​AWS tells customers it understands hybrid cloud

Amazon Web Services may pitch itself as a public cloud provider, but it has revealed that it understands not all applications can be migrated to the public cloud for various reasons, and that's a conversation Shane Owenby, AWS APAC managing director, said he has been having with customers.

"We think there are many reasons why hybrid will exist for a while. If you've got an existing footprint and it's doing the job for you, then great. We'll leave it alone and we're not going to talk about it; we'll help you integrate it if you want," he said.

AWS has showcased its understanding of hybrid cloud with the introduction of its first hardware release dubbed Snowball that offers import/export service to its customers, so it means not only can it help customers migrate their data off more easily from their existing infrastructure, but it can also help move data on AWS back to on-premise.

"We're customer obsessing both ways," he said, noting that he expects to see more customers now moving their applications onto AWS with the release of Snowball.

Going hand in hand with hybrid cloud is often discussions around security for APAC-based businesses, Owenby said.

Up until 24 months ago, Owenby revealed that AWS' security was often questioned, but these days the company is being hired as security educators.

"It's now 'Can you help our security people understand?'," he said.

"When we do educate them we find they're pro-AWS. Before they were educated, they have their own stance and they say, 'I can now do things I could have never done in the datacentre before'."

To further signal its intent to delivering a secure public cloud, the company announced on Thursday a preview of Inspector, a reporting service analysing performance and behaviour, scanning for security and compliance issues on an application-by-application basis.

Owenby further added that the conversation with APAC customers is no longer focused on the cost benefits of cloud, but around improving agility. Owenby explained cloud was initially perceived as a cost saver for businesses mainly because many were going through the global financial crisis, which forced businesses to look at cheaper alternatives than their then-existing infrastructure.

But since recovering from the financial crisis, Owenby said businesses recognised that not only was it a cost saver, but the real highlight of adopting the public cloud was that it made them more agile, which is why they continue to use it.

However, the adoption of cloud has been more advanced in Australia and New Zealand than other parts of the APAC region, given the IT level maturity of the two countries, Owenby said.

Disclosure: Aimee Chanthadavong travelled to AWS re:Invent 2015 with Amazon Web Services.