Amazon keeps getting the Cloud right while everyone else snoozes
Amazon is professionalizing cloud computing and making it a reality for the masses. Where are the rest of the big technology companies?
With the announcement that Amazon is now offering premium support for AWS they have taken another giant step forward in solidifying the leadership position in the cloud. At this point the BigCos are either going to have to partner with them or just give up any chance of a first-mover advantage.
Interestingly, I can't see a way for a BigCo (let's say Microsoft) to acquire Amazon to get the technology because being a retailer is not MSFT's core business and MSFT shareholders probably wouldn't be too thrilled owning a giant consumer bookstore...or maybe they would?
Two AWS Premium Support plans offer customers of AWS Infrastructure Services an unlimited number of support cases, with pay-by-the-month pricing and no long term contracts. Below are details on these plans:
* AWS Premium Support (Silver)
Provides business day technical support, with response times ranging from four business hours for high severity issues to two business days for lower severity issues. Pricing for the Silver plan is the greater of $100 per month or $0.10 per dollar of total monthly usage of the applicable AWS services, with access to an unlimited number of support cases.* AWS Premium Support (Gold)
In addition to the benefits of the Silver plan, the Gold plan provides around-the-clock phone support, and response times of one hour for urgent issues. Pricing for Gold support is the greater of $400 per month or $0.10-$0.20 per dollar of total monthly usage of the applicable AWS services, based on amount of AWS service usage.
The cloud has become one of the most interesting market dynamics since open source.