Tag Archives: amzn

Amazon Web Services leads, but Microsoft Azure catching up

Amazon.com (AMZN) continues to hold a big lead in cloud computing with its Amazon Web Services, but Microsoft’s rival Azure service is coming up fast, a new study shows. Amazon Web Services dominates public cloud services. A survey of 930 information technology professionals by RightScale found that 57% of companies are using AWS to run apps this year, up from 54% last year. Microsoft’s (MSFT) Azure infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) has moved nto second place with 12% of respondents using it, up from 6% in 2014. Microsoft made significant inroads with enterprises, organizations with more than 1,000 employees, RightScale said in its 2015 “State of the Cloud Report, ” out Wednesday. Rackspace (RAX) Public Cloud slipped into third place with 11% of respondents using it, down from 12% last year. Rackspace on Tuesday posted a Q4 earnings beat and has targeted improving profit margins. Cloud computing allows businesses and other organizations to…

FAA’s proposed drone regulations criticized

The Federal Aviation Administration’s much-delayed proposed rules for operating small unmanned aircraft systems will handicap the growth of commercial drones, critics say. The FAA’s draft regulations would prohibit Amazon.com (AMZN) from testing drone deliveries in the U.S. and could restrict newsgathering operations. Released Sunday, the proposed rules pertain to non-recreational drone use. The proposed rules say drones must weigh less than 55 pounds, operate only in daylight, stay below 500 feet in altitude, can’t fly over people, and the operator must remain within visual line of sight of the drone. Drone operators would have to pass an aeronautical exam and retake the test every two years, plus submit to a background check. In addition, drones would have to have aircraft markings for identification purposes. Paul Misener, Amazon vice president for global policy, told USA Today that the FAA’s rules wouldn’t allow its Prime Air delivery service to operate in the…

Amazon Prime users on par with Netflix for streaming video

Amazon Prime subscribers get the service mostly for free, two-day shipping, but they’re also using Amazon’s (AMZN) video offerings quite a bit. In fact, a new study shows Amazon Prime users watch as many videos through Amazon as Netflix subscribers do through Netflix. Amazon Prime members use Amazon for video on average 13.4 times per month, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners said in a recent report. By comparison, Netflix (NFLX) members view video from Netflix on average 12.7 times per month, CIRP said. The Amazon figure includes both Amazon Prime subscription video on demand and new-release video rentals and purchases from Amazon Instant Video. Netflix does not offer a pay-per-view option for new releases. On average, Amazon Prime members use the free streaming video service 8.3 times per month, CIRP estimates. In addition, Amazon Prime members buy or rent video from the Amazon Instant Video online store on average 5.1 times…