The most disruptive force in tech history happened because a company discovered one day that compute infrastructure development was its biggest pain point. The executive who solved that problem by igniting the public cloud market now finds himself stepping into the top job for the most valuable retailer in the world.

Amazon Web Services Inc. Chief Executive Andy Jassy (pictured) was named the next CEO of Amazon.com Inc. on Tuesday, a move by founder Jeff Bezos that left much of the corporate world scratching its collective head: Just exactly who is Andy Jassy?

For those who have been closely following the enterprise world, AWS’ rise as a cloud colossus was thanks largely to Jassy’s leadership. He slaked Amazon’s internal thirst for scalable, reliable cloud infrastructure services and built a megabillion-dollar business as a result.

“Jassy would say to me many times: ‘Work backwards from the customer and eliminate the undifferentiated heavy lifting,’” said John Furrier, co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, who has interviewed Jassy on numerous occasions over the years. “That was a key principle of what they were doing, that was a key theme for their entire business model. The key here is that he’s always been relentless and competitive on creating value and raising the bar inside of Amazon.”

Furrier was joined by Dave Vellante, co-host of theCUBE, for a conversation about the naming of Jassy as the next CEO of Amazon. They discussed how Jassy grew AWS into a cloud powerhouse, his corporate philosophy and approach to business, whether AWS might be spun off into a separate company and the new chief executive’s willingness to change.

Deep into technology

After joining Amazon as a marketing manager in 1997, three years after the company’s start, Jassy launched AWS as a separate business in 2006. In doing so, he realized that providing an infrastructure services solution on top of its own cloud platform could become an attractive opportunity to Amazon’s customers.

“The man who wrote the business plan for AWS navigated the meteoric rise that has seen AWS grow into a $45 billion dollar company that throws off the vast majority of Amazon’s operating profits,” Vellante said. “He gets deep into the technology. Anybody who’s seen his two- to three-hour keynotes know he has a really fine grasp of the technology across the entire stack.”

That Jassy has operated quietly in the shadow of Bezos and Amazon’s online retailing empire came as no surprise to those who have followed the rise of AWS. Jassy’s motivation was about the technology and creating customer value, not his own personal profile.

“Jassy’s not a climber, as they call them in corporate America,” Furrier noted. “He’s not a person looking for a political gain, he’s not a territory taker. He’s a micromanager, he loves details and he likes to create customer value. That’s his focus.”

Applying Amazon’s philosophy

Jassy’s longevity at Amazon means that he knows the company’s business approach inside and out. He applied that to disrupt the computing market years ago and will likely continue that approach as head of the parent company, according to Furrier.

“When you applied the Amazon shipping concept to cloud computing, it was completely disrupted,” Furrier said. “They were shipping code and services faster, and that became their innovation strategy. They out-announced their competition by a huge margin, they introduced services faster.”

That approach translated into significant financial growth for the company. In 2020, AWS accounted for $45 billion in revenue, while Microsoft Azure contributed $26 billion and Google Cloud provided $6 billion, according to Vellante. That adds up to a $77 billion industry, raising questions about whether Amazon’s new CEO might spin-off the cloud unit, perhaps to avoid scrutiny from government regulators.

“Does this portend that they’ll split the company in two?” Vellante asked. “I think it’s less likely. If you think about Amazon getting into groceries or healthcare or financial services and the IoT opportunity, they can bring in the cloud, data and AI and go attack these new industries. I would think Jassy of all people would want to keep this thing together.”

Despite pressure to capitalize on Amazon’s technology strengths, Jassy has shown a willingness over his career to tack with the wind. Although the AWS business model was initially focused on eliminating the need to build data centers, AWS now has a hybrid cloud strategy.

“He’ll revise based on what customers are doing,” Furrier said. “VMware working with Amazon? No one ever thought that would happen. Jassy does these kinds of deals, he’s not afraid.”

Under Jassy’s command, AWS has not been afraid to raise eyebrows across the enterprise world by entering new markets. Two years ago, the company announced AWS Ground Station, a fully managed service for controlling satellite communications. The cloud provider has also dived into the complex world of quantum computing with Amazon Braket.

“He’s not afraid to take chances on the product side, he’ll go in and take a chance on a new market,” Furrier said. “Jassy builds, he likes to build stuff. If you look at the things he’s done with AWS, it’s about enabling people to be successful with all the tools they need.”

Here’s the complete video conversation:

Photo: SiliconANGLE