Adam Selipsky, chief executive officer of Amazon Web Services (AWS) expressed his opinion that cloud-based asynchronous digital architecture could help the world keep pace with the growing amount of data generated daily.
At Amazon.com’s annual re:Invent conference held from November 28 to December 2, Selipsky delivered a keynote speech wherein he presented AWS as a potential resource that could help a more significant number of clients shift to the cloud from more conventional data systems.
In his speech, Selipsky pointed out that the pace of global data growth is set to ramp up in the times to come. Thus the flexibility offered by the cloud is something that ought to be considered by companies that are poised to scale up.
Over the next five years, it is expected that the amount of data generated will be double that of the total amount produced since the digital age began. In this case, managing the scale and growth of such data poses both challenges and opportunities for organizations in numerous sectors.
Cases in Point
To illustrate his point, Selipsky presented a concrete example of asynchronous architecture in action by way of the Expedia Group. This enterprise processes over 600 billion predictions a year, and its system is powered by around 70 petabytes of data.
South Korean company Samsung was another of Selipsky’s examples. The company’s 1.1 billion-strong user base makes 80,000 data requests per second.
In both cases presented by Selipsky, data was at the center of applications, processes, and business decisions. Data is also the basis for practically every company’s digital transformation process.
Vogels Weighs In
For his part, Amazon.com vice-president and chief technology officer Werner Vogels believes that the world of the 21st century is an asynchronous one. To him, asynchronization could be the catalyst for even greater change in the digital environment.
Vogels opined that nothing is truly synchronous in this world, and that particularly applies to the creation of computer systems. While synchrony in computing makes things look easier at first, it is an oversimplification, especially where latency and throughput are concerned, that would end up limiting a system’s progress.
That said, asynchronous computer architecture opens up numerous ways for enterprises to move forward, even in the event of catastrophic digital issues.
Vogels also pointed out that asynchrony has long been one of the working principles upheld by Amazon, specifically with the development of its S3 offering. In doing so, the team behind SR wanted to ensure that the system would make progress under any circumstances.
