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Amazon Web Services

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Amazon Web Services, known as AWS, is a major provider of cloud computing platforms.

Amazon.com web services 2002
Amazon.com web services 2002

It offers these services to individuals, businesses, and even governments. Instead of buying and managing their own physical hardware, clients use AWS to access computing power over the internet. This is done through a metered, pay-as-you-go model. This means users only pay for the specific resources they consume. AWS provides a massive range of tools for networking, storage, and processing. It helps organizations obtain large-scale computing capacity much faster and more cheaply than building their own server farms.

The mechanism of AWS relies on a global network of server farms.

AWS Simple Icons Storage Amazon EBS
AWS Simple Icons Storage Amazon EBS

These farms contain vast amounts of hardware that deliver services to customers. One core service is Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, or EC2. EC2 allows users to access a virtual cluster of computers. These virtual machines emulate the features of real physical computers. They include central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) for processing data. They also provide RAM for memory and various storage options like hard-disk (HDD) or solid-state drives (SSD). Users manage these resources through the internet using REST APIs, a command-line interface (CLI), or the AWS console.

AWS offers many different types of services to meet various needs. Beyond basic computing, they provide middleware, Internet of Things (IoT) tools, and database management. They also offer specialized services like AWS Lambda. Lambda is a serverless function that can run code written in many different languages. It can be triggered by hundreds of different events, such as HTTP calls. For storage, they offer services like Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). For data management, they provide options like Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS).

AWS Simple Icons Storage Amazon EBS
AWS Simple Icons Storage Amazon EBS

This allows for features like volume tagging and software-level RAID arrays to improve performance.

The history of AWS began with a desire to improve engineering efficiency at Amazon. In the early 2000s, Amazon engineers were spending about 70% of their time on "undifferentiated heavy-lifting." This meant they were stuck solving IT and infrastructure problems instead of building new features. Leaders like Allan Vermeulen and Matt Round pushed for more autonomy and standardized infrastructure. In July 2002, Amazon launched its first web services to allow developers to use their platform. By 2004, over one hundred applications were already running on it. This unexpected interest convinced Amazon that developers were hungry for more infrastructure services.

Key leaders helped shape the vision of what would become a massive industry. Andy Jassy took over a major portfolio in 2003 and envisioned an "Internet OS." This concept focused on providing foundational infrastructure primitives to help people ship software faster. Other early contributors include Jeff Bezos and Werner Vogels. Vogels emphasized the importance of breaking down structures into "two-pizza teams" to allow for faster innovation. The concept for EC2 was further developed by Chris Pinkham and Benjamin Black. They proposed a vision for a standardized, automated retail computing infrastructure that could also be sold as a service.

AWS has seen massive financial and market growth over the last two decades. In 2012, industry watchers estimated that AWS revenue exceeded $1.5 billion. By 2015, Amazon reported that AWS was highly profitable, with $1.57 billion in sales during the first quarter alone.

As of the first quarter of 2023, AWS held a 31% market share of the cloud infrastructure market. Its closest competitors are Microsoft Azure, with 25%, and Google Cloud, with 11%. The company now manages over 200 different products and services for its global users.

There are many notable examples of how AWS connects to the wider digital world. For instance, the streaming giant Netflix migrated 100% of its infrastructure to AWS.

AWS also supports the startup ecosystem through programs like the annual Start-up Challenge and the Activate program. These initiatives provide credits and expert access to help new businesses grow. AWS also provides tools for advanced fields like machine learning and mobile development. Whether through a website like the AWS console or through software development kits (SDKs) in Python or Java, AWS remains a fundamental part of modern technology.

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