different areas. This trend is expected to continue throughout the forecast period of 2023-2028, contributing significantly to the growth of the retail sector in Indonesia.

Additionally, the surge in online shopping, driven by Indonesian retail brands, both small and established, expanding their online presence, is expected to see a growth rate of 25% in the next five years. As consumers become more comfortable buying online, the online channel presents enormous opportunities for retailers in Indonesia.

Other factors contributing to the growth of the Indonesian retail market include the rise in tourism, growing preference for local brands, and increased marketing activities by retailers.

At the 2022 G20 Summit held in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo expressed his intention to focus on the digital transformation of the economy through investments in cloud computing, 5G, and the development of a new green capital city, Nusantara. This city will harness smart technologies and renewable energy, and the partnership between cacaFly and Ennoconn aims to aid these initiatives by developing and rolling out smart retail and cloud services solutions for Indonesia and other APAC countries.

Ennoconn plans to leverage cacaFlys digital marketing and cloud computing expertise to enhance its IOT and industrial computing offerings in various industries, such as gaming, video-conferencing, smart cities, smart buildings, and retail.

The investment will also aid funPs transition into a cloud services company. In partnership with Google Cloud, cacaFly launched the Cloud AI+ Solution Center in Taiwan in 2022 to assist local and regional enterprises in their digital transformation by shifting from on-premise computing to cloud computing.

Specifically, the partnership between cacaFly and Ennoconn will help the latter to integrate AIoT technology into its operations across global markets, enabling them to provide ESaaS software solutions while integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) applications. For instance, this technology can help industries to optimize energy consumption, reduce carbon footprint, and enhance sustainability.

Muhammad Zulhusni

As a tech journalist, Zul focuses on topics including cloud computing, cybersecurity, and disruptive technology in the enterprise industry. He has expertise in moderating webinars and presenting content on video, in addition to having a background in networking technology.

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Smart retail and cloud solutions to boost digital transformation in ... - Tech Wire Asia

If anyone were in doubt of the impact that the misuse of data can have on businesses and nation states, theyd need to look no further than the recent investigations surrounding Team Jorge in Israel, the disinformation unit that allegedly worked to disrupt elections in countries worldwide.

Five years on, the Cambridge Analytica scandal is a reminder of how data is increasingly woven into the fabric of modern society and the dangers when it is weaponised.

While arguably it was Edward Snowdens 2013 whistle-blowing of National Security Agency activities that triggered global discussions on data sovereignty, the Cambridge Analytica events accelerated it.

Just a year later, aware of the growing importance of cloud computing as the backbone of modern technology, governments in Germany and France came up with a cunningplan.

Today, that plan has evolved into what is called Gaia-X, an association of governments, technology firms, academics, public bodies and not-for-profits that is working to define a common way to solve Europes digital sovereignty conundrum. The need, according to Francesco Bonfiglio, CEO of Gaia-X, is being driven by the fact that big tech platforms are controlling everything.

Its time for a change, he says, adding that this change has to be in the direction of a distributed, decentralised, federated, transparent, interoperable cloud that is orthogonal to the model of the top hyperscalers.

Interestingly, all the cloud hyperscalers rank among the associations 373 members. Bonfiglio says that despite stories suggesting this was to destroy the initiative or to condition our decisions, these businesses (which are all US-based except for Chinas Alibaba Cloud) need the European market and understand that currently, the region is missing a common definition of trust for digitalservices.

Figures from Synergy Research Group in September last year put the big three cloud providers firmly in the driving seat in Europe, with a 72% market share. Its difficult not to feel a power struggle brewing, which is why Gaia-X needs critical mass. The member list is impressive but far from comprehensive.

While Bonfiglio talks about a monopoly of a handful of private commercial operators, the reality is that the hyperscalers are dominating for a reason. Hes clear, though, that this cannot be an us or them scenario. Gaia-X is, he says, a sort of bridge, to help any cloud provider solve data trust issues within European sovereign boundaries.

Gaia-X or not, Europe cannot do without the hyperscalers, says Dario Maisto, senior analyst at Forrester. These companies invest some $40bn in new services every year. Furthermore, the hyperscalers can build partnerships with local providers to ensure that their offering stays compliant with sovereignty requirements, which does help in overcoming some of the European organisations concerns.

This is the edge revolution and the data gravity concept is drivingit

Maisto adds that some SaaS vendors deploy their solutions on the hyperscalers infrastructure and take a federated approach to data. This data, he says, is anonymised before leaving the sovereign environment to be processed by the external AI or machine learning solutions sitting in non-sovereign environments.

While this ticks a few data-sovereignty boxes, Bonfiglios point that Europe still needs a trusted, federated system, whereby data is shared regardless of the cloud provider, still stands tall. In many respects, he is advocating a future-proof framework for data that is cloud agnostic and acts as a gateway to European organisations andmarkets.

This is why the hyperscalers are involved. Chris Drake, senior research director at IDC, points out that data sovereignty is increasingly a key factor in the selection of cloud service providers.

