What Is Amazon Web Services (AWS)?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is an Amazon cloud computing platform that provides a wide range of computing, storage, and application services, enabling businesses and developers to build, deploy and scale digital solutions without managing physical infrastructure.

Amazon Web Services can refer to both Amazon’s cloud computing division and the ecosystem of cloud services it offers. AWS is currently the largest provider of cloud computing solutions in the world by market share. 

Related7 Non-Technical Roles That Need AWS Cloud Skills

Uses of Amazon Web Services 

At its core, AWS provides cloud computing infrastructure, which means that computing resources (computers, servers, data centers) are made accessible to anyone with an internet connection and the ability to log in to the AWS portal.

These hardware services are coupled with software services that AWS users can access on AWS’s website.

The list of services, or cloud products, is as long and vast as the variety of uses one can make of them, but we can identify a set of primary use cases for the platform. A customer might use these services individually or combine them depending on workload requirements.

Computing 

Customers use AWS’ computing and processing powers by accessing a network of computing clusters stored in various data centers all across the globe. This means customers pay to run their applications on virtual compute instances or serverless environments hosted in Amazon-managed data centers, rather than renting specific physical machines.

Unstructured Data Storage

Storing file data is on the list of services AWS provides. This use case is primarily used for data that’s not structured, such as images or videos.

Structured Data Storage

Database customers also store data that comes directly from their websites or applications. AWS provides a number of options for storing structured data (such as customer transactions, stock trades, sensor data and more).

Networking and Content Delivery 

Customers rely on AWS’ network infrastructure to optimize the transmission of information to and from their website or application. In practice, this means the goal is that the user experience is optimized for low latency and rapid content delivery (such as the quick retrieval of information from a website).

Analytics and Machine Learning 

AWS provides a set of solutions for organizations to run analytical workloads in the cloud (i.e. data processing, manipulation and modeling) so customers can derive insights from their operations. Additionally, customers rely on machine learning solutions to leverage the power of predictive analytics. These capabilities allow organizations to not only derive insights from past and present data but to also make predictions about the future based on that data.

Security, Identity Management and Compliance 

AWS provides a number of solutions to help companies and applications remain compliant with data regulations in specific countries (the GDPR, for example). These tools allow organizations to secure their applications that contain sensitive information and manage users’ permissions in order to facilitate secure identity management.

Advantages of Amazon Web Services

There are several advantages to using AWS as a solution to build, manage and deploy cloud applications.

Pay-as-You-Go Model

Resource consumption is tied to usage with no up-front commitments. In other words, cloud resources are billed in a pay-as-you-go model that lets customers pay only for resources that are running and not idle. 

Offload Infrastructure Management 

Launching (not to mention managing) software and hardware infrastructure is difficult and complex. Since AWS specializes in these areas, e-commerce companies can focus on feature development rather than managing server provisioning or patching.

Can Save Money and Time for Users

By relying on AWS and moving applications to the cloud, customers no longer need to buy, own, manage and maintain proprietary data centers or their computing, storage and networking solutions. This ultimately frees up both money and time that are best invested elsewhere. The shift from on-premise resources to cloud resources is one of AWS’ biggest selling points. 

Access Proprietary Software Services 

Within AWS’ suite of services, clients can access Amazon’s numerous proprietary software solutions related to machine learning, artificial intelligence and automation. 

Optimize Security Compliance 

By offloading resources to the cloud, customers can optimize for data compliance and security by making use of AWS’s distributed network of global data centers. If a company needs certain market data to be held within a given region, it can use the cloud platform to store that data close to that geography in order to achieve legal and security compliance. 

Who Uses Amazon Web Services?

In short, everyone — whether directly as customers or indirectly as users of a specific platform. From individual developers looking to grow their business all the way to multinational enterprise companies in the most regulated industries, AWS counts customers in the millions across all industry sectors and company sizes.

Here’s a list of some of AWS’ most recognizable customers:

AWS Customers

• Netflix
• Airbnb
• Twitch
• McDonald’s 
• Epic Games
• Pfizer
• Kellogg’s
• The Guardian

RelatedTop Cloud Computing Platforms With Certification Programs to Know

Amazon Web Services Pricing

AWS pricing is a complex topic as fees are based on each specific service within the ecosystem of AWS and many other factors such as product tier, usage frequency and more. AWS itself provides products to better handle the combination of different AWS service prices to facilitate the management and billing of AWS resources.

For a complete deep dive on price tiers for each different service, the AWS Pricing Catalog provides detailed information.

Frequently Asked Questions