Comcast Teams Up With AWS

It was coming, it was a long time coming! Amazon got a big win today, when it announced that Comcast had chosen the AWS platform as its preferred cloud provider.

The implications of this move are high and wide.

Presumably, Comcast is going to put the majority of its cloud workloads on the Amazon Web Services platform. It is already making uses of a number of AWS services like compute, storage, and analytics. But this latest development means that the company is willing to build on this relationship.

Going all in, as they say.

Jan Hofmeyr, chief network and operations officer and SVP, Comcast Cable:

“We have deepened our strategic relationship with AWS, making the industry’s leading cloud our preferred public cloud provider. Over the years, we have leveraged the breadth and depth of AWS’s services, including compute, storage, and analytics. In that process, we’ve found AWS to be extremely customer focused.”

Awesomeness!

The deal comes hot on the heels of the launch of the AWS Elemental Media Services suite, which offers a handful of integrated service for its OTT and multiscreen video streaming partners.

As for Comcast, this change was pretty much expected, given the cord cutting phenomena that has taken hold. This research revealed that over 22 million people dropped their cable subscriptions last year, which itself is up a substantial 33% from 2016.

Of course, not all of them were Comcast customers, but the company is one of the leading cable TV providers in the US with 22.5 million subscribers. AT&T remains in the lead with 25 million, based on the numbers from last spring.

The idea of getting all the entertainment one needs via just plain old internet access, that too at a lower cost than cable subscriptions, is too good to ignore.

Same can be said of this new partnership for AWS, which is already coming off some big coups across the industries lately. Including the likes of Disney, Turner, General Electric, and more.

Goodness gracious!