Cloud Computing
AWS
Definition
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon providing on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. It is the largest and oldest of the major public cloud providers.
Why It Matters
AWS pioneered the cloud computing market and remains the dominant leader. It offers an enormous portfolio of services, from basic compute and storage to advanced machine learning and quantum computing.
Contextual Example
Netflix runs almost its entire global media delivery infrastructure on AWS. This allows it to scale dynamically to serve millions of concurrent video streams.
Common Misunderstandings
- EC2 (virtual servers) and S3 (object storage) are two of its oldest and most well-known services.
- Its main competitors are Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).