Amazon.Com Executive Summary

Amazon uses the components of a database to create usable knowledge for people. Amazon is moving away from being a just an online retailer and is competing with Google and Microsoft through business to business transactions based in data storage and data imagery. Many new components are used in Amazons Elastic Cloud Computing application to create data images for multiple user interfaces.

Database Components used by Amazon. com: Data management issues The components of a of a database are a logical grouping of data, tables, fields, values, Question Assignment, forms, reports, modules and data base management system according to Rainer and Turban (2008). Amazon provides data storage (S3), applications they call elastic cloud computing (EC2), simpleDB and Mechanical Turk to other businesses. When businesses use S3 through Amazon special software extracts data from businesses and sends it to a data warehouse in summary form.

Using EC2 users are able to design their own software applications (Myerson, 2008).

The database components of EC2 very by region but contain Images, Security Groups, SSH Keys, Elastic IPs, EBS Volumes, EBS Snapshots that can not be shared between regions (Right Scale, 2009). All obtained from businesses for EC2 are an image of the original. According to Amazon (2009) simple DB is a web application that allows users to interact with data indexing and Question Assignmenting quickly because it does not store the data in raw form. Amazon offers a service which it calls the Mechanical Turk.

Information is processed by humans and converted to usable knowledge through this service. The Mechanical Turk provides access to networks of people who process information that can only be processed by the human mind. End users can see the results of the EC2 service and the Mechanical Turk (Rainer & Turban, p. 26). Data, information, and knowledge Amazon. com: e-business and e-commerce for B2B and B2C According to Rainer and Turban (2008) Business to business (B2B) entails all transactions made between businesses.

Rainer and Turban (2008) also suggest that business to customer (B2C) entails all transactions made between businesses and customers. Rainer and Turban (2008) discuss transaction made over the internet as E-Commerce. E-business means all online transactions including all Internet based interactions with B2B and B2C; E-business transforms business processes for high efficiency (Rainer and Turban, 2008). Amazon uses S3, EC2, SimpleDB and the Mechanical Turk to create an even flow of data that is converted into information for businesses by applications created by users in the EC2 service.

The information is converted into knowledge for customers and businesses by the Mechanical Turk. Amazon uses both e-business and e-eCommerce to service its customers, collaborate with partners and perform electronic transactions between organizations. Amazon sells products to businesses and organizations electronically from an e-marketplace. Amazon invites individuals to its site to view catalogs and place orders. Uses of the Amazon. com database: data management issues

Amazon encounters problems with managing some data, like any organization dealing with large databases. The Mechanical Turk system is only as reliable as the network of people supporting it. The S3 product, which stores data for clients, will continue to received large amounts of data which must be readily available for the people who use it. When converting the data into information and applications using the EC2 product, which is a cloud computing service that Amazon offers, Amazon will need to support people who do not have much experience with computing.

EC2 creates images of user data and an image has the distinct ability to become corrupted overtime through application bugs and human error. Much of the data management problem is due to human error (Rainer & Turban, pp. 26 and 106). Reese (2008) suggests that nobody knows how well Amazon is protecting information in the EC2 cloud. The cloud doesn’t operate with a firewall and if someone successfully subpoenaed Amazon for all there data, personal data would be included. Movement away from being a leading online retailer

Amazon is moving away from being a leading online retailer because of increasing competition and overspending on infrastructure. According to Rainer and Turban (2008), Amazon was not using up to 90% of its computing capacity and made the good economical decision to increase profits by decreasing its expenses on unused infrastructure and compete in the markets of data storage, computing, travel and financial services, web hosting, and film and software development, which changed the companies overall direction. Amazon. om is competes with Google™ and Microsoft® Microsoft and Google are offering products similar to Amazon’s S3 product and EC2 product.

Microsoft entered into the business of cloud computing on the back of Amazon but has more money, fully developed relationships with third-party developers and a superior background in building software platforms. The offering that Google and Microsoft are supplying and Amazon is competing with is Simple storage service. Microsoft’s cloud computing service is called Windows AZURE (Reuters and Newscientist, 2008).

Windows Azure features computer processing, storage hosting and web application management from Microsoft data centers (Microsoft, 2009). Amazon is saving on operating costs and putting its currently unused infrastructure to work by making it available for rent to other companies and individuals who need it (Rainer & Turban, 2008). Conclusion Amazon has proven that its business decisions are sound, safe, reliable and profitable. Amazon remains profitable because it continues to discover new ways to enhance the stability and growth of its business.

When many e-companies went out of business after the dot-com bubble burst, Amazon persevered. Amazon maintained a steady course and its wise decision-making proved profitable.

References

• Amazon web services, (2009). Amazon SimpleDB. Retrieved May 4, 2009, from Amazon Web Services Web site: http://aws. amazon. com/simpledb/
• Microsoft, (2009). Windows azure. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from Azure services platform Web site: http://www. microsoft. com/azure/windowsazure. mspx Myerson, Judith (2008, May 13).
• Creating application with amazon EC2 and S3. Retrieved May 11, 2009, from O’REILLY ONLamp. com Web site: http://www. onlamp. com/pub/a/onlamp/2008/05/13/creating-applications-with-amazon-ec2-and-s3. html
• Rainer, K. R. , & Turban, E. , (Ed. ). (2009). Introduction to information systems: Supporting and transforming business. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-Text]. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Retrieved May 2, 2009, from BIS 219. Reese, G. (2008, November 3). Key security issues for the amazon cloud. Retrieved May 4, 2009, from O’Reilly Web site: http://broadcast. oreilly. om/2008/11/key-security-issues-for-the-am. html
• Reuters and Newscientist, (2008). Microsoft announces windows for the cloud. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from Newscientists Tech Web site: http://www. newscientist. com/article/dn15053-microsoft-announces-windows-for-the-cloud. html
• Right Scale, (2009). EC2 regions: US & EU. Retrieved May 11, 2009, from Right Scale Web site: http://wiki. rightscale. com/index. php? title=2. _References/02-Cloud_Infrastructures/01-Amazon_Web_Services_(AWS)/02-Amazon_EC2/EC2_Regions:__EC2-US_%26_EC2-EU