Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a leading cloud provider and a division of Amazon, a company renowned for its extensive global e-commerce platform.

This provider offers a range of cloud services that are accessible via the Internet. Users can leverage the hardware and infrastructure of Amazon’s data centers to reduce costs and eliminate the need to purchase software and manage related tasks themselves.

As a trailblazer in the cloud industry, AWS stands as the market leader. Its primary competitors are Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

In the second quarter of 2021, AWS recorded a net revenue of $14.8 billion, placing it in direct competition with the firms listed on Forbes magazine’s Global 500 list. Notably, AWS contributes 13% to Amazon’s overall net revenue.

The journey of Amazon Web Services began in 2000 when Amazon was primarily an e-commerce company facing challenges in identifying a growth path and grappling with significant technical debt.

In response to necessity, Amazon strategically opted to create reusable modules for its internal development teams. This initiative enabled teams to accelerate feature development, as they no longer had to reinvent the wheel repeatedly.

As time passed, this collection of internal services expanded, leading to the emergence of the idea of leveraging them as the foundation for a new business.

The Amazon Web Services platform was launched in 2004 and expanded in 2006 with three public services that charged users based on their consumption. This marked the beginning of the foundation for cloud computing.

In the years that followed, AWS faced minimal competition, allowing the company to thrive. This early advantage established Amazon as a dominant force in the cloud sector, a position it maintains today. However, in recent years, competitors like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud have steadily increased their market share.

You might be surprised to learn that one in three websites operates on Amazon Web Services, with the platform boasting over one million active users.

The user base primarily consists of small and medium-sized businesses, but numerous renowned companies also utilize AWS services. Notable customers include Netflix, Twitch, Hulu, Reddit, and Slack. In fact, large enterprises represent nearly 10% of the total user base.

AWS serves a diverse range of customers, including technology giants, audiovisual networks, banks, food manufacturers, and even government entities.

Several large companies invest millions of dollars each month in the computing resources provided by Amazon EC2. Notably, Netflix stands out as the largest AWS customer, with a staggering monthly budget exceeding $20 million.

Similarly, Twitch, LinkedIn, and Facebook each invest over $10 million monthly in cloud services.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers a wide range of use cases. Businesses leverage this cloud platform for various purposes, including website hosting, SaaS applications, multimedia sharing, content delivery, data storage, software development, and even data analysis and machine learning.

The Amazon Web Services platform offers several hundred diverse services, which can be organized into broader categories.

Data storage and databases

For data storage solutions, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) specializes in object storage. For long-term cold storage, the Amazon Glacier Service is the optimal choice, while Amazon Elastic Block Store focuses on block storage. When it comes to managed file storage, Amazon Elastic File System stands out as the best option.

Amazon Relational Database offers compatibility with Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB. Additionally, Amazon Aurora service is a proprietary high-performance database developed by Amazon.

The same holds true for the Amazon DynamoDB service, which consolidates managed NoSQL databases. Meanwhile, Amazon Redshift offers data analysts a powerful data warehouse, simplifying their business intelligence tasks. Amazon Aurora service is a proprietary high-performance database developed by Amazon

Big Data and AI

Many experts utilize AWS for big data and artificial intelligence, and with good reason. In addition to providing access to powerful servers, this cloud platform offers a wide array of dedicated services tailored to meet diverse needs.

Elastic MapReduce is a Hadoop framework designed for processing vast quantities of data. Kinesis provides a range of tools for streaming data processing and analysis, while the AWS service Glue facilitates the extraction, processing, and loading of data.

Amazon Athena enables analysts to query datasets stored in S3, while QuickSight focuses on data visualization.

The Amazon AI Suite offers a range of advanced artificial intelligence tools, including Amazon Lex for speech recognition and text-based chatbots, Amazon Polly for text-to-speech (TTS) services, and Amazon Rekognition for facial recognition and computer vision capabilities.

Additionally, IT developers can utilize Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) to build and train AI models using optimized GPUs or compute instances. There are also deep learning development frameworks available for both MXNet and TensorFlow.

Software development

The AWS cloud platform offers a suite of tools designed for software development. The AWS Command Line Interface seamlessly incorporates Amazon’s proprietary code interface, while the AWS Tools for PowerShell facilitate the management of cloud services within a Windows environment.

The AWS Serverless Application Model effectively simulates an AWS environment, allowing for testing of standard functionalities. It offers a range of AWS SDKs compatible with various platforms and programming languages, including Java, PHP, Python, Node.js, Ruby, C++, as well as mobile platforms like Android and iOS.

