What is AWS? Fundamentals, key services, and use cases explained

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s leading cloud services provider, powering the operations of prominent industry names like Netflix, Airbnb, and Coca-Cola. In the nearly two decades since its launch, AWS has equipped millions of organizations and individuals across the globe with the IT resources they need to scale their businesses, drive innovation, and cut costs. 

The biggest benefit of AWS is that it provides startups and SMBs with access to the same resources and technology the industry giants use. So what is AWS exactly, and why did it become one of the cornerstones of the global tech economy? In this article, we’ll present AWS's core principles, explore its key services, and showcase how businesses use it to stay ahead of their competitors. 

What does AWS do? The fundamentals

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides high-powered servers, storage solutions, databases, analytics, and other IT resources, enabling businesses in the tech economy to build, deploy, and manage applications in the cloud while cutting costs and staying agile. AWS works like a rental company, giving you access to computing power, resources, and services when you need them. The key benefit is that you’re only paying for the computing power and resources you’re using instead of investing in developing the entire infrastructure yourself. 

What’s the story behind AWS?

The origins of AWS date back to the early 2000s, when Amazon executives first came up with the revolutionary idea of “renting out” leftover IT resources and infrastructure the company was using to power its online marketplace. By 2003, Amazon was already charging developers for access to its servers, storage, and databases, enabling them to build their applications. 

AWS was officially formed in 2006 with the launch of its first product, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), which allowed customers to store data in Amazon’s cloud instead of investing in physical hardware. A few months later, AWS rolled out another flagship product, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), enabling businesses to leverage Amazon’s vast computing capabilities for their needs.

20 years later, AWS has become the largest cloud computing platform in the world, commanding nearly a third of the global cloud infrastructure market. It generated $25 billion in the first quarter of 2024, making it the most profitable member of the Amazon corporate family. AWS’s portfolio now includes over 200 services ranging from computing power, storage, and databases to innovative technologies like AI, machine learning, and Internet of Things (IoT). 

How AWS works

AWS owes much of its success to its simple yet effective business and pricing model. It charges customers based on the actual usage of their services, with no long-term commitments or setup costs. This pay-as-you-go model ensures you only pay for the resources you consume, which allows you to optimize your AWS costs. 

For example, an e-commerce business might need extra computing power or storage space during peak periods like Black Friday or the Christmas holiday season. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on additional on-premises server farms or building storage systems that would sit idle after the holiday season ends, the business can rely on AWS to meet the increased demand. Their expenses will be scaled automatically without estimating usage.

Using AWS starts with creating an AWS account, which provides access to the AWS Management Console, a web interface that allows users to manage and configure the AWS services they are using. Once you build and deploy your applications, the platform lets you monitor their performance, as well as optimize your total expenses using tools like the AWS Cost Explorer.

AWS delivers its services to customers through a global network of data centers called Availability Zones, which are grouped into several Regions. This approach ensures flexibility by allowing customers to deploy their applications from the region that best suits their needs, whether proximity to end users, optimal performance, or compliance with local regulations. It also provides reliability for the entire cloud infrastructure in case an individual data center or server fails.

Benefits of using AWS

The most notable advantage of using AWS is access to the most advanced technology, which is otherwise available only to a handful of the world’s largest companies. Some other specific benefits include the following: 

Scalability 

The ability to access computing power or storage space as needed enables you to scale up or down depending on market circumstances. In addition, specific AWS tools like Auto Scaling and Elastic Load Balancing allow you to adjust resources based on demand.

Flexibility

AWS offers a wide array of services to meet virtually every need and use case, serving as a one-stop shop for all your IT requirements, whether you need extra computing capacity, additional storage space, or unlimited server power.

Reliability

AWS’s extensive and globally distributed cloud infrastructure ensures the integrity of your data and smooth deployment of your applications. The company has even committed to maintaining an uptime of over 99.99% for many of its services.

Security

AWS’s infrastructure is designed to meet the security requirements of organizations handling the most sensitive data, such as government agencies, healthcare providers, and multinational banks. 

