Cloud Comparison - Part-1: Global Coverage

Cloud has been the most significant contribution of the technology industry to the decarbonized world. It has not only increased the data processing power exponentially but also created platforms to reduce the under-used technology hardware (most of the on-prem servers run at 50% utilization on avg).

We may already know AWS is the leader in IaaS, while Azure is in PaaS. However, how do they stack up against each other in their overall coverage? Since I started looking at cloud solutions, I wanted to do a comparative analysis of three hyperscalars – AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

In this thread of posts, I’ll pick different aspects, one at a time, to compare these cloud providers. the first one is comparing them based on their Global Coverage.

#CompareCloud #AWS #Azure #GCP #Digital #Cloud #Strategy

Tip 1 Service Coverage

So, while AWS leads the way in terms of no. of services, Azure has the most data centers (Regions - zones) across countries. However, AWS still provides the best global coverage through its wider web of Edge locations/points of Presence (POPs) through which AWS customers can connect with the AWS network through direct connect.

Also, though, Google Cloud doesn’t have any data center in the Middle East or Africa, it is still serving the geography through its POPs that customers can connect to through the Dedicated / Partner Interconnect service.

Note: Green highlighted ones are low-carbon data centers in Google cloud.

Insight: If you have country-specific regulations to comply with, Azure might be better positioned to serve your needs, but if you have customers spread across almost all countries in 5 continents, AWS could be a better answer. 

However, if you are only looking for great coverage in the Americas, Australasia (but not in Middle-east and Mainland China), and Europe at the lowest cost GCP could be a great option when looking at the coverage only, keeping other aspects of cloud adoption. Also, Google Cloud doesn't offer any Sovereign Cloud for US government entities.

For more details about each, please check:

https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/regions_az/?p=ngi&loc=2

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-ca/global-infrastructure/geographies/#overview

https://cloud.google.com/about/locations#network