An Overview of Amazon Web Services
There are some names that most probably will live forever and be associated with things in our lives. For instance, what comes to mind when I say the word “amazon”? It is always the e-commerce app and never the river. In addition to being one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world, Amazon is also known for offering many other services. One of these services that is not actually known by many is Amazon Web Services. Amazon Web Services or AWS, is a series of products and web services offered by Amazon that have been an aid and solution for businesses for a really long time. In this article, we will walk you through the history of AWS and the top AWS services
History of Amazon
A company that started initially by selling books and is now one of the greatest companies in the world. Just like every other successful business, Amazon was founded on the premise of hope and a dream. It started with the hopes of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, that he could take advantage of the internet’s potential, which was a relatively new concept in the ’90s. I mean, what could be better than a passionate college graduate and the novel idea of establishing an online store? After the platform’s launch in 1994, it experienced exceptional and unexpected success. Amazon soared and started to sell books in more than 50 states in the United States and many countries worldwide.
“A to Z” was the company’s slogan and goal as well. The founder intended to make a platform where users could find everything they wanted—clothes, electronics, self-care products, etc. Although the company’s first net profit didn’t come until five years later, it was a case of going big or going home. Following one hit after another, Amazon is now the third-largest company in the world by revenue.
Establishment of Amazon Web Services
What should one do after they have accomplished their goals and more? Expand? Exactly! That is what Amazon did after the great success it achieved. They established many services, like AWS and the Amazon App Store. The idea of AWS wasn’t expected or in the company’s plan by any means. The idea emerged in an attempt to solve the company’s frustration with its inability to store voluminous amounts of data for its e-commerce platform. Amazon Web Services was the brainchild of a large team that spent much time and effort to establish and offer people cloud computing services, including Amazon Inventory Management. No one expected that AWS would attract this many users and be one of the most important Amazon products. It was not only individuals that AWS attracted but also large businesses. Apple’s iCloud services reportedly use one of AWS’s cloud storage services for storing the users’ data.
Top AWS Services
In this section, we will show a fraction of the top AWS offered by Amazon
1. Amazon EC2
Amazon EC2 is Amazon’s most popular service. It is a web service that offers secure, resizable computing capacity in the cloud. Amazon EC2 supports all platforms and provides businesses with a cost-effective way to scale their databases and computing resources. It can run any type of business application and allow developers to deploy them faster.
2. Amazon RDS
Amazon RDS, or Amazon Relational Database Service, is a scalable, cost-efficient service for running relational databases in the cloud. This service provides developers with an environment that is easy to use and manage, making it ideal for applications such as web and mobile apps, gaming, e-commerce, and more. With Amazon RDS, you can choose between multiple database engines, including MySQL and SQL Server.
3. Amazon S3
Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) is an extremely durable and scalable cloud storage service. This storage service offers features like high availability, scalability, and security, as well as low-cost pricing with cost optimization capabilities. Amazon S3 can store any type of data provided by app users. This includes text or binary data, documents, images, or videos. It also supports easily keeping a record of backups and changes over time.
4. Amazon Auto-Scaling
Amazon auto-scaling is one of the prominent AWS services that enhance applications and business operations. Auto-Scaling helps you quickly adjust the number of resources running your applications to meet changing demands. When demand increases, auto-scaling automatically adds more capacity to handle the increased number of users or usage load. Likewise, when demand decreases, additional capacities are shut down automatically. This helps ensure that your customers always have access to a functional application and that you pay only for the capacity used.
5. Amazon Inspector
Amazon Inspector is an automated security assessment service that helps identify security issues within your AWS environments. It inspects your EC2 instances and supporting frameworks, such as applications and websites, and identifies any security breaches. Inspector also provides a detailed report of its findings along with recommendations to secure applications or address any vulnerabilities that may have been identified.
6. Amazon API Gateway
Amazon API Gateway is a great product and solution for those who would like to enhance their app’s functionality even more. This service allows developers to create and publish their own APIs. They can also maintain the API through the gateway as well as secure it from any breaches. This solution is ideal for businesses with an application that needs to be connected with the backend services and databases, such as e-banking applications. Banks can use these services to connect their backend services with their application to configure features like money transactions and transfers.
7. Amazon HoneyCode
Last but not least is Amazon Honeycode, the newest service that Amazon offers. Amazon Honeycomb uses no-code/low-code technology to allow developers and businesses to create their own apps without any coding involved. The app builder comes in a spreadsheet format where developers can enter all the data they want to add. The app builder has 10 templates now and is still in the beta phase. If you are looking for an alternative, the nandbox app builder is here for you. nandbox is a leading no-code app builder that allows developers to create a fully-functional native app. Unlike Honeycode, nandbox comes with a drag-and-drop interface, which is much easier even for non-developers.
Amazon never fails to astound the world with a series of expansions and improvements in all fields. Whether in e-commerce or web services. It is now among the greatest platforms that offer web services, with a great collection of features and solutions. From security solutions like Amazon Inspector to app-building development like Amazon Honeycomb. Amazon’s chain of success is never-ending.