The platform employs a wide range of cloud security measures and supports numerous security standards and certifications. In practice, this means that your data is typically safer when stored and managed using AWS infrastructure than relying on physical hardware.

Ease of use

Leveraging AWS’s capabilities doesn’t necessarily require extensive technical expertise, thanks to user-friendly tools such as the AWS Management Console. Besides, you’ll get access to a library of useful resources, documentation, and video instructions to help you get familiar with the services you need.

Integrations

AWS seamlessly integrates with many other Amazon platforms, as well as third-party services. This lets you reap the benefits of implementing AWS into your operations while still using the platforms and tools you are familiar with.

Developer tools

The platform features a number of tools specifically designed to help developers build, deploy, and manage their applications. Services such as Amazon Beanstalk, Amazon CloudFormation, and AWS CodeCommit allow developers to streamline tedious tasks and improve productivity.

Core services of AWS

AWS’s comprehensive catalog currently includes over 200 services, with more than 100 of them introduced at the company’s re:Invent conference in 2022. 

Below is a quick breakdown of some of AWS’s key services, each representing one of the platform’s core service areas (computing, storage, databases, and networking):

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)

Amazon EC2, or Elastic Compute Cloud, is one of the oldest AWS services that has transformed how businesses use cloud computing. It enables users to access virtual servers—known as EC2 instances— to speed up and optimize application development and deployment without additional physical hardware. 

There are various EC2 instances tailored to specific workloads and use cases, such as hosting websites and applications, data analysis, and running backend services. Users can also customize the instances according to the type of processor, storage, and capacity they need. This makes Amazon EC2 a highly flexible and scalable solution that can ensure optimal application performance.

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) is another scalable solution that allows organizations to store, manage, and archive large volumes of data in the cloud. Users store files and archives as S3 objects (with a maximum size of five terabytes) inside S3 buckets for easy retrieval and organization. 

Amazon S3 is most widely used for backups and data archiving, big data analytics, and hosting videos and files. It allows for easy version control and access management, ensuring you never miss important files or records.

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is designed to simplify database management by automating routine tasks. The service supports various database engines, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle Database, and SQL Server.

Amazon RDS’ use cases include storing transactional data for e-commerce platforms, running business intelligence applications, and managing customer databases. 

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

If you want to set up a private network environment in the cloud, you should explore Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). The service lets users configure various network elements such as IP address ranges, subnets, routing tables, network gateways, and security settings. 

Amazon VPC easily integrates with other AWS foundational services and allows for easy creation of isolated sections within the AWS cloud. 

Common use cases of AWS

AWS is a highly versatile platform capable of accommodating various scenarios and use cases. Here are some of the typical ways organizations employ AWS in their everyday operations:

1. Hosting websites and applications: AWS tools like Amazon S3 and EC2 allow users to build, deploy, and host web applications effortlessly.

2. Backup and disaster recovery: The platform makes it easy to ensure business continuity with options for simplifying and automating backup processes.

3. Big data and analytics: Various AWS services help businesses analyze massive datasets to gain insights, build data pipelines, and make data-backed decisions.

4. Internet of Things (IoT): AWS provides the infrastructure for managing and interpreting data from connected devices and enabling real-time communication.

5. AI and machine learning: AWS lets you enhance your cloud applications with AI capabilities. Some of its services enable text-to-speech conversions, while others perform natural language processing.

Examples of AWS applications in different industries

Refer to the table below for some real-life examples of how companies in different industries use AWS’s cloud capabilities to support and scale their operations, fuel innovation, and drive growth:

Case studies and success stories

The transformative impact of AWS on organizations’ ability to innovate and adapt to changing market circumstances becomes even more evident when you look at real-world examples. Here are two compelling success stories:

Formula One

Formula One, a prominent company promoting the eponymous racing competition, has successfully used AWS’s capabilities to optimize car and driver performance, enhance fan experience, and solidify its leading market position.

