Cloud services are now indispensable for improving business efficiency and productivity in corporate activities. Among these technologies, "AWS" provided by Amazon has an overwhelming presence. Many of you may have heard the name.
This time, we will explain about AWS, which has the No. 1 share of cloud services in the world, from its overview, reasons for its popularity, benefits, representative services of AWS, and case studies of companies that have successfully implemented it.
This is a must-read for those who want to learn about AWS and those in charge of companies planning to implement AWS. Please watch till the end!
AWS is an abbreviation for Amazon Web Services, which is a cloud computing platform provided by the world's largest company, Amazon.
When many people hear the word Amazon, they probably think of an e-commerce site.
In fact, Amazon makes the most profit from AWS, which is strong in the field of IaaS (a service that provides users with computing resources such as virtualized servers, storage, and networks), and accounts for half of the global IaaS market share.
In order to properly understand AWS, we will also explain cloud computing. "Cloud computing" is a technology in which services such as servers, storage, databases, and other applications are provided through the Internet and can be used when needed. The service that provides these services is a "cloud service".
Cloud services are not limited to AWS, but a wide variety of companies such as Google's GCP and Microsoft's Azure, among which AWS boasts an overwhelming market share.
Cloud services are popular because they allow you to use high-speed internet, a huge number of servers, databases, etc. as much as you need from any device as long as you have a service account and an internet environment. From here, we will dig deeper into the reasons why AWS is so popular.
・Choose the service you need
AWS provides over 200 types of rich and diverse cloud services, giving customers the freedom to choose the services they need. You can start your business with the combination you need, such as a database and mail server, without having to build a service or environment from scratch, so you can move your business with a sense of speed. It also has many functional updates and improves usability based on user feedback, making it highly usable.
・Pay-as-you-go system
Traditionally, it was common to make capital investments based on forecasts, but since AWS charges based on usage or time, it is possible to manage costs without any upfront costs. Additionally, AWS has experienced continuous price cuts, with over 129 times over the past 10 years. The reason we are able to lower our prices is because the cost of hardware is decreasing year by year, and because we are spending a huge amount of research money to improve the efficiency of our services and operations.
・High security
As a pioneer in cloud computing for managing data online, AWS makes a safe and secure environment a top priority. Not only that, AWS considers security and compliance to be a shared responsibility between AWS and its customers, and has frameworks and configurations in place to help customers increase their responsibility and understanding of security practices.
・Excellent performance
Servers that are used by many people at the same time, such as for games and distribution, tend to be burdened, but AWS provides services in 245 countries and has 84 data centers nationwide, so you can enjoy high performance and You can maintain a stable server. It is also updated regularly, so you can always use the latest and highest quality services.
・Available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
At AWS, our goal is to help our customers succeed on their cloud journey so they can focus on their business. We have a team of talented cloud support engineers who work on solving a wide range of problems. We support multiple languages including Japanese, and our extensive experience allows us to respond quickly and with a sense of speed.
Amazon's mission is "To be Earth's most customer-centric company." The company's attitude of valuing its users from various angles and valuing returns is what leads to the service content and detailed support mentioned above, and is the reason why it has become so popular.
AWS provides a wide variety of services, but here we will introduce the advantages and disadvantages of the representative services.
・Virtual server provision
By providing virtual servers, users can use resources such as CPU, memory, and storage online. Therefore, users do not need to prepare a physical server, and even if the number of service users increases, the burden on the server can be reduced and distributed.
・Data backup
Data can be saved on the Internet, and important data can be protected even if the server is damaged due to a disaster. Additionally, even if data is lost, it can be quickly recovered.
・Big data analysis
Customer information accumulated by AWS and data collected by IoT can be analyzed and operated using machine learning. This information can be used to discover customer needs, understand strategies, and understand market trends.
・Administrative management
You can manage administrative tasks such as money, customer information, and employee information with AWS. AWS automates server maintenance, making it easier to protect and manage without having to maintain it yourself.
・Burden of server costs
Because it is a pay-as-you-go system, there is no waste, but there is a risk that you cannot estimate how much it will cost. The server fee is an important expense related to the operation of the service, and if it exceeds the budget, it may affect the continued existence of the service, so it is a good idea to estimate the cost as much as possible before starting the service. .
・Learning is time-consuming and costly
AWS has many services, so understanding its structure and infrastructure requires a lot of study time. One way is to combine well-known services, but in order to utilize the benefits of AWS more effectively, you need to understand the services.
