If you’ve been following the computing scene at all for the past few years, you’ve probably heard of AWS. For the uninitiated, AWS (Amazon Web Services) is one of the world’s most widely adopted and comprehensive cloud platforms available for people and businesses around the world. It offers over 200 services and every day millions of people use it to help their businesses.
Some of the biggest industries in the world rely on AWS for their platform. Here are 4 industries that you may not have known use AWS.
Video Streaming
Video streaming services such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and of course, Amazon Prime, all use AWS to help support their business. AWS provides these companies with infrastructure, storage, and computational power which helps with scalability.
For these companies, having the resources to deal with large demand is essential for customer retention. If Netflix starts to have major issues with its streaming quality, customers will quickly cancel their subscription for a more reliable site. They can’t afford for things to go wrong with their servers and by using AWS not only do they get a large number of infrastructure resources, but they also get failover support without having to pay for and maintain the servers onsite.
One of the biggest advantages of cloud computing over internal infrastructure is the amount of computational power you have available to you if your business is quickly growing. Instead of having to repeatedly order more servers and add them into your network, with AWS you can add more infrastructure with the click of a mouse.
Crypto Exchanges
One industry you may be surprised to learn uses AWS is the crypto industry – specifically crypto exchanges like Coinbase. This is another example of companies using AWS to help with accelerated growth; we all know how quickly projects can take off in the crypto space and any downtime lost to lack of resources means losing customers which can kill a project before it even starts.
Another reason companies like Coinbase use AWS is for their security. These large crypto exchanges have to store huge amounts of money in the form of cryptocurrency, which means security on their servers is of paramount importance. By using AWS for their infrastructure needs, Coinbase has been able to focus on this key competency and ensure it keeps client funds as secure as possible.
Gaming
All kinds of gaming companies take advantage of AWS to help grow their businesses. Some companies such as Frontier Games build their games solely using the AWS platform. Other companies use it to scale resources when dealing with large spikes, and some will use the infrastructure it provides to help with events like feature launches.
Being able to deal with a large spike in popularity is essential for any gaming platform due to the fickle nature of consumers. A great example of this is when an online casino releases a new bonus that drives a large number of gamblers to their site. These sites are in a constant arms race when it comes to giving players bonuses and adding features such as mobile gambling to their site in order to get people to choose their site over their competitors. Some of the best online casinos allow players to play from territories such as the Middle East where it’s harder to bet in person. There is a step-by-step guide to help players access the site that they want to play at. As the market for these games continues to grow, companies need to rely on cloud computing services like AWS to manage the demand.
Social media
One of the most-used industries in the world, social media companies have been moving to cloud computing over the past few years to help with quick scalability. The virality of social media requires an infrastructure that can easily handle unexpected demand. AWS is one of the industry leaders in this regard and has more than enough capability to handle large amounts of traffic.
Another reason social media companies have been switching to AWS to host their platforms is the decreased costs and the improved time-to-market. It’s easy to see how AWS lowers costs as companies don’t have to incur the expense of buying large amounts of hardware as well as a team to set up and maintain the system once it’s live.
As more and more people get online, the demand for cloud computing services like AWS will increase. Companies are starting to realize they don’t need to waste thousands of dollars on building an in-house infrastructure when cloud computing is cheaper, easier, and managed by a team of experts.
