AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Small Firms Tap Amazon’s Juice - The Wall Street Journal

Web-Services Unit Gains Popularity Renting Storage, Server Capacity

When Internet start-up Renkoo Inc. created a program called Booze Mail in June, its chief technology officer, Joyce Park, didn’t want to set the program up on the company’s main computer infrastructure. Instead, she signed up for Amazon.com Inc.

By doing so, Ms. Park joined a growing group of start-ups and entrepreneurs now turning to an unusual ally: Amazon. The Seattle Internet company, known for being one of the Web’s biggest e-tailers, has recently been focused on delivering online services to small businesses through a unit known as its Web Services division. The unit provides services such as storage and advanced computing capacity, making Amazon an increasingly popular tech destination for small companies that don’t want to pay upfront for their own computer infrastructure.

In Renkoo’s case, the Redwood City, Calif., social-planning-tools company was concerned that its Booze Mail program — a Facebook application that lets users send virtual “drinks” to friends — might overload its computers if it attracted lots of online users. So Ms. Park turned to Amazon to “rent” server computers and computing capacity and keep Booze Mail off Renkoo’s main computer system.

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