UPDATED 15:23 EDT / NOVEMBER 30 2016

Ships traverse an azure sea while white clouds billow and swell overhead. CLOUD

Companies step up migration to Amazon Web Services cloud

The Amazon Web Services cloud is attracting more companies that want to move a lot of their computing tasks into the cloud, with small business accounting software company Xero Limited and shipping network company Matson Inc. announcing migrations this week.

AWS provides cloud-based computing and storage solutions to companies seeking scalability and security on demand. Companies with existing traditional databases and data silos face problems when attempting to scale or use large-scale analytics. To capitalize on cloud capabilities, companies must migrate from data silos into cloud services.

Xero announced at AWS re:Invent 2016 (* disclosure below) that its own two-year migration onto the AWS cloud involved more than 59 billion records, 3,000 apps and 120 databases. In that time the company also added almost a half-million new customers.

“Our focus on completing a significant data migration to the AWS platform sets Xero up to deliver fast-paced innovation, leverage machine learning technology, improve margins, increase uptime and security and drive better business outcomes to help small businesses flourish,” said Duncan Ritchie, chief platform and product officer at Xero.

Providing small business accounting software to millions of customers led Xero’s decision to migrate to the AWS Cloud. There, the company could make use of machine learning to accelerate innovation, which the company believes will revolutionize accounting. Migrating to the cloud would also allow Xero to more easily analyze the more than 1.4 petabytes of data stored in its databases and automate core accounting functionality to enable business owners to operate more efficiently.

Similarly, Matson revealed that its own migration to AWS allowed the company to close four of its on-premises data centers. This move permitted the company to consolidate data and services into one platform achieved faster performance, increased reliability and security, while also reducing the cost of Information Technology infrastructure.

This process also took several years, said Peter Weis, chief information officer at Matson, and involved modernizing the company’s applications and data flow for the Pacific Ocean shipping business. Now with AWS Cloud maintaining infrastructure, Matson can quickly analyze real-time telemetry from vessels, shipping terminals, container equipment and truck shipments, which all require highly reliable technology for mission-critical logistics.

“Once we completed our application modernization,” Weis added, speaking of the company’s migration to the AWS Cloud, “we were ready to culminate this transformation by migrating onto a single cloud platform, which we view as the optimal strategy to sustain world-class customer service and operational reliability.”

The push of digital transformation is to prioritize technology to transform business activities, processes and models to make use of digital technology. The AWS Cloud provides a method of pushing business activity and processes into the cloud by providing a space where data and functionality co-exist as a service.

SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE host John Furrier noted that Amazon had placed AWS “in a prime position for project ideation,” when speaking during AWS Summit 2016. He noted that Amazon had taken the long game when it came to digital transformation, and AWS “pushed to improve upon its weaknesses, as well as inspire partnering businesses to do the same.”

Dave Vellante, host of theCUBE, also noted, “AWS automation and efficiencies keep improving, so every new customer brings costs down. Because they have more volume and pricing flexibility, they’re attracting more and more customers.”

Both Xero and Matson’s customer cases demonstrate that companies can feel locked down when using on-premises datacenters to exchange information. Cloud-based infrastructure services, such as AWS, provide increased efficiently by unlocking access to that data.

This is reflected especially for Matson, which moved all of its enterprise applications away from on-premises data centers and onto AWS.

These companies are not alone either, according to an early 2016 survey from RightScale. Approximately 17 percent of enterprises now have more than 1,000 virtual machines in public clouds, up from 13 percent in 2015. Private clouds showed even stronger growth with 31 percent, up from 22 percent last year.

The choice of AWS also showed a strong lead with over 57 percent of survey respondents and growth for enterprise with 56 percent, up from 50 percent in 2015.

(* Disclosure: SiliconANGLE Media’s video unit theCube is a paid media partner for the conference. Neither Amazon.com nor other show sponsors have editorial oversight content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Featured image credit: Bernal Saborio G. (berkuspic) ships in sky via photopin (license)

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