Developers can now easily coordinate processes within distributed
applications
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 2012--
Amazon Web Services LLC (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ:AMZN),
today introduced Amazon Simple Workflow Service (Amazon SWF), a workflow
service for building scalable, resilient applications. Whether
automating business processes for finance or insurance applications,
building sophisticated data analytics applications, or managing cloud
infrastructure services, Amazon SWF reliably coordinates all of the
processing steps within an application. To get started using Amazon SWF,
visit: www.aws.amazon.com/swf.
With traditional development approaches, it is both time-consuming and
costly to build and track processing steps that run at different
processing times and have different durations, while ensuring they are
executed reliably and without duplication. When the execution of
applications is distributed across multiple systems, the coordination of
processing steps across those systems presents an added challenge. Using
Amazon SWF, developers can structure the various processing steps in an
application as “tasks” that drive work in distributed applications, and
Amazon SWF coordinates these tasks in a reliable and scalable manner.
Amazon SWF manages task execution dependencies, scheduling, and
concurrency based on a developer’s application logic. The service stores
tasks, reliably dispatches them to application components, tracks their
progress, and keeps their latest state.
“With Amazon SWF, developers can now easily coordinate distributed
application components across on-premises and cloud environments using
their choice of programming languages,” said Reto Kramer, General
Manager, Application Connection Services, AWS. “By relying on Amazon SWF
to handle the coordination of distributed task execution, developers can
now focus on building the differentiating aspects of their applications
and leave the undifferentiated heavy lifting of building and managing
workflow engines to AWS.”
NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) uses Amazon SWF as part of several space
and earth science missions including the Mars Exploration Rover. Amazon
Simple Workflow Service gives JPL the ability to leverage resources
inside and outside of its environment enabling their applications to
dynamically scale and run in a truly distributed manner. NASA JPL has
integrated Amazon SWF into their Cloud Oriented Architecture and its
reference implementation, Polyphony. Amazon SWF is now an integral part
of the software engineer’s toolbox at JPL.
Sage Bionetworks leverages Amazon SWF in its computation platform for
processing molecular and clinical datasets. “With Amazon SWF managing
the state of several data analytics pipelines, the concerns of workflow
execution and the coordination of the distributed systems performing the
work of the pipeline, are technical issues we just don’t need to worry
about,” said Dr. Michael Kellen, Director of Technology and Software
Development at Sage Bionetworks. Adds Brig Mecham, Post-doctoral
researcher and one of the scientists using Amazon SWF, “Amazon SWF has
enabled us to build a system that gets done in days what used to take
months. Of all the benefits we’ve obtained, the most important is that
the service allows us to start using these data for their true purpose –
identifying cures for human diseases.”
According to Thorsten von Eicken, CTO of RightScale, “Using Amazon SWF,
we are able to reduce the time to market for our higher level
infrastructure automation features. We are able to focus on our
value-add without having to worry about the challenges that are
associated with implementing a distributed workflow engine. In the end
we are able to ship new features faster and don't have to concern
ourselves with maintaining that engine.”
More details about the features in Amazon SWF and the benefits of
building applications using Amazon SWF can be found by visiting www.aws.amazon.com/swf.
The service is currently available in the US East (Virginia) Region and
will be available in other AWS Regions in the coming months.
About Amazon Web Services
Launched in 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) began exposing key
infrastructure services to businesses in the form of web services -- now
widely known as cloud computing. The ultimate benefit of cloud
computing, and AWS, is the ability to leverage a new business model and
turn capital infrastructure expenses into variable costs. Businesses no
longer need to plan and procure servers and other IT resources weeks or
months in advance. Using AWS, businesses can take advantage of Amazon's
expertise and economies of scale to access resources when their business
needs them, delivering results faster and at a lower cost. Today, Amazon
Web Services provides a highly reliable, scalable, low-cost
infrastructure platform in the cloud that powers hundreds of thousands
of enterprise, government and startup customers businesses in 190
countries around the world. AWS offers over 21 different services,
including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple
Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon Relational Database Service
(Amazon RDS). AWS services are available to customers from data center
locations in the U.S., Brazil, Europe, Japan and Singapore.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle,
opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s
Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most
customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything
they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the
lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of
unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books;
Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home
& Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health &
Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web
Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to
in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end
technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any
type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most
compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced
electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright
sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an
easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages,
search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most
advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line
e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch,
with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the
Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and
web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud,
Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon’s new revolutionary cloud-accelerated
web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core
processor.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com,
www.amazon.co.uk,
www.amazon.de,
www.amazon.co.jp,
www.amazon.fr,
www.amazon.ca,
www.amazon.cn,
www.amazon.it,
and www.amazon.es.
As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include
Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates
otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly
from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to
competition, management of growth, new products, services and
technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international
expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center
optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and
strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption,
inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More
information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's
financial results is included in Amazon.com's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most
recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.
Source: Amazon Web Services LLC
Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
