Rather a reminder than a history lesson. Amazon, today the multinational, multi-dimensional company, was founded in 1994 in Seattle, WA. Jeff Bezos, the founder, cited Microsoft presence in the city as one of the reasons for location selection: i.e. the place is vibrant with technical talents.

Amazon emerged as the online marketplace for the specific group of goods: culturally inclined ones, so to speak. At first it was offering books, music and video, but soon the list expanded for electronics, apparel, toys and much more. In 2017 the company acquired the popular food retail chain (that claims to offer more organic, healthier food), thus significantly increasing its offline market presence.

Back to online matters: by Y2K Amazon sensed the need for its own online analytical tool. So in 2002 Amazon Web Services (AWS) was launched – to measure demand of various Internet resources, analyze traffic patterns and provide other statistics, mostly for marketing purposes. Soon another need, this time for own computing capabilities, was felt. By 2006 Amazon possessed adequate cloud and data storage output, so this is the time where life of the future hyperscaler began.

“Time as a (Web) Service”

Today AWS offers cloud computing on “pay-per-use” basis. Customers can choose from the lengthy list of service models; the list of customers is long too, since AWS serves individuals, private companies, and governmental agencies – NASA, U.S. Navy, Netflix and LinkedIn are among the most known clients. As a result AWS owns about 1/3 of the world cloud capacity, while each of the closest competitors has less than 20%.

Apart from cloud platforms where customers can develop their own products, AWS offers virtual computing. In plain words it is like a real server (in fact it is the real server, only located away from an end user), with CPU, memory, hard drive, OS of a customer’s preference, etc. – controlled by virtual interface. AWS claims high availability of its services, although some major outages infrequently happen.

Amazon Web Services are sound in terms of data security and economic matters. The first component of the latter is well-known: instead of investing into its own physical network a business rents computing capabilities from a cloud provider. Cloud solutions appear the real saver, as any network needs initial installation, then maintenance, update/upgrade/you name it. This leads to the second component, which is more precious in philosophical sense but is not always taken into account – the time. This matter also splits in two: IT specialists on a client’s side are freed from in-house network routines, thus devoting themselves to the main tasks like development, testing, etc.; the entire affair with a cloud allows faster and less painful migration of processes and, ultimately, quicker deployment of products and/or services.

Clients busy, not lazy

Let’s leave the beautiful rainforest (our first association with Amazonia, yours too?) and head to a busy office of a software developer. “Busy” is the keyword: staff has more than enough to do at any moment, believe our own experience. So behold: everybody is coding, testing, patching, integrating, monitoring, managing, and suddenly… “We’re heading to a cloud!”: top management decision comes like thunder from the blue.

In fact it is kind of the opposite way: top brass was considering cloud migration for quite a while, weighting pros and cons, carefully calculating expenses… At least we’d like to believe it was like this. While for the rest of the company it is hardly even a headache – they are very busy, if you recall. Any additional workload will significantly slow or even stop daily operations: we’d love to be assured chief officers are aware of this. So, a company is ready for a cloud, but it neither wants nor can bother with the cloud infrastructure management. Simply no way: no available employees, no means to finance these extra tasks, no additional time to spend. But… is there a way?

Surrender your management

Once again: on the one side there is a cloud provider, ready to allocate resources in strict accordance with the customer’s request – but not providing the maintenance. On the other side there is a customer, no matter if a developer, or a telecom operator, etc. (But the company’s size and background should be considered, as small businesses and startups are even more limited in their resources). That customer is eager to accept the cloud offer – but unable to supervise the infrastructure as well. The intermediate link, the managing “go-between” is missing.

Another cloud operator, in most cases of a smaller size and represented by a regional branch – the same with a prospective client – steps in. Such operator is certified, qualified or otherwise recognized by AWS to represent the hyperscaler and its services. (A separate note: the majority of these managed service providers can act on behalf of all 4 hyperscalers – as well as of certain key players of regional markets, so a client truly has an array of choices).

Namely this managed service provider accepts all maintenance-related chores. Factually it happens a little differently: it is that provider who offers AWS cloud and services to a customer. On conditions that management and everything else related to cloud operations remain on a provider’s side – so clients can concentrate on whatever they do in the cloud.

We’ll deliberately leave the pricing matter open, since a manager is supposed to have its chunk of revenue from the entire scheme, while a client is reluctant to have additional expenses in comparison to direct interaction with a hyperscaler. But compensatory advantages for a client include, at least: level of interaction with a manager that transforms into the real care; “speaking the same language”, in many cases literally, for cooperation happens at the same geographical location. While providers often hold the following secret: not being greedy on a particular client, they gain financially from a turnover – since the number of offers usually matches the number of customers.

Oh, not to forget to mention: this model is called “Managed AWS”.

Managed AWS from ITGLOBAL.COM

As we are not like “any other cloud provider”, we will not be hiding anything. ITGLOBAL.COM is the qualified AWS partner, but, with more than 10 years of experience, we’ve already grown as the international managed services provider. AWS from us will always be of the highest availability, tightest security, real time monitoring and troubleshooting, 24/7/365 technical support, and changes-ready per every your request – with our expertise. The final secret revealed: our Managed AWS is as no bother for your operations as for your wallet.