An Investigation of Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services from Users’ Perspectives

Abstract

Cloud computing is one of the paradigms that have undertaken to deliver the utility computing concept. It views computing as a utility similar to water and electricity. We aim in this paper to make an investigation of two highly efficacious Cloud platforms: Microsoft Azure (Azure) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) from users’ perspectives the point of view of users. We highlight and compare in depth the features of Azure and AWS from users’ perspectives. The features which we shall focus on include (1) Pricing, (2) Availability, (3) Confidentiality, (4) Secrecy, (5) Tier Account and (6) Service Level Agreement (SLA). The study shows that Azure is more appropriate when considering Pricing and Availability (Error Rate) while AWS is more appropriate when considering Tier account. Our user survey study and its statistical analysis agreed with the arguments made for each of the six comparisons factors.