In order to cope with the Christmas rush, Amazon[.com] has far more computing capacity than it needs for most of the year. As much as 90% of it is idle at times. Renting out pieces of that network to other businesses, such as SmugMug, an online photo site that uses the S3 service, is a way to get extra return on Amazon’s $2 billion investment in technology. Amazon is renting out its physical infrastructure too. Last month it announced Fulfillment by Amazon, which allows other firms to use Amazon’s staff and warehouse space to send out goods and handle returned items. It also introduced WebStore by Amazon, which provides access to all of Amazon’s back-end technology, including the ability to offer third-party products.
Amazon: Lifting the bonnet The Economist 5 Oct 2006.
Google, are you paying attention? Maybe there are ways to make money from your more than 450,000 computers outside of writing your own applications.
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