This partly reflects the growing importance of regulation, including GDPR, which emphasises the importance of personal data protection and provides specific rules about data storage and transfer, saysDrake.

For Bonfiglio, the key to solving the sovereignty issue lies within the Gaia-X digital clearing house (GXDCH), described as the one-stop place to be verified against the Gaia-X rules and obtain compliance in an automated way. The GXDCH is built on a framework of fundamental bricks to build the data economy, says Bonfiglio. This consists of federation, data exchange and compliance. Where much of this concerns the practicalities of data management and exchange, it is underpinned by the need for trust. Everything is measured against a set of compliance rules, such as GDPR.

This month, we will get to see what this all means at the Market-X event in Vienna, Austria. Bonfiglio admits that 2023 is a big year for Gaia-X and Vienna represents the first showcase of what it is all about. There are already trials, or what Gaia-X calls Lighthouse projects underway. Everything from automotive to manufacturing, tourism, transportation, agriculture and smart cities is being explored, using Gaia-Xs principles and components.

Bonfiglio says they have already learnt some lessons here, a key one being that the federative approach is now proven to be a necessary economical element to create resilient value chains, that can resist unplanned dramatic events, and compete in a market where no single operator can survive alone. The idea is that no single business can operate without sharing data with the others in thechain.

Gaia-X or not, Europe cannot do without the hyperscalers

What, then, would a world without Gaia-X look like? Bonfiglio has no hesitation in saying that countries would be scared of sharing data due to a distrust of monopolist platforms or giving data to platforms without insurance of trust. This, he says, would run the risk of losing value and competition, where the major technology players would act as de facto regulators.

While the current generation of cloud services is hypercentralised and hyperscalable, Bonfiglio believes Gaia-X is needed for these providers to stay relevant. The new generation of cloud and digital services must be distributed, federated and interoperable by definition, hesays.

This is the edge revolution, the data gravity concept is driving it, and Gaia-X is the only concrete initiative addressing a need not satisfied yet by any of the large cloud operators. We are doing something the market needs, hesays.

He may have a point. Last year, French vendor OVHcloud sued Microsoft for unfair commercial practices and objected that the personal data of French healthcare patients should not be stored on Azure but in the data centre of a native French cloud provider, to grant EU standard privacy rights. This one is still in the hands of the EUs competition department. Meanwhile, the future of our data, businesses and societies may be in the hands of the data goddessGaia-X.

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Is Gaia-X on course to challenge the big tech platforms? - Raconteur

Cloud communication is now essential for all businesses, not just SMEs. Start-ups, in particular, rely more on cloud-based technology to increase productivity, reduce expenses, and promote better teamwork. Thanks to quickly evolving cloud-based as-a-service platforms, consumers will have access to machine learning capabilities like AI-powered virtual assistants and chatbots like Chat GPT. This will help businesses meet modern demands for faster, round-the-clock communication and automated customer service. This year, we predict that firms will use this technology to gain a competitive edge.

Anyone with internet access may access it from any location and on any device. This is the key advantage of cloud-based technology. In addition, enabling teleworking and hybrid work saves organisations expense and hassle of buying and maintaining their own physical servers. SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS all call for more advanced and robust cloud technologies. Hence, as the demand for these services increases, so does the requirement for a broad and stable cloud computing basis.

Adaptive AI systems can learn in development and runtime contexts. Further, they can swiftly retrain themselves in response to new information and shifting conditions. This enables AI applications to adapt continuously and quickly, regardless of how initially programmed. They are perfect for situations with plenty of unknown factors or when change happens quickly in general.

The resources enterprises need to develop and use machine learning models that are available through cloud computing. They are necessary for AI applications such as market research, dynamic pricing, recommendation engines, and information extraction from large documents and data.

The infrastructure and resources for processing and analysing significant data volumes, the foundation of many AI applications like predictive maintenance, customer behaviour analysis, and fraud detection, are available via cloud computing.

IoT is a powerful technology of this decade (the internet of things). It is constantly changing due to cloud computing and real-time data analytics developments. Data sharing and M2M communication are two processes that take place simultaneously. The cloud makes it simple to manage all of this.

5G is one of the most important cloud technologies. Lower latency and better data transit between locations and devices are made possible by the fifth generation (5G) of network connectivity. 5G and edge computing are anticipated to coincide as 5G coverage grows globally, delivering new capacity and speed to networks. Real-time streaming between facilities is a good fit for 5G networks. This substantially benefits companies that rely on time and massive data, including metrological and space bureaus. As events happen, they will be stored and disseminated. High-quality production, to be sure.

Security is the most prominent feature of cloud technology. By preventing any assault or hacking attempt by unauthorised users, these services guarantee comprehensive data security and safeguard these platforms from cyberattacks.

When businesses move to the cloud, security concerns are typically the first thing that springs to mind. However, even if risks and challenges are significant, you may prevent security issues by selecting a reliable and secure cloud service provider. Because of its dependability sectors, including government administration, finance, defence, health care, and industry, among others, currently use this type of service.

