The many terminologies in use when comparing cloud services is one of the most difficult problems to overcome – especially because some words have been accepted to mean the same thing but really don’t. Consider “Instances” and “Virtual Machines.” Most individuals believe AWS Instances and Azure Virtual Machines are identical. To add to the confusion, Google commonly uses both terms, but they really aren’t the same thing. In order to ensure that you’re using the terminology correctly, we’ve provided a glossary of terms that might have opposing definitions depending on the provider you’re using.
– Compute: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Azure Virtual Machines, Google Compute Engine
– Storage: Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), Azure Storage, Google Cloud Storage
– Databases: Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), Azure SQL Database, Google Cloud SQL
– Big data: Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR), Azure HDInsight, Google BigQuery
– Networking: Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Azure Virtual Network, Google Cloud Platform network
– Security: Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM), Azure Active Directory, Google Cloud IAM
– Management: Amazon CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, Google Cloud Console
– Developer tools: Amazon Simple Workflow Service (SWF), Azure Functions, Google App Engine
– Mobile: Amazon Mobile Analytics, Azure App Service, Google Cloud Messaging
– Business intelligence: Amazon QuickSight, Azure Power BI, Google Data Studio
– Robotics: Amazon Robot Framework, Azure Cognitive Services, Google Cloud AI
– Blockchain: Amazon Managed Blockchain, Azure Blockchain Service, Google Cloud Platform Marketplace
While most of these services are offered by all three providers, the terminology can be quite confusing. We hope this glossary helps to clear up some of the confusion!
Compute:
– Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): A web service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is designed to make web-scale cloud computing easier for developers.
– Azure Virtual Machines: Provides on-demand, scalable virtual machine (VM) compute resources in the cloud to easily deploy and manage applications.
– Google Compute Engine: Is a service that provides virtual machines that run on Google infrastructure.
Storage:
– Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3): An object storage service that offers industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance.
– Azure Storage: A cloud storage service that helps manage data for applications running in the cloud or on-premises.
– Google Cloud Storage: A powerful, simple, and cost-effective object storage service built for Google scale.
Databases:
– Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS): A web service that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud.
– Azure SQL Database: A managed cloud database service built for developers looking to create data-driven applications.
– Google Cloud SQL: A fully managed relational database service that makes it easy to set up, maintain, manage, and administer your relational databases on Google Cloud Platform.
Big data:
– Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR): A web service that makes it easy to process large amounts of data quickly and efficiently.
– Azure HDInsight: A managed cloud service that makes it easy to process, analyze, and explore large amounts of data.
– Google BigQuery: A cloud service that helps you analyze large amounts of data quickly and efficiently.
Networking:
– Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): A virtual private network (VPN) that lets you securely connect your AWS resources to your on-premises network.
– Azure Virtual Network: A private network in the cloud that you can use to deploy and manage your Azure resources.
– Google Cloud Platform network: A set of virtual networking components that you can use to build a private network in the cloud.
Security:
– Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM): A web service that helps you securely control access to AWS resources.
– Azure Active Directory: A cloud service that provides identity and access management for your Azure resources.
– Google Cloud IAM: A set of tools that you can use to manage permissions for your Google Cloud Platform resources.
Management:
– Amazon CloudWatch: A monitoring service for AWS resources that you can use to collect, track, and analyze metrics.
– Azure Monitor: A cloud service that helps you optimize the performance and availability of your Azure resources.
– Google Cloud Console: A web-based interface that you can use to manage your Google Cloud Platform resources.
Developer tools:
– Amazon Cloud9: A cloud-based integrated development environment (IDE) that you can use to write, edit, and debug your code.
– Azure DevOps: A set of cloud-based services that you can use to develop, deploy, and manage your applications.
– Google Cloud Developer Tools: A set of tools that you can use to manage your Google Cloud Platform resources.
Mobile:
– Amazon Mobile Analytics: A cloud service that collects and analyzes data from mobile apps.
– Azure App Service: A cloud service that you can use to build, deploy, and manage mobile applications.
– Google Cloud Endpoints: A cloud service that you can use to build, deploy, and manage mobile applications.
IoT:
– Amazon IoT: A cloud service that you can use to build, deploy, and manage IoT applications.
– Azure IoT Hub: A cloud service that you can use to connect, monitor, and manage your IoT devices.
– Google Cloud IoT: A set of tools that you can use to connect, monitor, and manage your IoT devices.
Business intelligence:
– Amazon QuickSight: A cloud-based business intelligence service that you can use to create and share data visualizations.
– Azure Power BI: A cloud-based business intelligence service that you can use to create and share data visualizations.
– Google Data Studio: A cloud-based business intelligence service that you can use to create and share data visualizations.
| Service | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compute | Elastic Cloud Compute | Virtual Machines | Compute Engine |
| App Hosting | Elastic Beanstalk | Cloud Services | App Engine |
| Serverless Computing | AWS Lambda | Azure Functions | Cloud Functions |
| Container Support | ECS/EKS Containers | AKS Container Service | Kubernetes Engine |
| File Storage | S3 Storage Service | Azure Storage | Cloud Storage |
| Block Storage | Elastic Block Storage | Azure Blob | Persistent Disc |
| Backup Options | AWS Glacier | Azure Backup | Cloud Storage |
| Data Orchestration | Data Pipeline | Data Factory | Cloud DataFlow |
| Data Management | AWS Redshift | SQL Data Warehouse | Google BigQuery |
| NoSQL Database | DynamoDB | Cosmos DB | Cloud DataStore |
These are just a few of the most commonly used terms when discussing cloud services. As you can see, the terminology can be quite confusing. We hope this glossary helps to clear up some of the confusion!
Naturally this is not a full list of services offered by the three cloud service providers. AWS offers ninety different services, which is around the same number as GCP (although only 46 services are covered by the GCP Terms and Conditions). Microsoft lists an incredible 166 services on its Azure product page; however a number of these are integrations with other Microsoft products.
