Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure (/ˈæʒər, ˈeɪʒər/ AZH-ər, AY-zhər, UK also /ˈæzjʊər, ˈeɪzjʊər/ AZ-ure, AY-zure),[2][3][4] is a cloud computing service operated by Microsoft for application management via 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, announced at Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in October 2008, went by the internal project codename “Project Red Dog”,[5] and formally released in February 2010, as Windows Azure before being renamed to Microsoft Azure on March 25, 2014.[6][7]