Ultimately the concept is a fairly simple, but very essential, one which looks set to greatly improve the data migration, data backup, and disaster recovery potential offered by AWS and importantly - to do so at a cost which represents good scalable value regard less of the size of business (or more accurately, quantity of data) in question. For example users with a T1 connection would find the Import/Export service cost effective when transferring 100Gb or more, while for a T3 the tipping point is at 2Tb or more, and so on.

With EtonDigital recently announced as one the inaugural members of the AWS solution providers, we are delighted to see the addition and expansion of this service, and look forward to working with it in the future. Nice work once again from the AWS team!

Dejan Levi

The goal of the AWS Service providers program is to nurture a growing community of independent companies offering business solutions based on AWS. The database of members (which includes ED) provides clients seeking solutions with a range of reliable and experienced developers, all endorsed by AWS.

Recently EtonDigital has seen the launch of a number of high-profile projects constructed using AWS tools, such as StoryVault (which has featured across national press), StudentBOX, Eezeer, Rokpool, and AnaIvanovic.com it is work such as this that is helping to build our reputation as a highly-regarded partner of AWS and leading solution provider.

We'd like to say a massive thankyou to all the EtonDigital staff, those over at AWS, and, of course, our clients - who've all worked hard to make this happen. For more info on the AWS solution providers program visit the AWS main page, where you can also find a comprehensive list of the inaugural founding members.

Dejan Levi

Related Content:
EtonDigital Integration: Amazon Web Services
Ask for a Quote or more info on using AWS
AWS Case Study: Eton Digital and StudentBox (This link takes you to Amazon website)

While nobody could dispute the fantastic quality and innovation of Amazon's services, some have pointed out that their branding and thus selling of them could be (even) better. The various services are mainly intended for use by business clients requiring flexible and reliable computing facilities, but preferring to go for the cost-effective option of using Amazon's cloud to get them, rather than installing in-house infrastructure.

Ranging from simple storage facilities to massively powerful processing services, AWS is currently enjoying huge popularity, especially with fledgling web start-ups. However perhaps due to the technical functionality of the services themselves - or their dry and rather mechanical naming (EC2, SQS, SimpleDB etc), the branding of these quality products has so far been a bit of an unspectacular affair.

This is why the aforementioned NYT article comes as a nice surprise - an accessible yet informative introduction to AWS, and EC2 in particular, in a fairly mainstream publication. All in all it's a positive sign that cloud computing is gradually permeating further into popular tech understandings rather than being the niche concept that it was a couple of years ago.

With Amazon's EC2 service alone currently often peaking at 80,000 requests a second it seems that the writing is on the wall (cloud?) - cloud computing is absolutely indispensible to the modern web, and AWS is a huge player in defining and developing this area. The quicker we get such concepts explained and transmitted to a wider (i.e. not exclusively tech) audience, the better on the whole for our general web literacy as an online community.

Dejan Levi

What is Amazon Web Services (AWS)?

AWS provides a fantastically flexible solution for both start ups and existing web based businesses. AWS provides a web services platform that is entirely based in the Cloud, and can be tailored entirely to your technical needs.

Since you only pay for what you use, it offers a low cost entry option for Start-up businesses, and a instantly scalable option for more established online players. Since there are no ‘flat fees’ or ‘up-front’ costs, this reduces the normal and sometimes costly barriers to getting your site up and running. Additionally, because the charging models are pay per use, your costs rise only with your success! Ask for a Quote

What We Do For You

Here at EtonDigital we have been integrating our Clients sites into AWS for some time now, and have gained considerable experience in doing so.

Since AWS is such a flexible platform, it comes as a ‘blank canvass’, and as a result offers complete configuration per Account. At EtonDigital we are recognised as a preferred partner by Amazon for our experience and success in launching sites within the AWS environment.

So for our Clients, EtonDigital combine cutting edge design and development with the ability to successfully launch your website into this un-paralleled service from Amazon. In short, we provide the perfect end to end solution for our Clients.

It is worth noting that you don’t have to be a web development client to take advantageous of our AWS Integration Service. We now offer Integration to AWS as a standalone service, so if you have an existing website, or about to launch one, and want to take advantage of this cost effective, durable and totally flexible hosting solution, we can help you.

