Werner & A Decade of Amazon Cloud

Werner Vogels, chief technology officer of Amazon and the face of Amazon Web Services in a recent blog post reflected on the decade of Amazon Web Services and the ten lessons he has learned. Most importantly, when you go through the list, you realize that it is the template for modern software architecture.

What I love about Werner is that he can switch from talking about technology to philosophical and economic implications of technology and the cloud. I have had a chance to interview him on multiple times — all Structure Videos are somewhere on the web — and have had deeper discussions, many of them private. Getting a chance to learn from him was one of the highlights of my journalistic career.

Here are some articles I wrote about AWS over past decade:

• Amazon CTO: Cloud & SaaS going global fast.
• Amazon CTO Werner Vogels on AWS, Startups and Innovation
• New Startup economics: Why Amazon and Dropbox need each other

In 2010, when Werner and I sat down in the lobby of a Munich Hotel, it wasn’t that obvious to all that AWS was the greatest catalyst for startup creation. The startups like Dropbox have pushed Amazon into the pole position when it comes to cloud. Google’s recent deal with Spotify is a sign that the search giant is searching for mega accounts to bring scale to its cloud efforts as well.

If there is one thing I really miss from my old life, it is chance to sit with Werner — whose interests in Leica Cameras, Music and his fondness for all kinds of Asian food perfectly syncs up with my preferences.

March 12, 2016, San Francisco