Which company operates the Azure cloud-computing service?

Microsoft operates the Azure cloud-computing service.

Azure is Microsoft’s cloud platform for computing, storage, databases, networking, analytics, artificial intelligence, and software development. Microsoft announced the service in 2008 under the name Windows Azure, and it became generally available in 2010.

The platform lets customers rent computing resources and managed services from Microsoft data centers instead of purchasing and maintaining all the necessary hardware themselves. Azure supports Microsoft technologies as well as many open-source languages, databases, and operating systems.

Azure is frequently compared with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Those services are competitors, not parts of Microsoft. Azure’s position is strengthened by Microsoft’s long relationships with businesses and governments, along with integrations involving Windows, Microsoft 365, SQL Server, and developer tools. Cloud revenue has become a central part of Microsoft’s modern business.