Microsoft Azure overtakes Amazon's cloud in performance test
Azure's cloud is faster at uploading and downloading files to the cloud, Amazon still more scalable, storage provider Nasuni finds — h(f)){c=a.createElement('script'); c.type='text/javascript';c.src= 'http …
Context & Ripple Effects
A 2011 benchmark had already placed Windows Azure ahead of Amazon EC2 and Google App Engine on speed. Nasuni’s findings reinforce that earlier Azure speed-test advantage, while drawing a sharper distinction between file-transfer performance and Amazon Web Services’ scalability.
The result matters because it gives cloud buyers a concrete workload-level trade-off rather than a single overall winner: Azure for faster uploads and downloads, AWS for scale.
First-order effects
- Nasuni’s test gives Microsoft Azure a performance proof point for customers whose cloud use depends on moving files quickly.
- Amazon Web Services retains the scalability advantage in the same comparison, preserving a differentiated case for workloads that prioritize growth in capacity.
Second-order effects
- Cloud buyers evaluating Azure and AWS have reason to benchmark their own file-transfer and scale requirements rather than treat either provider’s performance as universal.
- Microsoft and Amazon face pressure to compete on distinct service attributes—transfer speed and scalability—rather than on broad cloud claims alone.
Third-order effects
- If workload-specific benchmarks keep producing split results, cloud competition will be shaped less by a single platform ranking and more by buyers matching applications to differentiated infrastructure strengths.
The trend: Public-cloud competition is becoming a contest over measurable workload performance, with speed and scalability emerging as separate buying criteria.