Ninemsn shifts hosting to … Amazon?

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blog We knew Amazon Web Services had robust infrastructure — after all, the Commonwealth Bank hosts some of its services with the cloud computing giant — but we didn’t know that it was quite this robust. The AustralianIT reports today (we recommend you click here for the full article) that one of Australia’s largest web sites, Ninemsn, is actually hosted with Amazon:

“The country’s largest news website, Ninemsn, has become the second company in recent weeks after the Commonwealth Bank to reveal how it will save millions of dollars from its IT budget by using cloud computing services.”

We can’t help but be bemused by this hosting decision, given that Ninemsn is part-owned by Microsoft, which obviously operates a direct rival cloud computing service to AWS in the form of Windows Azure. It seems from the article that this kind of switch may be on the cards for Ninemsn, but we have to ask: With Azure available, given the Microsof-focused nature of Ninemsn, why didn’t the company pick the Microsoft option to start with?

Image credit: Amazon

6 COMMENTS

  1. Lack of Australian datacentre for Azure probably doesn’t help.

    There’s also a huge gap in functionality and capability between Azure and AWS.

    • Well, Amazon has only just established its own Australian datacentre. I don’t know enough to evaluable the different capabilities of the two platforms, but I will say I see a whole lot more organisations deploying stuff on Amazon than I do on Windows Azure. Although there have been some high-profile Australian deployments on Azure, it seems like everyone and their dog are using Amazon in some capacity at the moment.

      • True, Amazon are new to the region – but their API and Feature Set are solid, and well known.

        They’re the logical choice for anyone who’s got experience with them in the US, and is now looking at Australian options.

        I would hazard a guess that the majority of people deploying on Azure are doing so because they’ve had support from Microsoft in some form or another. The only place I’ve heard of (not that I’m an expert) that did move to Azure without MS coming to them first moved off it again pretty quickly.

  2. Frankly I find it far less amazing that NineMSN — an infotainment and advertising company — has shifted its platform to AWS hosting than Commonwealth Bank — a big four bank providing crucial financial services.

  3. “We knew Amazon Web Services had robust infrastructure — after all, the Commonwealth Bank hosts some of its services with the cloud computing giant”

    Wouldn’t a better example be that they host amazon.com on this robust infrastructure ;)

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