Adapting to changing technologies is never simple. To maximise your investment, it is crucial to understand the dangers involved. Moreover, service providers have already taken significant steps; cloud computing can give businesses the tools to assess the environmental impact of their operations and track their progress towards sustainability. In 2023, well see more companies looking for more advanced tools to assess their sustainable initiatives and analyse data related to their environmental impact and carbon footprint. A greater acceptance of cloud solutions, such as the emergence of multi-cloud, and advancements in technologies, such as the expanding usage of AI and ML in enterprises, will enable organisations to remain resilient and unearth new opportunities and thrive in the year to come.

Vidhu Nautiya is the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at CloudConnect Communications Pvt. Ltd.

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Why is the Cloud Enabler of Better Technologies? - TimesTech

Fog computing is an important trend to understand for anyone working in or planning to work in technology. It has many potential applications, from industrial and manufacturing settings to hospitals and other healthcare facilities. But what is fog computing, and how does it differ from cloud computing? Lets take a look.

Fog computing is a form of distributed computing that brings computation and data storage closer to the network edge, where many IoT devices are located. By doing this, fog computing reduces the reliance on the cloud for these resource-intensive tasks, improving performance and reducing latency (TechTarget, 2022).

Mist computing takes cloud fog computing even further by bringing computation and data storage even closer to the edge, often using devices such as mist computing servers, which are low-power servers that can be deployed in large numbers.

There are several reasons why fog computing is used:

Fog computing is a term for technology that extends cloud computing and services to the edge of an enterprises network. It allows data, applications, and other resources to be moved closer to, or even on top of, end users.

The four main types of fog computing are mentioned below.

There are many potential applications for fog computing, including:

Fog computing can be used to support a wide range of applications that require data to be processed at the edge of the network. In many cases, moving compute and storage resources closer to the data source improves performance and reduces costs. For example, connected cars generate a significant volume of data that needs to be analyzed in real-time to enable features such as autonomous driving.

Fog computing is often used in cases where real-time response is needed, such as with industrial control systems, video surveillance, or autonomous vehicles. It can also be used to offload computationally intensive tasks from centralized servers or to provide backup and redundancy in case of network failure.

Some of the key components of cloud fog computing include the following:

The internet of things (IoT) is a system of interconnected devices, sensors, and software components that share data and information. The power of the IoT comes from its ability to collect and analyze massive volumes of data from various sources. This data can be used to improve efficiency, optimize operations and make better decisions.

Fog computing in IoT is a decentralized computing model that brings computation and data storage closer to the edge of the network. In other words, fog computing moves processing power and data storage away from centralized server farms and into local networks where IoT devices are located.

There are several advantages to using a fog computing architecture:

There are also several disadvantages to using a fog computing architecture:

Edge computing, a distributed computing model, processes data and applications at the edge of the network, close to the data source. By contrast, in the traditional centralized model of cloud computing, data and applications are stored in a central location and accessed over the network.

The main difference between fog and edge computing is that fog computing extends cloud services and connectivity to devices at the edge of the network. In contrast, edge computing brings computation and data storage closer to devices at the edge of the network.

Heavy.AI is a powerful artificial intelligence platform that enables businesses and developers to easily build and deploy AI-powered applications. Heavy.AI is built on top of the popular TensorFlow open-source library, making it easy to get started with deep learning and neural networks. With Heavy.AI, you can quickly train and deploy your custom models or use one of the many pre-trained models available in the Heavy.AI marketplace.

Heavy.AI also offers a fog computing solution that can be used to manage and process data from IoT devices at the edge of the network. This solution can improve the performance of IoT applications by reducing latency and ensuring data is processed locally.

iFogSim is also an open-source fog computing simulator that can evaluate the performance of different fog computing architectures. iFogSim includes a library of modules that can simulate various aspects of fog computing, such as network topologies, device types, and application characteristics.

Aspiring ethical hackers can get certified through EC-Councils C|EH course. The comprehensive C|EH course covers a wide range of topics related to ethical hacking, including network scanning, enumeration, social engineering, denial-of-service attacks, web application attacks, SQL injection, buffer overflows, and much more.

TechTarget. (2022, September 22). What is fog computing? https://www.techtarget.com/iotagenda/definition/fog-computing-fogging

HiTechWhizz. (2022, September 22). 5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Fog Computing | Drawbacks & Benefits of Fog Computing. https://www.hitechwhizz.com/2020/04/5-advantages-and-disadvantages-drawbacks-benefits-of-fog-computing.html

Ryan Clancy is a writer and blogger. With 5+ years of mechanical engineering experience, hes passionate about all things engineering and tech. He also loves bringing engineering (especially mechanical) down to a level that everyone can understand. Ryan lives in New York City and writes about everything engineering and tech.

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What Is Fog Computing? definition, Applications, Everything to Know - EC-Council