3-D modelling and computer engineering are some of the most hardware-intensive applications one can find. In fact, it can take days to render a complex model, which is why design engineers tend to buy the fastest workstations they can find and install clusters to handle big rendering jobs.
Amazon AWS is largely known for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which is more or less raw compute and storage capacity, same as you would get if you bought a bunch of servers and disk arrays and did it yourself.
The economics of AWS are pretty good to start with, with reduced CAPEX, greater uptime and improved agility. But according to an IDC report sponsored by Amazon “The Business Value of Amazon Web Services Accelerates over Time,” the economics get better and better as time goes on.
One main reason to move from on-premises software to the cloud is economic — it should be cheaper to use a cloud service than buy and maintain your own servers, storage, network and software.
Amazon has a partner program for AWS that its rivals, even partner savvy Microsoft, can only dream about.
Microsoft invented Azure because that is what the market and shareholders wanted – a broad-based cloud service to which its users can migrate. The story of AWS is far more organic.
AWS is the clear cloud and IaaS market leader, with 5 times the compute capacity of its rivals, Gartner says. Technology is part of its strength. But a massive and flowering set of partners is another.
The first article in this series describes how you can get started with Amazon Web Services by signing up for the free usage tier.
Amazon Web Services was launched in 2006. Amazon amongst its many business streams offers cloud-based services, web based products and cloud rentable resources. In this article we will briefly look at the broad range of services and products offered through AWS and take into consideration the reasons for why some organisations are choosing AWS over the multitude of competitive alternatives.
Choosing a cloud provider is serious business. It’s a commitment – one that can greatly benefit your business by saving money and making things easier and more convenient for IT admins and users, or one that can plunge you into a cloudy nightmare. In theory, you should be able to easily move your virtual machines from one cloud vendor’s data center to another’s. But because different vendors offer different services (beyond the standard compute and storage services) and implement them in slightly different ways, it’s not always as easy as you might think.
