The vice president and chief technology officer of Amazon has compared the adoption of cloud computing to the introduction of mains electricity.
Dr Werner Vogels told Startups that, just as businesses once switched from generating their own electricity to using the mains supply because it was more time and cost-efficient, so today’s companies will soon move from in-house to cloud-based computing solutions.
Speaking exclusively to our reporter, Vogels said: “In the future all of a company’s storage, networking and computing capacities will be delivered through the cloud, and they will no longer have to do things that don’t differentiate them from other companies.
“By using cloud services you can focus on what really delivers value for your company, not the kind of heavy lifting that everybody else needs to do.”
Vogels was speaking as Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced several new initiatives to help UK start-ups get started in the cloud.
These included free training courses on cloud computing for 120 UK start-ups, to be held in London and Manchester. Spaces will be allocated on a first come first served basis to start-ups which register online.
Additionally, a free one-to-one technical help service will be launched at The Hoxton Mix in East London’s Tech City on October 5th. Here UK start-ups will be able to access free face-to-face IT help every Wednesday, as well as advice on planning and moving their technology infrastructure to the cloud.
Amazon recently launched the 2011 Start-up Challenge, which is run annually to find the most innovative start-up business using AWS, with the global winner awarded $50,000 in cash and $50,000 in credits, among other prizes. Entries close on October 2nd 2011.
To enter the 5th Annual Startups Challenge click here, or to book an appointment with an Amazon Web Services expert at The Hoxton Mix, e-mail: ukstartups@amazon.com