Amazon API Gateway allows teams to create, manage, and monitor custom APIs, enabling applications to access data and functionality from backend services. Additionally, the Amazon Elastic Transcoder Service facilitates seamless media transcoding.

For microservices-based applications, AWS Step Functions provide a way to visualize workflows, while AWS X-Ray can be utilized to assess performance effectively.

Numerous services are designed for continuous integration and delivery, including CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and CodeStar. Additionally, CodeCommit enables users to store their code in Git repositories.

Numerous services are tailored for mobile development. AWS Mobile Hub offers a range of tools, including the AWS Mobile SDK, which supplies libraries and code patterns for developers. Additionally, Amazon Cognito enables you to manage user access to mobile applications, while Amazon Pinpoint facilitates the delivery of push notifications.

Numerous game studios, including Ubisoft, leverage AWS for development. This platform offers a blend of development tools and backend services to facilitate project deployment and expansion. By utilizing analytical tools, software engineers can gain deeper insights into their game users. Additionally, the data can be securely hosted on AWS servers.

Amazon Sumerian, in contrast, offers a comprehensive suite of development tools specifically designed for virtual and augmented reality applications. These tools empower users to create applications without the need for programming expertise or 3D design skills.

Other categories

The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service offers virtual servers to meet diverse computing needs. Companies can select the appropriate server size and capacity based on their specific workloads and applications. This service is extensively utilized across various industries.

Amazon is keenly focused on emerging technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and provides specialized cloud services to support them. The AWS IoT service serves as a robust backend platform for managing IoT devices and seamlessly ingesting data into various AWS storage solutions and databases. Additionally, the AWS IoT Button offers a convenient hardware solution, while AWS Greengrass extends the computational capabilities of Amazon’s servers directly to IoT devices.

Cybersecurity has emerged as a critical concern for companies, prompting Amazon to provide a range of specialized services. For instance, Amazon Macie utilizes machine learning to safeguard sensitive data stored in the cloud. Additionally, various tools are available for encryption and protection against DDoS attacks, ensuring a comprehensive defense strategy.

Other well-known AWS services include Amazon Chime for video conferencing and messaging, WorkDocs for file storage and sharing, and WorkMail for managing email accounts and calendar functions.

AWS offers a comprehensive range of services that encompass all aspects of IT. Additional service categories include cloud migration, hybrid cloud, networking, management and monitoring, governance, as well as messaging and notifications.

It is a highly comprehensive cloud platform that enables companies across various industries to fully eliminate the need for local infrastructure and on-premises software. This is why an increasing number of organizations are opting to migrate to the cloud.

The AWS infrastructure is organized into “regions,” with a total of 25 regions distributed across six continents. Each region comprises multiple availability zones, enhancing reliability and performance.

These zones represent the physical data centers housing the computers. The data centers are strategically located in different geographic areas to minimize the risk of a natural disaster disrupting service across an entire region.

AWS’s Content Delivery Network (CDN) features 200 edge locations globally. Additionally, there are regions not accessible to the public: two AWS GovCloud regions specifically reserved for the U.S. government, and two regions regulated by Chinese authorities in compliance with local laws.

AWS’s high-speed fiber optic network links all availability zones across various regions. To enhance the network’s speed and reliability, the company has designed its own hardware.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds several advantages over its competitors, boasting the most comprehensive and diverse range of cloud services available.

This catalog features nearly 200 services as of 2021 and continues to grow consistently. Enhancements and new features are introduced weekly, with customer feedback and requests being prioritized and directly addressed.

Moreover, the extensive range of services offered by AWS, which encompasses nearly every use case, is a significant strength. AWS provides fundamental cloud services for storage and computing, alongside specialized solutions in areas such as multimedia streaming, robotics, and even quantum computing.

Beyond traditional storage and the standard functions of a remote data center, companies are increasingly leveraging AWS for big data analytics and machine learning to derive valuable insights from their data. Many organizations have migrated their entire IT operations to AWS, reaping the benefits of enhanced agility, efficiency, and reliability.

Uploading your data to the AWS cloud is free, but retrieving it incurs a fee. While these charges are generally not significant, they are still a cost to consider. This aspect can be viewed as one of the drawbacks of using AWS.

Beyond the platform’s quality, Amazon’s dominance in the cloud market raises significant concerns. Similar to its position in e-commerce, the Seattle giant holds a near-monopoly, stifling the growth of smaller companies and limiting their ability to compete.