The Amazon cloud, usually referred to as AWS (Amazon Web Services) is an essential part of Amazon’s offerings, with its share in Amazon’s revenue steadily going up year by year. AWS powers some of the most used websites and services across the world and counts as clients some of the biggest corporations, universities, and government agencies.
AWS is also a major triumph for Amazon because it is a domain where Amazon beat some of the biggest technology companies in the world by offering better services before anyone else. Both Microsoft Azure and Google’s Cloud Computing were late entrants to the cloud services sector and took quite some time to offer the services and features which Amazon was delivering. AWS’ popularity also means that it has become a viable career path for many people. There was a time when Oracle certifications were in high demand and we are seeing something very similar happening with cloud certification trainings right now.
The evolution of the cloud
The first step to understanding how AWS is evolving is to understand the forces that are driving its evolution. Amazon has steadily added new features and tools to AWS, and it will continue to do so but that is not what we are talking about when we talk about its evolution. Evolution refers to something more fundamental; a significant change something that allows it to take advantage of its environment and survive against the competition.
The main competition for Amazon in the world of cloud comes from Google and Microsoft. The interesting thing here is that both of these companies have very different advantages. Google has a foothold in the mobile space with Android and is known for focusing on new technologies in computing and machine learning. Microsoft has a foothold in the computer market with Windows and is known for having one of the most successful business services section among IT companies. Amazon is preparing to take on both these giants and is developing on two different fronts.
Evolving on the technological front
Amazon is focusing on bringing a technical edge to its customers with multiple cutting-edge features and new approaches towards computing. One of the strengths of Amazon is that it is compatible with multiple business solutions. Anyone can go online and instantly purchase services such as streaming, computing, storage, and much more. The problem is that while this wins them a lot of customers, they also lose out to Google when it comes to businesses and agencies that need something more specialized for their technological needs. Some of the features they are now introducing to combat this issue include:
Specialized processors
Most processors are built to be general purpose. The processors powering our computers and phones can run a wide variety of applications. Most of AWS’ current offerings focused on general computing needs, but it is now going to focus on custom processors. The Amazon Graviton Processors are custom-built by Amazon to help different types of businesses get the most out of their investments.
Businesses that work with a lot of data can choose processors that prioritize data quantity over processing speed, allowing them to easily handle big data related processes. Businesses that focus more on instant computing can choose processors that prioritize processing speed over memory. Amazon also plans to develop more types of processors which will allow it to deliver better services to different types of users at lower costs.
Focus on machine learning
Machine learning has quickly become one of the most exciting fields of computing. In machine learning, the computer is tasked with finding a solution to a problem. Essentially, instead of trying to create a solution through programming, the computer is fed a goal it much achieve and is then asked to find the best possible way to achieve that goal. These systems can learn the parameters that give the best results by learning from failures.
Google Pixel’s Night Sight camera feature is a great and simple example of what machine learning can do. Night Sight allows you to take astonishingly clear pictures in low light conditions and it is all accomplished through software. Google trained its machine learning algorithm by providing it both low light and well-lit pictures of the same objects and environments. The system eventually learned the adjustments it would need to make in the low light pictures to make them look as good as the well-lit pictures. These adjustments are applied to the photos you take in low light.
Amazon is making two significant moves in the realm of machine learning. It will be focusing on different tools such as Amazon Kendra, a search engine that is powered by machine learning, Amazon Fraud Detector which learns how to detect fraud, and Amazon CodeGuru which seeks to automate the code review process. The other, and perhaps more important new offering is the Amazon SageMaker Studio. SageMaker Studio is the first IDE (integrated developer environment) designed to help developers create programs based on machine learning.
Focusing on latency
Mission critical workloads represent a section of the cloud market where Google may surpass Amazon easily. Mission critical workloads refer to data processes that are critical for a business to run. The stock market is a good example – keeping track of all the trades is a mission critical workload. The stock market may be able to handle a delay in other areas of service, but it can never afford a delay in its trading workload.
Latency becomes a major issue in mission critical workloads. Some businesses need a latency that is in single digits. No matter how fast Amazon’s processors are, they are still bound by the laws of physics and their response thus takes time traveling the distance and reaching the customer. Google has one of the largest network infrastructures in the world. They have servers all over the world, which enables them to deliver mission critical performance all over the world.
Amazon has announced three different services that will help reduce latency. Amazon Outposts allow businesses to buy physical servers they can deploy within their own office for instant processing with almost no latency. AWS Local Zones is a project where Amazon will build datacenters near more population centers. AWS Wavelength is the 3rd latency related solution and perhaps the most future-friendly one, as it used 5g networking to deliver very low latencies.
Increased focus on working closely with businesses
Microsoft has taken a completely different approach than Google – instead of focusing just on the technology side of the cloud sector, they are focusing on the business side of things. Microsoft works as partners with businesses such as Boeing and Oracle, developing custom solutions that deliver better performance for niche uses. AWS has recently hired a new head of sales and marketing and intends to change the way it works with businesses. While Microsoft Azure is behind AWS when you look at the whole cloud market, it is ahead of AWS when it comes to Fortune 500 companies and government agencies due to its better sales approach.
These technological and business changes are a necessary evolution for AWS because while AWS is still the most used cloud platform in the world, Microsoft Azure is growing at a faster pace and may soon catch up with AWS if the situation does not change. Google’s amazing achievements in network infrastructure and technology advancements are also pressuring Amazon to grow and adapt.