Coming Soon: Amazon EC2 With Windows

We're getting ready to enable the use of Microsoft Windows Server on Amazon EC2 later this Fall.

You will be able to use Amazon EC2 to host highly scalable ASP.NET sites, high performance computing (HPC) clusters, media transcoders, SQL Server, and more. You can run Visual Studio (or another development environment) on your desktop and run the finished code in the Amazon cloud.

The 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows Server will be available and will be able to use all existing EC2 features such as Elastic IP Addresses, Availability Zones, and the Elastic Block Store. You'll be able to call any of the other Amazon Web Services from your application. You will, for example, be able to use the Amazon Simple Queue Service to glue cross-platform applications together.

Existing EC2 tools will be able to launch Windows-powered EC2 instances. Once launched, you can use the Windows Remote Desktop or the rdesktop tool to access your instances.

I fully expect to see this new level of flexibility used to create complex, highly scalable, heterogeneous EC2 applications using a mix of Linux, Solaris, and Windows instances, all on a pay-as-you-go basis.

The product is currently in a private beta and is scheduled for public release before the end of 2008. I will, of course, have more to say about this exciting new development as we get closer to the release date. If you'd like to be notified when this new offering is available, just let us know.

We'll be at the PDC (Professional Developers Conference) in Los Angeles at the end of October. Be sure to stop by our booth to say hello if you are at the conference.

Update: Windows instance pricing will be strictly pay-as-you-go, like our other services. Customers will only pay for as much or little as they actually use; of course the actual price will be higher than Linux-based instances, due to the cost of Windows licenses. We'll announce specific pricing when we make the service broadly available later this Fall.

-- Jeff;

Comments

[M. David Peterson]

*WOW*! WOW, WOW, ****WOOOOOOW******!!!

[Richard Waldvogel]

[rubbing eyes, wiping tears]

The sun is going to shine a little bit brighter tomorrow. This is fantastic news and big props to the AWS team and Microsoft for making this happen, wow.

I'd love to particpate in the beta if you have anymore invites left.

[Phil Derksen]

This is fantastic news!

[Simon Willison]

Will I need to obtain my own Windows licenses, or will I just be able to pay X amount per VM per hour and "rent" a license as part of that hourly payment?

[Kieran Benton]

Absolutely fantastic news! What version of Win Server is this going to support and surely there are some licensing issues to be solved?

[Simon]

Will this require the end user to purchase the windows license or will there be an additional per instance hour charge?

[Brent O.]

YOU ROCK! Thanks, guys. I can't wait!

[Tom Hearn]

I am currently working on a product which is in beta, called ImapBack (http://www.imapback.com) and this product would greatly benefit from using EC2 (it is all Windows-based). Is there any way I can obtain a membership in the beta program?

Great work guys, this will be another step at establishing your superiority in the cloud!

[Yoav Shapira]

How are you doing the licensing with Microsoft?

[Jeffrey McManus]

Exciting, but this will definitely all come down to how licencing works.

[Damon]

This is very exciting news. I hope to hear hints about the licensing as well, as this will be the deciding factor for most. If costs are way higher that may be a significant deterrent.

[Andy]

The level of community being fostered around ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC over recent months has really seemed to accelerate. It would be good to see Amazon not only providing this great sounding facility, but actively driving a community around it. As it really could get a huge number of people very enthusiastic.

[Eric Mason]

I wonder if this will be based on Xen or one of the other virtualization technologies that are better supported by Microsoft like VMWare or Virtuozzo.

Also, regarding licensing, Microsoft's Datacenter Edition seems to offer "Unlimited virtualization rights" so I would imagine it will be included. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/news/bulletins/datacenterhighavail.mspx

I would also imagine it will cost more than the Linux-based instances.

[Darren Stuart]

I am really excited about this as I am a .net developer and do all my personal projects in .net for speed.

my only concern is the pricing for this will not make it a viable option for those with a tight budget. If its more than a vds I don't think it will be anywhere near as successful. However if it is then its game changing for windows web hosting which is much needed.

[Divya]

Will you be able to use your own Windows licenses?

[Ajay]

now i will also planning to use Amazon EC2 with windows os

[Travis Spencer]

Will Windows Server 2008 be supported or only 2003?

[Robert B. Morshe]

This is excellent news. It provides total alignment between my current position and future plans. AWS should expect some immediate far more intense use of its resources - at least, I plan to -- while I build my AWS-centric solutions (just, please stay in business forever).

I'll be offering canned ERP solutions for a fraction of the usual price on Windows - AWS style - within 1 to 2 days from Windows on AWS launch date!