Microsoft Azure – Microsoft Azure (formerly Windows Azure /ˈæʒər/) is a cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed data centers. It provides software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and supports many different programming languages, tools and frameworks, including both Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems.

Azure was announced in October 2008, started with codename “Project Red Dog”,[1] and released in February 1, 2010, as “Windows Azure” before being renamed “Microsoft Azure” on March 25, 2014.[2][3]