Amazon Web Services Offers Cloud Incentives to Startups

Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Thursday launched a program for startup customers to use its cloud service, which includes training, developer resources and a community aimed at bringing other startups and third parties together. Called AWS Activate, it also gives startups credits to use its cloud service.

The AWS Activate offering consists of two packages. The Self Starter package is available for any startup. It includes an AWS Free Usage Tier, one month of support for developers, technical training, credit for one AWS training lab and access to Amazon's Startup Forum, AWS evangelist Jeff Barr said in a blog post. 

Those qualifying for the Portfolio package are startups that have received venture capital, seed, accelerator or incubator funding. Portfolio members receive one month to one year of AWS business-level support, AWS Technical Professional and AWS Essentials training, and credit for four self-paced AWS training labs.

"Startups operate in a world of high uncertainty and limited capital, so an elastic and on-demand infrastructure at low and variable cost aligns very naturally with their needs," said Amazon CTO Werner Vogels in a blog post. "By reducing the cost of failure and democratizing access to infrastructure, the cloud has enabled more startups to build, experiment, and scale. AWS Activate is designed to provide startups with the resources they need to build applications on AWS."

Vogels noted the first to provide specialized offers to participants in the program include Opscode, provider of the Chef configuration, cloud management and automation tools; AlertLogic, a cloud security provider; and SOASTA's testing tools.

Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on 10/10/2013 at 3:48 PM