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No, this is not a joke, you read that correctly. Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s cloud business, is without question a success. AWS is building up large data centers to sell access and offer services to the cloud to anyone who asks for it. Customers can not only store their data and take advantage of the services offered, they can even run their entire business processes there.
Getting data into the cloud can be a big challenge. If you've ever tried to upload terabytes of data, you can appreciate that. If you do not have a really fast internet connection, you can send your hard drives directly to AWS. They will import the data and return the disk. To optimize this process, AWS has developed a service called Snowball. The first Snowball hard drive version stores up to 50 terabytes (TB) of data. Customers load their data onto a Snowball drive and then ship it to AWS by courier. AWS then uploads the data to its cloud.
The initial huge demand for this service surprised Amazon, so it began producing more snowball boxes, but this effort was still not enough to satisfy demand. Customers asked for more storage capacity. Thus, the second version of the box, in form of a large, ruggedized shoe box, was upgraded with double storage capacity and built-in computing capabilities.
For customers who need even more storage capacity, Amazon has developed an XXL solution, called AWS Snowmobile. It is an exabyte-scale data transfer service that allows customers to move huge amounts of data to AWS. It consists of a 45-foot long ruggedized shipping container with a data storage capacity of up to 100 petabytes (PB). 100 PB is equal to a million 100 gigabyte hard disks. The container is pulled by a trailer truck that brings Snowmobile to a customer site or data center. AWS specialists connect a data line as thick as an arm to your company network. Then, with the support of the local IT team, the data transfer starts. The "crude oil of the 21st century" flows encrypted to the largest mobile hard drive currently rolling over the highways. According to Matt Wood, responsible for product strategy at AWS, it takes about three months for a snowmobile to completely fill with data. On top of that, it can take another three months to “unload” at AWS data centers. This may sound long, but it is much faster than an upload via normal data lines.
So if you’re thinking about moving a huge amount of data to the cloud, think about ordering a truck!
Getting data into the cloud can be a big challenge. If you've ever tried to upload terabytes of data, you can appreciate that. If you do not have a really fast internet connection, you can send your hard drives directly to AWS. They will import the data and return the disk. To optimize this process, AWS has developed a service called Snowball. The first Snowball hard drive version stores up to 50 terabytes (TB) of data. Customers load their data onto a Snowball drive and then ship it to AWS by courier. AWS then uploads the data to its cloud.
The initial huge demand for this service surprised Amazon, so it began producing more snowball boxes, but this effort was still not enough to satisfy demand. Customers asked for more storage capacity. Thus, the second version of the box, in form of a large, ruggedized shoe box, was upgraded with double storage capacity and built-in computing capabilities.
For customers who need even more storage capacity, Amazon has developed an XXL solution, called AWS Snowmobile. It is an exabyte-scale data transfer service that allows customers to move huge amounts of data to AWS. It consists of a 45-foot long ruggedized shipping container with a data storage capacity of up to 100 petabytes (PB). 100 PB is equal to a million 100 gigabyte hard disks. The container is pulled by a trailer truck that brings Snowmobile to a customer site or data center. AWS specialists connect a data line as thick as an arm to your company network. Then, with the support of the local IT team, the data transfer starts. The "crude oil of the 21st century" flows encrypted to the largest mobile hard drive currently rolling over the highways. According to Matt Wood, responsible for product strategy at AWS, it takes about three months for a snowmobile to completely fill with data. On top of that, it can take another three months to “unload” at AWS data centers. This may sound long, but it is much faster than an upload via normal data lines.
So if you’re thinking about moving a huge amount of data to the cloud, think about ordering a truck!