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'Cloud enables seven superpowers'

By Linda Doke, Cape Town correspondent
Johannesburg, 14 Jul 2017
Dr Werner Vogles, CTO. Amazon Web Services.
Dr Werner Vogles, CTO. Amazon Web Services.

Cloud is the new normal, and gives 'superpowers' to build and operate in ways never seen before. This was the message of Amazon Web Services CTO Dr Werner Vogels, during his keynote address at the AWS Summit in Cape Town last week.

Presenting to 1 200 developers, Vogels emphasised that not only was cloud the de facto standard for development, but that being so has changed development and architecture from a cumbersome engine of infrastructure to being associated with a vast selection of applications that enable flexible, fast and secure services stored in the cloud.

Vogels described AWS as the fastest-growing enterprise IT company in the world. Having generated $926 million in operating income on $3.53 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2016, which reflected 47% growth, the company has customers from every possible vertical making use of its services.

The 'toolbox approach' enabled by cloud services allows organisations of all sizes the freedom to migrate their existing infrastructure, or to design new architecture, using a selection of more than 90 features and services, without the myriad constraints of traditional hardware.

Vogels used the analogy of superpowers to describe seven capabilities enabled by AWS's services in the cloud.

1. Force field
Security should be any organisation's absolute priority.

"If you cannot protect your business and your customers, you have no business. Security threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and good security hygiene is critical," said Vogels.

Encryption of essential business data is the minimum any business should ensure, and security by design is one of AWS's important selling points.

2. Supersonic speed
The ability to move fast is vital for business. Speed not only allows organisations to focus on building products and services, but also to develop with agility - in smaller, more frequent deployments, making systems more scalable and reliable.

3. Invisibility
Using the cloud rids companies of the constraints of fixed infrastructure. AWS has the complete platform to deliver and operate serverless applications.

"The attributes of a managed serverless environment removes the need for provisioning for services. Instead it automatically scales with usage," said Vogels.

4. Flight
Traditional databases are expensive, proprietary and prohibitive with their punitive licensing models, which lock in customers for a set period. Using cloud, AWS enables enterprise database at a fraction of the cost, with high scalability and availability.

5. X-ray vision
More than simply storing data, AWS makes petabyte-scale analytics accessible to all sizes of organisation, and allows highly complex data queries to be performed at speed, giving deeper insights into databases.

6. Precognition
Organisations use data to make predictions. Using sophisticated facial and speech recognition applications, the AWS toolset enables networks to be built more intelligently with content moderation, voice interface and natural language understanding.

7. Immortality
"Digital transformation is the key to survival for enterprises. Harnessing the benefits of the cloud allows businesses to continuously adapt, lasting well into the future," said Vogels. He cited General Electric as an example of an organisation that has survived by constantly reinventing itself, adapting over time to the changing conditions of business.

SA customer stories

Vogel's address was interspersed with three customer presentations, describing their experience using cloud and how they have used AWS tools to develop and enhance their respective businesses.

Mobile phone app Zapper takes the power of e-commerce to the bricks and mortar world. It uses the AWS platform to securely connect to multiple gateways of banks while keeping within strict regulatory compliance. It also uses cloud storage to grow its business, and used big data to provide insights for clients.

Zapper CEO David de Villiers explained how as a mobile app, Zapper's biggest challenge is social integration.

"We need to convince business users there is a new way of doing business, and consumers that there is a new way of paying. We use the AWS platform to be highly responsive and agile, providing an effective payment gateway that assures fast, reliable and secure payments around the world," said De Villiers.

ABSA has used AWS to change the culture of the bank so as to bring value to clients quicker. ABSA CTO Peter Rix described how through archiving to the cloud, the bank is moving its large, older data, including legacy systems, into tightly encrypted cloud storage. The company is building software in the cloud with full GML capability, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and is moving at supersonic speeds.

"Through the AWS offering we are changing the way we work - it's a unique opportunity to do things differently. In effect, we are re-architecting the bank - we're building internal capabilities to take skills forward, and to be able to scale up quickly and securely," said Rix.

Retail giant Pick n Pay has been using AWS to increase the company's speed and agility. The company is in the process of evaluating the functional fit and data sovereignty of moving its platform to the cloud over the next few years. Part of that process of what the company refers to as 'clearing the data centre' would be to look at AWS as a key partner, explained Chris Shortt, GM Information Systems at Pick n Pay.

"The ability to elastically scale gives us the flexibility and resilience to keep up with the changing dynamics of consumers. The services offered by AWS will help us make improvements for customers."

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