EC2: the first server platform
January 18, 2007
Amazon’s EC2 has the potential to change the entire delivery of both commercial and open source server-based software. The key cost for most deployments isn’t the software licenses, it’s the server setup and configuration. Trying to meld together the hundreds of pieces necessary for a functional server while maintaining security and performance is a frustrating and thankless task. Most importantly, it’s an expensive task (very expensive even if you get it right and even more expensive if you get it wrong).
What if server software were available as packaged units, all the pieces already confirmed to work together? I’ve seen efforts at this with one-click install packages and distros set to install full stacks. But an AMI (Amazon Machine Image) could go even farther. No physical server setup to worry about. No hardware differences. A controlled environment. It wouldn’t be hard to extend this to the point where it’s not much more difficult than setting up a desktop app.
In fact, it could be easier. Go to Amazon, buy the software you want, they automatically load up an EC2 instance, and your service is ready. This could be a fantastic deal for software developers, users, and for Amazon. SaaS (software as a service) is capturing a version of this, but for the cases where a company wants to run their own setup or needs their own servers, the field is wide open (and, of course, all of those SaaS vendors need a place to run their software…).
Of course, this goes from being a cool service to potentially dominant at the point that there is competition pushing the whole game forward. To that end, Amazon has a huge interest in making the AMI format standard. At the point that tool vendors can target the AMI format and other services can deploy AMI’s, there will be enough development to lock this in.
If they pull this off, Amazon will be in a position to be at the core of server-based software development and deployment for at least the next 5 years. I think I can safely say that no one expected Amazon to be the company with the best chance of pulling that off.
