As a giant cloud services provider, Amazon Web Services (AWS) certainly has come from far. The real story details ingenious masterstrokes, supremacy, and sheer dynamism that have enabled the planet’s largest e-retailer to rule the world of cloud services.

It all started in 2003 when two smart engineers first envisioned the idea of employing Amazon’s computing infrastructure to provide cutting-edge web services. Over 14 years later, AWS has tremendously grown to be the cloud computing services provider to beat.

What Makes Amazon AWS the Best Cloud Platform?

The cloud computing marketplace of 2020 is a lot more mature, dynamic, and customer centric. Yet, perhaps fueled by its lasting spells of successes upon successes, AWS increasingly looks firm ahead of all the other vendors.

With an annual revenue totaling $40 billion, AWS commands a whopping 40% of the market share and enjoys a massive following from over a million customers. And not even the fast-rising popularity of its competitors – Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure – seems to be posing any danger to its reputation.

The overwhelming success of Amazon cloud services is much more than simply being the pioneer in cloud services. As captured in its comparison with Bluehost, it is actually the framework and its approach to its core customers that places it among the frontrunners. But it seems it may take forever for its competitors to outshine its reputation.

In 2019, during the AWS re:Invent, CEO Andy Jassy highlighted a list of future achievements this cloud service provider expects to undertake. Key among them is harnessing Artificial Intelligence in its services, incorporating analytics-oriented stack, and bringing on board several purpose-built databases.

The Vision Simply Underscores What AWS Believes in: Relentless Innovation

First, AWS is packaged as an all-in-one cloud computing model. You get servers, storage, networking, and remote computing functionalities, email, and mobile development, as well as security all, heaped into one basket.

Ideally, Amazon AWS is a 3-in-1 product comprising:

• EC2 (Elastic Cloud Compute) – a popular virtual machine service.
• Glacier – a budget cloud storage service.
• S3 (Simple Storage Service) – a reliable storage system.

Other than the three, this cloud-based IaaS and PaaS provider also has the app deployment-oriented Elastic Beanstalk and Relational Database Service (RDS) services for its clients. It is this diversification that makes Amazon AWS the giant it is, but still so well managed that clients get all they want without breaking a sweat.

Still, Amazon Web Services has always invested in state-of-the-art infrastructure, especially virtual servers and cloud-based storage capacities. On top of that, this company has always upheld an ethos built upon a plethora of extra services tailored to each of its clients.

Its Geographical Coverage and Overall Physical Presence

When choosing a cloud vendor, it is very critical to consider the breadth and depth of its services. And this particular aspect is where Amazon AWS excels the most. It maintains its presence in 16 geographic locations across the planet, with a cumulative 76 availability zones.

In total, Amazon Web Services has established hubs in 245 countries and territories, including China. The essence of having its physical presence diversified is so that it conveniently and securely reaches all cloud services, clients, with ease.

Automatic Regional Backup Systems

Being the best in cloud services means remaining at the frontline in innovation. And Amazon AWS has never failed to live up to this. From the moment it pioneered in providing infrastructure as a service in 2008 and later launching SageMaker to help simplify leveraging of machine learning, this PaaS provider has never bulked on automation.

Today, businesses powered by Amazon Web Services bask in an environment with several backup options, including AMIs and EBS snapshots. The automated EC2 spin up of training environments, plus AWS’s decentralized global reach allows clients to affordably store vital business information in different locations.

This vendor also utilizes a range of off-the-shelf machine learning services that have proved useful to the current businesses’ needs. AWS Rekognition, Text-to-Speed deep learning capabilities, and Alexa help to automate backup data. Businesses only have to set up automated scheduled backups without ever having to hire human scripting.

Simplified Recovery after a Disaster

All businesses are inherently faced by risks of suffering downtimes and data losses. Such risks can be so costly to the business, especially when they affect the profits and financial aspects of a business.

Thankfully, AWS maintains a versatile platform that is always in standby, ready to avert losses as a result of such risks happening. The versatility extends beyond providing businesses with recovery tools and even includes the actual recovery plan. It is a great attribute that is particular to AWS alone.

Scalability and Adaptability

Amazon Web Services is the real champion of scalable computing infrastructure. It is an attribute it was the first to introduce and has always kept as the hallmark of its services. And how this idea benefits businesses is quite fascinating.

First, the cost they have to pay is modeled in line with the client’s overall usage. It is flexible enough to allow organizations of all sizes to pay and comfortably use the resources they need from the vendor.

It is an on-demand affair whereby the business can expand to extra services whenever and wherever it needs. Scalability is thus great as each business can reliably use the cloud and avoid the hassles of investing in expensive physical computing infrastructure. There’s never any need to install expensive servers, pay for man-power, or enlist the services of a regular maintenance expert.

Additionally, AWS is a huge choice for companies making the switch for its cloud services. The allure of low-cost migration services ensures seamless adaptability. Generally, all the services are tailored to allow extreme flexibility, scalability, and seamless adoption.

Affordable, Business-Friendly Pricing

It is interesting to note that the pricing model AWS is pegged on is what Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, likens to the utility firms of the early 1900s. The pay-as-you-go approach is perfect for businesses because they only have to pay for the cloud services their businesses require.

First, there’s the “One-year free introductory tier” that welcomes clients to the world of Amazon cloud computing services. After getting satisfied with the quality of services this vendor offers, they switch to by-the-second pricing available on both of its EC2 and EBS.

Interestingly, businesses only have to pay for the cloud storage space they need, the amount of computing power to power up their operations, and other resources. And can upscale or reduce whenever the demand arises. The best part of it is that there’s no requirement on upfront costs.  This flexibility is particularly advantageous for businesses focused on AWS Cost Optimization, allowing them to adjust their resource use efficiently to align with budget and performance needs.

Security

AWS may be the most secure cloud services vendor today. Forget about the fact that all of its data centers spread across the world enjoy world-class security with round-the-clock monitoring. Amazon AWS, in fact, oversees lots of compliance programs that help fortify its security support networks even further.

Having centers all over the world is also a great security measure. It serves to spread the risks and avert businesses from industrial-scale losses in case disasters strike.

But still, very few people actually know the exact location where the data centers are located. It is a closely guarded secret that enables Amazon to keep them safe from attacks, intrusions, and other perils.

So, does it Even Have Any Competitors?

It’s clear why AWS is considered the best cloud service vendor today. This IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS provider is arguably the mother of all cloud service providers. It enjoys a commanding client base, has the largest market share, and offers the best ‘pay-per-use’ model.

In a nutshell, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is anything anyone would ever ask for from a cloud services provider. From the infrastructure, affordability, and the ability to automate essential business services to an array of tools exclusive to Amazon alone, it has them all. Furthermore, it offers everything, from adequate cloud storage and computing capability to scalability and capabilities a business ever needs for peak performance.