Using AWS analytics and machine learning tools, the company processed over 1.1 million race data points per second. As a result, it was able to provide its fans with detailed metrics like pit stop strategies and cornering speeds, contributing to a more exciting viewing experience and higher fan engagement. Formula One also relies on AWS’s robust infrastructure to ensure reliable content delivery to its global audience.

Coca-Cola

In 2013, Coca-Cola decided to move its infrastructure from on-premises data centers to AWS’s cloud. The decision came after a spike in website traffic during a Super Bowl commercial overwhelmed Coca-Cola’s servers. The shift proved to be a major success for the company as it has since managed to reduce operational costs by 40% and cut the IT ticket volume by 80%.

Coca-Cola and its brands keep turning to AWS to spark fresh ideas and create new products. Lately, they’ve been using AWS technology to build data lakes and develop a touchless beverage-dispensing platform.

Simplifying AWS architectures with diagrams 

You can turn elaborate cloud systems you’re designing in AWS into easily digestible visual representations. Like with any complex systems or processes, the best way to demystify cloud architectures is to draw them out using diagrams. 

Architecture diagrams represent all the components of a software system, its various functions, implementations, and their interactions. They help developers see exactly what the software will look like in the early stages of the development process. 

These diagrams are also useful after deployment, as they help non-technical stakeholders understand complex and abstract concepts so they can efficiently collaborate with the rest of the team and provide valuable inputs. In addition, architecture diagrams allow developers to easily scale a system and reduce development risks like false assumptions or flawed testing. 

While cloud architecture diagramming drives collaboration, efficiency, and transparency across the board, creating intuitive diagrams can be challenging due to the complexity of cloud systems, the number of stakeholders, and evolving requirements. The good news is that you can streamline this process using an innovation workspace like Miro—one with powerful diagramming capabilities.

Optimize your AWS architecture with Miro

Miro’s Innovation Workspace is packed with features and tools to help you visualize every aspect of your work and supercharge collaboration—all from a single infinite canvas. And if your everyday work happens to include visualizing and optimizing complex AWS architectures, you’ll love Miro’s architecture diagramming capabilities.

Miro’s diagramming technology equips you with everything you need to create a straightforward diagram that perfectly illustrates your underlying AWS architecture. Additionally, Miro offers features to visualize and optimize your architecture, including:

• AWS CloudView App: Thanks to a partnership with AWS, Miro automatically generates a diagram of your AWS architecture based on the data imported from your AWS account. All you need to do is sync your AWS account with the app and lay back while the software does all the heavy lifting, saving you precious time and effort.

• AWS Cost Calculator: A handy tool that helps you estimate cloud spend and make plans accordingly. It lets you make real-time cost estimations and compare different configurations to find the most cost-beneficial solution.

• AWS shape pack: Besides importing your AWS data, Miro makes AWS diagramming even more straightforward by giving you access to an extensive library of standardized AWS icons.

• Diagram focus mode: Miro allows you to unlock your full diagramming potential with advanced tools like a curated toolbar, layers, and the option to update alignment and distribution.

• Real-time and async collaboration options: Miro lets you work on refining your AWS diagram together with your team with an array of collaborative options. You can choose to start a workshop, an interactive presentation, or even record an async Talktrack directly from your Miro board. 

Even with all these features and tools to help you bring your AWS architecture to life, you may not be in the mood to draw an AWS diagram from scratch. In that case, you can always fall back on some of Miro’s 13+ AWS diagram templates. They’re pre-made so that you can use them as they are, but they are also highly customizable, allowing you to tailor them to your specific needs in minutes. 

We highly recommend exploring the AWS Architecture Diagram Template—it offers a ready-made visual representation of an AWS architecture, complete with all the necessary shapes, connectors, and groups.

Ready to streamline your AWS diagramming experience? Get started with a free Business trial to learn more about Miro's AWS features. And if you need any more encouragement to give Miro a try, take a look at how ClickHouse, a database management system company, used the platform to map out its AWS architecture and supercharge collaboration.