Cloud Computing Now lets take a step back and understand what is cloud computing and how did it come. It became popular since may be 8 to 10 years but it's not a new concept. It's been there for years. Mailing sites are good example of cloud services. For example, when you use your gmail then you are actually using an application which is stored and managed somewhere else and by somebody else. So we can call it a Software as a service(SaaS).
What is Azure? Microsoft Azure is the public cloud platform by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed data centers. Azure offers - Software as a service (SaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS) Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) It supports many different programming languages, tools and frameworks, including both Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems. Azure was announced in October 2008 and released in February 1, 2010 as "Windows Azure" before being renamed "Microsoft Azure" on March 25, 2014. Microsoft Azure offers around 600 different services as of 2018.