AWS offers over 200 types of services. To check and operate each AWS service from a web browser, you can check it from the AWS Management Console, which is the AWS console screen, after logging into AWS.
In addition, AWS certification exams are being held to prove knowledge and skills regarding a wide range of services, and those involved take the exams to confirm their own knowledge and skills, as well as to shape their future careers.
Here, we will introduce some of the services of AWS.
・EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud)
This service allows you to migrate your on-premises system to a cloud service. You can select and run Windows, Linux, etc. as a virtual server on the cloud. Since servers can be distributed all over the world, it is also possible to prepare for disasters. It is the most used service on AWS because of its agility, which can be up and running in as little as 5 minutes, and its wide range of options and flexibility depending on usage and budget.
・Lambda
A serverless computing service. Because it is executed by user action, users can use servers in the cloud without being aware of the number or existence of servers. It automatically adjusts performance according to load, enabling high-speed application development.
・S3 (Simple Storage Service, S3)
It has no capacity limit and is cheaper than EBS, and is used when handling large amounts of data such as AWS or on-premises backups.
・RDS (Relational Database Service)
A cloud-based SQL database that is compatible with SQL such as MySQL and PostgreSQL. Since the initial database settings are automatically prepared in advance, there is no need to build from scratch, making maintenance and operation much easier.
・EBS (Elastic Block Store)
It is treated as an EC2 drive and is a storage function that stores data. With EC2, data disappears when the virtual server stops, but with EBS, data can be saved permanently. Therefore, if you want to permanently save data, it is common to use it in combination with EC2.
・CloudFront
A service that allows you to distribute content such as videos, images, data, and applications. By placing content on servers around the world and allowing users to retrieve data from nearby servers, delivery is fast and secure.
・VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)
A networking service that is a platform that allows you to build a virtual private network in the cloud. Flexibly scale your services.
・Route53
A service that registers domain names and converts domain names to IP addresses. It's like an address book for a website or app, and it connects domain names to server IP addresses and manages traffic. It helps improve the stability and reliability of your website or app.
・WAF (Web Application Firewall)
It's like a wall that protects your website or app from attacks on the web. Block malicious attacks and unauthorized access to increase the security of your web applications. For example, it helps protect against unauthorized login attempts and harmful code to your website.
・CloudWatch
This is a system that monitors the status of servers and applications built on AWS. In addition to remote monitoring, you can automate AWS operational tasks such as detecting system abnormalities and issuing alerts, saving logs, and taking actions and scheduling in response to events.
・ALB (Application Load Balancer)
A mechanism for managing traffic to web services and applications. The more people visit your website, the more ALB will split your traffic evenly across multiple servers, making your website more responsive.
・All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. (ANA)
In 2017, we adopted AWS and significantly renewed our smartphone app. For the international flight check-in function, which was extensively developed, we adopted Amazon API Gateway, serverless AWS Lambda, and Amazon S3 for master data. This allows functions to be automatically reflected in the app, reducing the burden on users to update the app. We also combined AWS security and SNS services, implemented automatic alerts, and worked to improve customer satisfaction.
・Netflix
Netflix started considering AWS around 2008 and took a long journey before fully migrating in 2016. Initially, Netflix offered physical DVD rentals, but when their database was corrupted and their DVD mailing service was interrupted for three days, they realized the importance of cloud services. AWS provides our users with the compute, storage, and infrastructure to provide 125 million hours of seamless TV and movie viewing to more than 200 million users every day. Hundreds of features are used by over 100,000 total server instances. Investments in machine learning analysis and analytics have helped stabilize monetization and improve the customer experience.
・Slack
Slack has partnered with AWS to provide Enterprise Key Management (EKM), which allows you to encrypt messages and files and send and receive data. He also uses an AWS Chatbot, which allows team members to see all of his operational activity on the AWS resources he's already using in Slack. AWS Chatbot posts real-time notifications in channels when a security or operational incident occurs, so your team can respond and engage in the resolution process almost instantly, without switching applications.
AWS is highly rated for its 200 types of services and overall performance and security, and is being adopted by many companies. By introducing AWS, you can expect to improve the efficiency and productivity of your business activities, and you may be able to manage your business and provide your own services with higher quality than ever before.
At JIITAK, we make full use of AWS's main services such as EC2, S3, RDS, CloudFront, Route53, Lambda, ALB, WAF, CloudWatch, etc. to build an infrastructure environment according to your purpose. We also support Azure and GCP, and provide services with the optimal combination.
If you have any problems with product development, please feel free to contact JIITAK!