What is Cloud Computing
Who is using cloud computing?
Organizations of every type, size, and industry are using the cloud for a wide variety of use cases, such as data backup, disaster recovery, email, virtual desktops, software development and testing, big data analytics, and customer-facing web applications. For example, healthcare companies are using the cloud to develop more personalized treatments for patients. Financial services companies are using the cloud to power real-time fraud detection and prevention. And video game makers are using the cloud to deliver online games to millions of players around the world.
Benefits of cloud computing
Agility
The cloud gives you easy access to a broad range of technologies so that you can innovate faster and build nearly anything that you can imagine. You can quickly spin up resources as you need them–from infrastructure services, such as compute, storage, and databases, to Internet of Things, machine learning, data lakes and analytics, and much more.
You can deploy technology services in a matter of minutes, and get from idea to implementation several orders of magnitude faster than before. This gives you the freedom to experiment, test new ideas to differentiate customer experiences, and transform your business.
Elasticity
With cloud computing, you don’t have to over-provision resources up front to handle peak levels of business activity in the future. Instead, you provision the amount of resources that you actually need. You can scale these resources up or down to instantly grow and shrink capacity as your business needs change.
Cost savings
The cloud allows you to trade capital expenses (such as data centers and physical servers) for variable expenses, and only pay for IT as you consume it. Plus, the variable expenses are much lower than what you would pay to do it yourself because of the economies of scale.
Deploy globally in minutes
With the cloud, you can expand to new geographic regions and deploy globally in minutes. For example, AWS has infrastructure all over the world, so you can deploy your application in multiple physical locations with just a few clicks. Putting applications in closer proximity to end users reduces latency and improves their experience.
Types of cloud computing
The three main types of cloud computing include Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Each type of cloud computing provides different levels of control, flexibility, and management so that you can select the right set of services for your needs.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
IaaS contains the basic building blocks for cloud IT. It typically provides access to networking features, computers (virtual or on dedicated hardware), and data storage space. IaaS gives you the highest level of flexibility and management control over your IT resources. It is most similar to the existing IT resources with which many IT departments and developers are familiar.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
PaaS removes the need for you to manage underlying infrastructure (usually hardware and operating systems), and allows you to focus on the deployment and management of your applications. This helps you be more efficient as you don’t need to worry about resource procurement, capacity planning, software maintenance, patching, or any of the other undifferentiated heavy lifting involved in running your application.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
SaaS provides you with a complete product that is run and managed by the service provider. In most cases, people referring to SaaS are referring to end-user applications (such as web-based email). With a SaaS offering, you don’t have to think about how the service is maintained or how the underlying infrastructure is managed. You only need to think about how you will use that particular software.
Helping customers innovate faster
Manufacturing
Financial Services
Fitness
Real Estate
Healthcare
Gaming
Media & Entertainment
Siemens Innovates in Energy, Healthcare, and Manufacturing Using AWS
Learn how Siemens used AWS to adapt its culture, encourage innovation, and drive results for its business.
Learn MorePioneering Across Industries
Siemens is a more than 170-year-old company that started with an idea for improving the telegraph machine. Since its founding, the company has become a transformational leader across the energy, healthcare, and manufacturing industries.
Democratizing Innovation
Siemens encourages a culture of experimentation to discover new business opportunities and realize untapped customer value. The company uses AWS to adopt more agile development processes, including decentralized development teams, democratized data, and startup-like working methods.
Continuing a Tradition of Transformation
Siemens’ cultural transformation has delivered business results. These include bringing industrial IOT to railways and factories, developing intelligent building infrastructure, and using machine learning in its cybersecurity platform.
Cloud services
AWS has more services, and more features within those services, than any other cloud provider, including compute, storage, databases, networking, data lakes and analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, IoT, security, and much more.
Cloud solutions
AWS provides a comprehensive portfolio of solutions that help you solve common problems and build faster using the AWS platform. Every AWS Solution comes with detailed architecture, a deployment guide, and instructions for both automated and manual deployment.