Amazon Web Services

Our mid-term exam consisted of two parts.  First we had to create a business model and then build a simple website using only html and css code.  My mother, Roshi Khaki is a Registered Dietitian and a Licensed Diabetic Educator. I created a site for her to offer her services, providing Nutrition Counseling. I created the site with html files and a css file in NotePad.  We were given guidelines on creating the site so we could learn how to use various types of website elements (use of APIs, tables, images, navigation, calendars, etc).

I have done some website work before but using MS FrontPage templates, never using just html.  CSS was completely new to me and I loved it.  I can't believe how easy it makes designing.  I knew of CSS, but never knew how to use it.  I will definitely want to continue to learn more about CSS.

In class, we have been learning about Amazon Web Services and created server space in the cloud.  Using Eclipse Java EE IDE for Web Developers, I imported my website and then published it to AWS.  http://nutritionser-nexdfdcmp4.elasticbeanstalk.com/  .  I am now beginning to understand the power of cloud computing.  So much to learn....

Amazon Cloud Computing

Dr. Werner Vogels is credited with bringing Cloud Computing to Amazon.  In a recent conference, he explains why Amazon is in the Cloud business.

Dr. Vogel says that Amazon is a tech company doing retail not a retail company dabbling in technology as most would believe. 

He refers to the working environment at Amazon to be in "two pizza teams".  I loved the phrase!  A team consists of only as many people as it would take to share 2 pizzas, in other words, teams of 8-10.  Members of this team see projects through start to finish, "you build it, you run it". 

Cloud Services came about as a result of  customers and developers and businesses wanting the following:

1. Design for flexibility

Engineers can use whatever platform they want

Many platforms available

2. Design for On - Demand markets

Capacity needed more for Christmas time sales, etc.

3.  Design for Automation - developers can design automation of any service

4.  Be elastic - creating programs and services to deal with seasonal peaks and still be able to go back to original design when necessary

5.  Design for Failure

6.  Design for utility pricing - know that a customer can walk away anytime so businesses can be competitive.

7.  Break transparency - if you are an end user of webmail, you don't care where the servers are but if you are a developer you will care so Amazon must break transparency.

8.  Decompose in its simplest form - infinitely scalable relational database.

9.  Design with security fence.

10. Don’t do it alone - invited 3rd parties to sell their own products and services.  Let other sites drive sales to amazon and give them a cut.

11. Focus on what does not change - innovation can also be knowing what things should not change.  Having easily readable catalogs, offer low pricing, offer on time delivery, etc.  I thought this point was excellent.  People always seem to focus on what to change and not look at what they shouldn't change.

12.  Let your customers benefit - Amazon has lowered their prices 14 times (Aws services). 

13.  Continuously Innovate - Amazon has done a brilliant job in creating new products and services for their customers and tweaking established products based on customer demands.

To hear Dr. Vogels full presentations, visit http://passionmeetsmomentum.com/#amazon-and-the-lean-cloud