Which company launched the Azure cloud-computing platform in 2010?

Microsoft launched the Azure cloud-computing platform in 2010.

Azure was announced in 2008 under the name Windows Azure and became commercially available in February 2010. It provides computing, storage, databases, networking, analytics, artificial intelligence, and other services through Microsoft’s global data-center infrastructure.

The platform helped Microsoft shift from depending mainly on packaged software toward subscription and cloud-based services. Azure competes with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, and its growth became an important part of Microsoft’s position among the world’s most valuable listed companies.

Azure is not the same thing as Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 is a productivity and collaboration subscription suite, while Azure is a cloud-computing platform that developers and organizations use to run applications and services. Both contribute to Microsoft’s wider business ecosystem.