Why We Help Our Clients Use Amazon Web Services

We have experienced a number of key benefits for our Clients when deploying on Amazon Web Services:

Lower Cost.
Since you only pay for what you consume as you consume it is a far more cost effective solution. If for example you are a Start-Up Social Network, AWS provides the best solution as your costs only rise if your usage does, and therefore as your revenue does. You don’t need to pay upfront for heavy dedicated servers that cost exactly the same for 1 or 1000 users, but you get all the advantages of the latest technology and service from the World’s most capable e-commerce Business.

Totally Assured
Coming from the largest e-commerce Group in the world, AWS is battled hardened and totally reliable. With a distributed cloud, high end security and superb resilience AWS is a capable and scalable solution.

Totally Flexible
AWS comes with the ability for you to configure the combination of technology, platform and operating system that you need. This can vary from Ruby on Rails, Symfony, PHP and the rest, but if freedom is not what you need then AWS comes with a set of pre-defined services for speed to market.

Note:
InfoWorld Cloud vs Cloud review: It’s hard to go into enough detail about all of the offerings described here, but Amazon is the most difficult because it has the most extensive solutions. Amazon is thoroughly committed to the cloud paradigm, rethinking how we design these systems and producing some innovative tools….

Amazon EC2 available in Europe; Developers and businesses can now run their Amazon EC2 instances in the EU to help achieve lower latency, operate closer to other resources like Amazon S3 in the EU, and meet EU data storage requirements when required. The new European Region for Amazon EC2 contains two Availability Zones enabling you to easily and cost effectively run fault-tolerant applications with the same scalability, reliability and cost efficiency achieved with Amazon EC2 in the US. http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2008/12/10/amazon-ec2-crosses-the-atlantic/

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Skipso's marketplace feature enables you to also create a profile for your organisation or company and manage relevant activities such as staff recruitment and inter-company networking, as well as locating funding and investors for various projects.

The beauty of Skipso is that it brings together an often fragmented sector and places everyone from environmental campaigners and scientific experts to business investors and top executives in the same 'room'. By creating a united space for such activities to spring from we have a much better chance of achieving the goals of clean, sustainable technological and business development for the future.

No longer will scientific expertise be locked away in university libraries, or those wishing to invest in sustainable developments have to scour far and wide for available opportunities - Skipso is here, recognising the business, environmental and logistical challenges faced in the 21st century, and offering a unique and effective solution.

Take a guided tour or sign up for the Beta version today on www.skipso.com

Platform: symfony

Hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS)

(Broadly speaking, the term refers to the transfer of application running and data storage processes away from individually owned client computers to centrally run and maintained systems, which are then accessed by users/clients/businesses on a pay-per-use basis via the web. For a more detailed description see the Wikipedia link at the start of this article).

To start with the obvious, small businesses now have access to powerful and effective IT solutions without requiring their own extensive hardware, staff training or implementation expertise. They need only the basic skills required to access the and use the software, but need know nothing of how it functions or is maintained. Hence skill-based barriers to entry are massively lowered.

Moreover, when updated software versions become available small business can stay up to date without incurring upgrade costs at their end. Patches and bug fixes are installed centrally, so that users don't have to individually update their software.

As newer and more advanced services are developed and made available, the increased hardware demands made by them will not exert pressure on the client's in-house systems but only on the service provider's own host systems. Long term IT hardware spend is thereby significantly cut.

In short, cloud computing can provide the following for small businesses:

1. allow access to effective IT solutions on a pay-per-use basis  - (Cost-efficiency).
2. negate the need for extensive IT training and expertise - (Support/cost-efficiency)
3. negate concerns over hardware and software updating - (Long term stability and IT planning).
4. grant small organisations freedom; service providers can be changed to suit evolving business needs, without subsequent costs being incurred by abandoning old paid-for software - (Flexibility).

All this sounds pretty fantastic for small businesses, and is exactly the reason why thousands of businesses worldwide are turning to cloud computing solutions to help them function in the modern business climate - whether its with basics like Google docs, or more complex SAAS utilities such as some Amazon Web Services packages.

The advent of wireless broadband, smartphones, free urban wi-fi networks and other new technologies means that the infrastructure required to succesfully utilise cloud computing in business is ever improving on a daily basis. Small companies with only a handful of employees and computers can now have cost effective IT solutions that previously were the preserve of only multinational behemoths with multi-million dollar turnovers and in-house IT departments.

The issue of empowerment is undeniable. But what about the question of dependence and control?

