This article is cross-posted on TechTarget as part of my contribution during the AWS re:Invent show in Vegas this month. It is important to note, however, that this version is slightly different. In this article I will cover the evolution of the AWS ecosystem over the last 3 years, which, in my opinion, has been one of the most important indicators of the cloud industry’s growth.
Cloud vendors need an ecosystem. It is a vital part of their product’s and service’s maturity. In order to enable products to support more use cases, customers and revenues, you need a community of vendors that can link up to your API and extend your platform. By first developing your API and then creating a UI, you set the stage for companies that thrive off of your API and product. SalesForce, for example, holds data with their flexible platform that has quite possibly developed into the largest ecosystem in the cloud over the past few years. When external companies develop around your API, cloud vendor get 2 things: very rich services, above and beyond their core services, and a scalable business with revenues that are generated directly by ecosystem, itself.
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