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Amazon launches Lightsail virtual private server
Automattic Inc.’s WordPress content management system currently holds a 59 percent market share in content management systems, powering 27 percent of all sites on the Internet, thanks to its ease of use.
By contrast, anyone wanting to host WordPress on Amazon Web Services required some technical knowledge to install an instance on EC2. That is, until now.
Amazon announced at the re:Invent conference Wednesday that it was entering the virtual private hosting space with a new product called Lightsail that is being pitched at those who want to join the AWS ecosystem but may not have the technical knowhow, or indeed patience, to install CMS platforms such as WordPress on EC2.
Lightsail offers an easy-to-set-up backend that allows users to choose their desired configuration from a menu and then launch a virtual machine preconfigured with SSD-based storage, DNS management, and a static IP address.
Choices include the ability to pick a operating system (Amazon Linux AMI or Ubuntu), developer stack (LAMP, LEMP, MEAN, or Node.js), or application (Drupal, Joomla, Redmine, GitLab, WordPress and others), with flat-rate pricing plans that start at $5 per month including a generous allowance for data transfer.
“You get the simplicity of a VPS, backed by the power, reliability, and security of AWS,” AWS Chief Evangelist Jeff Barr said in a blog post. “As your needs grow, you will have the ability to smoothly step outside of the initial boundaries and connect to additional AWS database, messaging, and content distribution services.”
Disruption
With highly generous pricing, the well known support of Amazon, and the ability to not only scale but easily tap into complementary AWS services such as S3 and Cloudfront, Lightsail could seriously disrupt a market that particularly at the lower end is known for limited non-scaling services.
Lightsail is also targeted at low-end enterprise users as well, as Trinity Ventures Partner Dan Scholnick explained to Techcrunch:
“They are ferociously protective of their turf and are moving aggressively to shore up any part of their business that might be vulnerable to competitors. In recent years there has been a lot of talk of Amazon’s move into the enterprise. With this announcement, they are defending their flank and the original core of their business, which is to serve developers with low cost products.”
Amazon Lightsail is initially launching the US East (Northern Virginia) region, with plans to expand it to other AWS hosting regions in the near future.
Image credits: AWS
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