How can VARs and MSP compare public clouds like Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs. Microsoft Azure vs. Google Cloud Platform vs. IBM SoftLayer? A free cloud comparison tool from RightScale may provide the answer.
The new cloud comparison tool allows channel partners and customers to examine the following public cloud variables across the four big vendors:
- SLA terms and conditions.
- Security certifications: Everything from FedRAMP to ISO, PCI, SSAE and more
- Supported operating systems: From Windows Server to numerous flavors of Linux
- Geographic locations: Stretching from Australia-New Zealand (ANZ) to Asia, Europe, North America and South America. I'm not sure why the Middle East is missing.
- Compute services: Areas like autoscaling, bare metal, dedicated hosts and more.
- Network services: Such as CDN, DNS, load balancing, VPN and more.
- Storage services: Archive, block, file and object storage.
- Application services: Including container as a service, Internet of Things (IoT), microservices and more.
- Security and identity: Including Identity and Access Management (AIM), key storage and more.
- Database-as-a-service options: From Microsoft SQL Server to Oracle and MySQL and more.
- Non-relational databases: Hadoop and NoSQL.
That's a promising list of variables to help you get started on a cloud comparison or evaluation for customers.
Cloud Comparison Tool: A Closer Look
However, ChannelE2E is not suggesting the Rightscale cloud comparison tool is a perfect way to evaluate AWS vs. Microsoft Azure vs. Google Cloud Platform vs. IBM SoftLayer. But, it's a reasonable start.
Think of it as a basic way to compare and contrast major features and functions available from each public cloud provider. It doesn't, however, evaluate or reveal the quality of each cloud service. Nor does it offer pricing comparisons.
Rightscale, by the way, has a solid reputation as a cloud portfolio management platform provider. The company claims its offerings can help customers and service providers to manage, govern and optimize cloud environments.
Cloud Comparison Tool: What Else Is Missing?
Of course, the public cloud is more than AWS, Microsoft, IBM Softlayer and Google. I'd like to see a comparison toolset that also supports Rackspace, Oracle Cloud, CenturyLink, Verizon, VMware vCloud Air, CSC and channel-friendly cloud providers like Artisan Infrastructure.
But hey, at least RightScale has started an important conversation with a basic public cloud feature comparison tool.
