How Amazon's Cloud took the world by storm
Fortune US|December 2022 - January 2023
AWS has become the ultimate case study in corporate innovation.
By Geoff Colvin
How Amazon's Cloud took the world by storm

If you have touched your phone or computer today, you very likely have been touched by a vast business few outside the technology world are aware of. Maybe you've checked the Wall Street Journal or MarketWatch, traded a stock on Robinhood, bet on a football game through DraftKings, or posted on Pinterest or Yelp; ordered treats for Fido on Chewy or treats for yourself on DoorDash; submitted an expense report on Workday or made plans for the evening via Tinder, OkCupid, or Hinge.

If so, you did it with the help of Amazon Web Services. The less glamorous sibling to Amazon's operations in ecommerce, streaming video, and smart devices, AWS is no less ubiquitous, deploying millions of computers worldwide, humming away somewhere in the cloud.

For all those AWS customers the on-demand cloud computing platform isn’t just another vendor. They rely on it so heavily that it resembles a public utility—taken for granted, but essential to keep the machinery humming.

In the past 12 months each of the companies mentioned above has stated in Securities and Exchange Commission filings that they would be adversely impacted” if they lost their AWS service. Hundreds more companies—Netflix, Zoom, Intuit, Caesars Entertainment—have reported the same risk factor to the SEC in the past year. By the way, the SEC uses AWS. So does Fortune.)

Denne historien er fra December 2022 - January 2023-utgaven av Fortune US.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra December 2022 - January 2023-utgaven av Fortune US.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA FORTUNE USSe alt
THE NEW GOLD RUSH
Fortune US

THE NEW GOLD RUSH

Gold prices have soared amid global uncertainty and a central-bank-driven buying spree. But this time, the gold mining industry looks very different.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
A New Season for Giving
Fortune US

A New Season for Giving

As the PGA TOUR kicks off its 2025 season alongside its sponsors in Hawai'i, the organization is continuing to make an impact in local communities.

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
WELCOME TO ELONTOWN, USA
Fortune US

WELCOME TO ELONTOWN, USA

The small town of Bastrop, Texas (pop. 12,000), has become a home base for Elon Musk's business empire. What comes next is anyone's guess.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
100 MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE
Fortune US

100 MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE

Our inaugural, authoritative ranking of the leaders whose innovation and impact have elevated them to the top of the business world.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
ARE CEO SABBATICALS THE ULTIMATE POWER MOVE?
Fortune US

ARE CEO SABBATICALS THE ULTIMATE POWER MOVE?

WHEN VENTURE capitalist Jeremy Liew and his wife were dating, they talked about how one day they would take a year to travel the world. \"That's how we'd know we'd made it,\" Liew says.

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
WHAT ARE THE BEST METRICS FOR MEASURING A STARTUP'S POTENTIAL?
Fortune US

WHAT ARE THE BEST METRICS FOR MEASURING A STARTUP'S POTENTIAL?

IN HIS 2012 ESSAY \"Startup = Growth,\" Paul Graham talks about a 5% to 7% weekly growth rate as table stakes for startup success. If you're growing 10%, he says, you're doing \"exceptionally well.\"

time-read
2 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
TECH POLYMARKET'S ELECTION ACCURACY MADE SHAYNE COPLAN A STAR-BUT AN FBI RAID POINTS TO TROUBLE AHEAD
Fortune US

TECH POLYMARKET'S ELECTION ACCURACY MADE SHAYNE COPLAN A STAR-BUT AN FBI RAID POINTS TO TROUBLE AHEAD

IN NOVEMBER, Shayne Coplan had a week he'll remember for the rest of his life: He got a phone call from the highest echelons at Mar-a-Lago. He went on TV for the first time. And his New York City apartment was raided by the FBI.

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
WHY BIG TECH IS THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY'S NEW BEST FRIEND
Fortune US

WHY BIG TECH IS THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY'S NEW BEST FRIEND

OVER THE PAST several years, Big Tech firms like Google and Microsoft have trumpeted ambitious plans to go carbon-neutral, or even carbon-negative, by 2030. But then the generative-AI boom came along and threw a giant wrench in their plans.

time-read
5 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
WHAT PALMER LUCKEY, THE MAN REVOLUTIONIZING WARFARE, IS AFRAID OF
Fortune US

WHAT PALMER LUCKEY, THE MAN REVOLUTIONIZING WARFARE, IS AFRAID OF

PALMER LUCKEY, the founder of the $14 billion Al-powered weapons startup Anduril, has become the face of change in the defense industry.

time-read
5 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
GLOBAL BUSINESS BRACES FOR TRUMP 2.0
Fortune US

GLOBAL BUSINESS BRACES FOR TRUMP 2.0

AROUND THE WORLD in 2024, voters chose change: in South Africa, France, Britain, and Japan. But nowhere does the anti-incumbent trend matter more than in the United States.

time-read
6 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025