Dessert Option 1: Amazon SimpleDB

As I have mentioned previously, Database-as-a-Service is not necessarily a new layer of cloud computing. Rather, it is just a less talked about feature that has not received the recognition it deserves. There are several cloud providers that are offering DBaaS for an organizations use. The first one that I will go through today is one of my personal favorite places for online shopping and deals: Amazon!

Amazon SimpleDB (Beta)

The giant company is not just known for its online shopping deals. Amazon has been working to be a competitor in the world of technology services. Amazon Web Services includes products and solutions for organizations to utilize and perform better. Recently, Amazon has developed is own DBaaS, known as Amazon SimpleDB. The DBaaS is currently in its beta version and is advertised as "a highly available and  flexible non-relational data store that offloads the work of database administration". 

One of the main features for DBaaS is the decrease the work and space needed for a database administrator, and Amazon SimpleDB is no different. The DBaaS focuses on simple, flexible application developments that can also be utilized with Amazon Web Services. The idea is that the database administrator should not be the only person who understands how to best utilize an organization's data. All end users of the database should be able to navigate through a database with ease and without having to understand the full complexity of a database. Obviously, organizations do not want all end users to have full control and authorization of a database. Therefore, the DBaaS has utilized several security measures, including encrypted communication and the ability to integrate the database with other AWS security measures such as AWS Identity. 

 

As with most DBaaS, the service is offered in a pay-as-you-go format. An organization will pay for only what they use, with no minimum fee. For both new and existing customers, Amazon offers 25 SimpleDB machine hours as well as 1GB of storage for free. Once those machine hours have been used, the cost for a machine hour is $0.140 per GB (all pricing is based on U.S. East region). For data storage, the cost is $0.250 per GB once the first free GB is used each month. For those curious, there is also a calculator on the website that allows curious customers to estimate the monthly costs of the DBaaS, based on estimated data and storage usage. 

Inexpensive. Simplicity. Flexibility. What more could a DBaaS need? Amazon is just one example of a company that is looking to expand an already large and growing business. How do you think Amazon will further develop its database and cloud service?