Cloud computing has become a trend for a reason. This is the key to business development now. In recent years, cloud computing has become one of the most reliable, efficient, and cost-effective technologies. Leading providers are focused on the quality of their services and put a huge amount of resources into maintaining and developing their products. Cloud computing is a special set of tools for storing and processing data on remote computing resources, which include servers, data storage systems, and data transmission systems. In this article, we will do an AWS vs Google platform review, two of the leading cloud services.
ADVANTAGES OF CLOUD SERVICES
Flexibility
Cloud platforms are services that you can customize for yourself. Scale based on your needs. Users choose exactly how to use and how much to use the services. This flexibility helps you focus on your business strategy and how to improve your product without adding infrastructure. Platforms provide you with unlimited expansion options. At the same time, you only pay for what you use, so it also saves your budget.
Security
There is no safest information storage, but cloud services have an advantage over other storage methods.
Companies value their customers, so in order to have an edge over competitors, they try to provide the best control over the security of their data. Security is one of the provider’s top priorities.
AMAZON WEB SERVICES
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been offering cloud solutions for IT companies since 2006. Today Amazon Web Services provides a low-cost, highly reliable, scalable cloud infrastructure platform to power a multitude of businesses around the world. According to Alpacked, the market share of the company is growing steadily, in the second quarter of 2016 Amazon cloud technologies covered 31% of the market. Amazon Web Services is the world’s most widely deployed cloud platform, with the broadest range of services and data centers around the world.
To understand why companies choose AWS, it is important to list its advantages:
Computing powers
The central computing service of AWS is the Elastic Compute Cloud service, which has become the prototype for the concept of “scalable on-demand computing”. AWS currently supports 38 instance types and 7 instance families, offering both regional and zone support.
Data analytics
In data analysis, AWS has done a tremendous amount of work to improve analytics. They have developed a separate service, Quick Sign, which provides quick analytics tools, including ready-made templates. Its advantage is cost. It is 10 times lower than that of BI solutions.
Network
Amazon Web Services provides the ability to use Virtual Private Cloud to create a VPN with a subnet. There are routing tables, private ranges of IP addresses.
Price policy
AWS has several different pricing models:
1) Reservation – services are reserved in advance for a period from 1 to 3 years. Payment is made based on their use.
2) On-demand – you need to pay only for what is used.
3) Partial reservation – with an increase in the number of services used, the price for their use decreases.
GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) provides services in formats such as IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS. This platform is trusted by the largest companies, such as PayPal, eBay, Spotify, and Twitter.
Computing powers
Compute Engine is a service that uses the Google Cloud Platform to handle computing processes. It is known for its ability to create flexible machines that can be controlled and used most effectively.
Data analytics
Google Cloud Platform is working on a separate promising area of analytics. Now the platform uses services such as Cloud Speech API, and Google Translate API, Cloud Vision API with the ability to integrate into third-party applications and services.
Network
Google Cloud Platform’s offerings are not as extensive as in AWS. The platform now provides a cloud virtual network with support for Public IP subnets, DNS settings, and its own firewall.
Price policy
Google Cloud Platform has a similar billing system. One of the main disadvantages of this platform is pricing, which is less flexible compared to AWS.
GCS offers an easy way to save money by paying only for the current load. It does not ask you for prepayment. Although the discount will be calculated at the end of the month, the actual usage time for a particular instance type is taken into account. For example, if the load is 25% per month, then the discount is 20%. If the load reaches 50% and 70% of the border, then the discount increases by 20%, respectively. The maximum discount can be 30%. Finally, Google Cloud automatically combines different instances of the same type to provide users with the maximum discount.
DISADVANTAGES OF AWS AND GCP
As Alpacked states, AWS is intended primarily for medium to large businesses. If we talk about a small business, then the prices are too high if you do not use the discounts that are provided for long-term rental.
Oracle Founder Larry Ellison, speaking on stage at the Oracle OpenWorld conference, criticized the cloud services offered by Amazon. He stated that the services are slower, more resource-intensive, expensive, and less open than Oracle Cloud Services.
Speaking of GCP’s drawbacks, technical support, sales, and customer support are very often criticized. Many, mainly small, businesses complain about the lack of competent support from the platform, or its illiteracy or complete absence. Some features need to be updated, for example, currently only Postgresql and MySQL are outdated. They are heavily locked with fewer open-source extensions and options than on the other services.
KEY DIFFERENCES
- Google Cloud is a collection of Google cloud computing resources while AWS is a cloud service developed and operated by Amazon.
- Google Cloud provides backup services, but AWS offers cloud-based disaster recovery services.
- AWS volume sizes range from 500GB to 16TB while Google Cloud volume sizes range from 1GB to 64TB.
- In GCP, data transfers are fully encrypted, while in AWS they are in a general format.
THE FUTURE OF AWS AND GCP
According to the report provided by Jefferies analyst in 2017, Amazon Web Services took the leading role. Despite that fact, it is impossible to ignore the amazing growth by 125% of Google Cloud. This makes us note the fact that the platform is working on its disadvantages, and offers a flexible approach to user reviews and a focus on reaching the top of the top cloud services.
Both services, as you can see, do not seek to slow down. The race for a leadership position while cloud technologies are at their peak of popularity is of great importance, because it is important that the client gives preference to a particular platform.
SUMMARY
Before choosing a cloud service, a company needs to study the offers on the market. It is also necessary to decide what functions and resources you need now and in the long term in order to be able to make competent budget calculations regarding the cloud providers’ offerings. There are many offers on the market now. And even the most leading platforms may not be suitable for small businesses, for example.
Since the transition to cloud computing is a modern trend, more and more companies will use services such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform.
