Which Azure service provides a platform for real-time analytics?

Azure Stream Analytics is the service designed specifically for real-time analytics. It allows for the processing and analysis of streaming data, enabling organizations to gain insights immediately as data is generated. This service can handle large volumes of data coming from various sources, such as IoT devices, social media feeds, or application logs, and provides capabilities for real-time event detection, aggregation, and analytics.

By using Azure Stream Analytics, users can create real-time dashboards, alerts, and business insights that can be acted upon instantly, making it invaluable for scenarios requiring timely decision-making, such as fraud detection, monitoring app performance, or analyzing trends in real time.

In contrast, while Azure Data Factory is focused on data integration and orchestration of data workflows, it does not provide real-time analytics capabilities. Azure Logic Apps is geared towards automating workflows and integrating applications, not for direct analytics. Azure SQL Data Warehouse (now referred to as Azure Synapse Analytics) is used for big data and analytics but is oriented towards batch processing rather than real-time analytics.