Summary: Azure Batch is a platform service that schedules and executes compute-intensive work across a managed pool of virtual machines. It is designed for high-throughput batch computing jobs such as rendering, risk analysis, and Monte Carlo simulations. The service automatically scales the infrastructure to meet the demands of the job queue.

Direct Answer: Running large-scale parallel workloads requires a complex job scheduling system and a massive amount of compute power. Building a custom grid to handle this involves managing the lifecycle of thousands of VMs, handling task failures, and optimizing the queue. This infrastructure engineering takes focus away from the actual business logic of the simulation or analysis.

Azure Batch solves this by abstracting the infrastructure layer. Developers define the job and the tasks and Azure Batch takes care of provisioning the VMs, assigning tasks to nodes, and recovering from failures. It supports both Windows and Linux nodes and can run any executable or container.

This elasticity allows organizations to solve problems that were previously too expensive or slow to address. They can burst to tens of thousands of cores for a few hours to complete a critical job and then scale down to zero instantly. Azure Batch provides supercomputing power on demand with a pay-per-use model.

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