Is Amazon’s EC2 generating $220M per year?

The analysis leaves a lot to be desired, but the conclusions of CloudScaling’s Randy Bias cannot be ignored. And while simple, the math is grounded in reasonable assumptions and backed by independent sources.

His figure puts AWS revenue for EC2 alone at almost $220 million annually. This is real revenue. And we think he estimate for S3 revenues is way low – the bandwidth costs alone are enormous. There are some interesting points raised in the comments. Care to raise any here?

How does Rackspace’s Cloud Files stack up against S3?

We’re very interested in feedback on the newly launched Cloud Files services from Rackspace. The Rackers posted a very interesting blog entry that included performance analysis and cost comparisons that pits their service squarely against Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3). If you are using the Cloud Files system, please post a comment and let us (and our readers) know what you think.

Shortly, we will be adding the Rackspace storage service to our directory (just gathering a little info for now)…

Amazon S3 pricing changes – new tiered approach

Amazon S3 appears to be the clear leader in providing storage-as-a-service to developers and firms. They continued to make their offer more compelling this week by announcing new tiered storage pricing. For larger firms (or small firms storing larger amounts of data), this may create further barriers to entry for upstarts like San Diego-based Nirvanix and the soon-to-be-launched Rackspace Cloud Storage Service.

Let’s keep our eyes on the performance – if Amazon can avoid any of the noticeable outages they suffered during the past year, it will be difficult to unseat them.

FYI – wish we could take credit for breaking this news, but TechCrunch beat us to it.

BeInSync Acquired By Phoenix Technologies

Phoenix Technologies (Nasdaq: PTEC), a leading maker of firmware, announced their purchase of storage service BeInSync today. BeInSync offers synchronization and online access services to consumers and small businesses and makes use of Amazon’s S3 storage service.

Looks like The Standard scooped the story. They reported a $22M purchase price. Sounds like a steal for Phoenix, if BeInSync’s claim of 4 million users is accurate…

Thoughts?

Wells Fargo to offer online storage – analyst suggests partnerships…

Wells Fargo wants to secure more than just your money – they’re getting into the online storage game, reports Judy Mottl at Enterprise Storage Forum. She says that the newly announced Wells Fargo vSafe will be deployed by year’s end.

Also interesting is the observation of analyst Bob Laliberte of the Enterprise Strategy Group. He suggests that institution like banks that don’t focus on storage solutions will partner with dedicated firms, such as those who have built solution utilizing infrastructure-on-demand platforms like Amazon’s S3 or Nirvanix. Two that jump to mind are ElephantDrive (uses Amazon’s platform or ElasticDrive (uses Nirvanix).