Previously a business using certain software packages to function would buy a license to use the software, after which control of the software would be transferred from the supplier to the client. Updates might be made available etc - but ultimately the product has been bought and is now righfully the client's to use in any quantity or capacity they desired (subject to end-user agreements and laws).

With cloud computing this issue is slightly more complex. Specifically, it is that many cloud computing services are free for small scale users and new users (ideal for small businesses), but as use increases (as it hopefully would if a business enjoyed success and growth) then eventually fees are either introduced or increased, complicating the business model.

Businesses might find profit margins eaten into as the cloud computing service that facilitated their growth now costs far more than it used to (many Google apps for example are initially free but then become paid-for services when use rises above a certain level).

It is for this reason that the biggest multinational companies will always tend to prefer their own in-house IT departments (which also allow them to maintain high levels of data security), rather than adopting cloud computing options. Their size and financial might affords them the choice.

This is all fair enough, and certainly does not negate the great opportunities for small business provided by cloud computing. However, it does represent a potential concern that previous solutions did not incur.

The fundamental point is that cloud computing is enabling access to a multitude of previously inaccesible services and software solutions for small businesses by lowering the barriers to entry on all fronts. Larger corporations will inevitably be reluctant (it is nothing new for them - plus they can afford the older model of IT provision), but for smaller business the newfound access to cutting edge IT services represents a mini business revolution with infinite opportunities for new development and growth.

Dejan Levi

Amazon are unlikely to openly concede that their price cut is a response to the launch of Google's free rival, but there can be no doubt that the reduction will make AWS more competitive against the GAE (N.B. the AWS price cuts are significant; heavier users could save somewhere in the region of 25%).

With Google's App Engine still a limited beta release, and offering programmers fewer options than AWS, it will be a little while before Google can catch Amazon in this field. However, the price cuts show Amazon are taking nothing for granted - and are ensuring that their range of services continues to represent good value for money.

The real winners in this competition are developers, who now have cheaper access to AWS, as well as the option of Google's free alternative. Amazon's Jeff Bezos has publicly said that he doubts this sector will be a 'winner takes all space', but services do seem certain to overlap (and hence compete) in at least some areas.

While we eagerly anticipate for future developments to unfold, it's worth taking a minute to consider the status of Google's product, now about to enter the second month of its lifespan:

- The Google App Engine currently offers only free accounts (each with 500 MB of persistent storage, and enough CPU and Bandwidth for around 5 million views a month). There are plans to launch purchasable services in the future.

- The GAE supports only one programming language; Python, and frameworks that speak CGI or WSGI (with a CGI adaptor).

- Full integration with Google accounts is standard.

- The GAE is a lock-in platform.

As a result, in its current state the GAE still lags well behind the more established AWS. Many programmers see no reason to abandon PHP 5 in favour of Python (though it is expected that Google will ultimately support more languages in later versions). In addition there is the scalability issue. With Google's current limits on bandwidth and storage, developers can find themselves locked in to a service that ends up holding them back once their big idea takes off.

However, the Google accounts integration will be a significant draw for some developers - and then there is always the question of the bottom line. Google's services are seductively and irresistibly free, thereby greatly lowering the barriers to entry for prospective start-ups and new developers. Despite certain current (but only temporary) limitations on services, the free aspect will more than trump any reservations for many enterprises.

Amazon may lead Google in terms of both users and services at the moment, but Google's strategy in essence represents a bid for the market of the future. Their hope is that the initial appeal of a free service will stimulate activity and increase the level of innovation from users (and why not - the GAE is free, and hence developers have less to lose in trying something a little bit daring).

Inevitably some of these initiatives will develop into seriously successful applications, which will then require many of Google's purchasable services to continue to grow. Due to the platform lock-in, by the time an app gets this big, moving it away from the GAE would be massively cost ineffective (and in some cases impossible). Then Google really starts to look clever, with developers having little choice but to pay up or otherwise let their creation be stifled by inadequate support.

We must remember that Google's service is still very new - and that Amazon's Web Service is currently far superior in terms of what it offers - but at a price. It will probably be a few more months before we have a clearer idea of where Google and Amazon will choose to fight for users, though cost is already quite an obvious battle front. Ultimately, the increased competition is providing developers with many more opportunities than before, and for this reason I think even Amazon loyalists can't begrudge the Google App Engine a little 'happy first month' cheer...

Dejan Levi