Dr. Dobb's | Amazon Web Services Adds WIndows Server, SQL Server Support

Amazon Web Services Adds WIndows Server, SQL Server Support

But it's still in beta

October 23, 2008
URL:http://www.drdobbs.com/open-source/amazon-web-services-adds-windows-server/211600248

Amazon Web Services has launched a public beta of the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) running Windows Server and SQL Server. Additionally, AWS announced that Amazon EC2 is now available and offers a Service Level Agreement (SLA). Launched in beta in August 2006, Amazon EC2 povides resizable compute capacity in the cloud for businesses and developers. To sign up for Amazon EC2 and other AWS services, go here.

"When we launched Amazon EC2 over two years ago, the idea of accessing computing power over the web was still a novel idea. Today a diverse array of businesses drawn by the benefits of cloud computing -- cost savings without giving up speed, reliability, flexibility, and performance -- are running EC2 for all types of applications," said Amazon's Peter De Santis. "We've listened closely to our customers for the past two years and worked backward from their requirements, adding important new features such as those we are announcing today -- Windows support and a Service Level Agreement."

Amazon EC2 running Windows Server or SQL Server suuport is available on a pay-as-you-go model without long-term commitments and no minimum fees. Pricing for using Windows Server with Amazon EC2 begins at $0.125 per compute hour.

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. Amazon EC2's simple web service interface lets businesses obtain and configure capacity with minimal friction. It provides control of your computing resources and lets you run on Amazon's computing environment.