Amazon Web Services has launched an interesting new service for low-CPU usage scenarios, in which tiny T2 compute instances provide a known base-level of computing power but can also provide more capacity on demand if needs increase. This "bursting up" is charged to CPU credits that users accumulate during times of less usage.
This is something organizations have been waiting for since Google launched a similar credit-for-capacity scenario with its cloud services. Amazon noted the service is good for Amazon workspaces (remote desktop), development environments, websites with low traffic and smaller databases. Any application that is recognized as having periods of low CPU use interrupted by high-usage spikes would benefit from the new provision.
Any time computing spikes during these periods, the bursting takes place and the credits can be used to distribute that capacity as needed. It is a much better alternative to wasting money and power (electricity, CPU, etc.) on having a lot of capacity at times when it is not needed. It also confronts the problem of not having enough.
These new credits are reportedly similar to the idea of Amazon's generic solid state drives that allow AWS users to aggregate burst potential. Google announced its sustained use of discounts back in March, so it seems AWS is seeking to stay competitve in service offerings as companies around them push the envelope further in terms of flexible options for enterprises.
The tiny T2 instances are considerably more affordable than M3 counterparts that carry a price tag of .070 cents per hour when needed. The T2 instances are available at .052 cents per hour. These prices represent the medium-level instances. The M3 instances are backed by SSD, though, and the T2 are not.
With other competitors in the market, and new ones moving in, Amazon will likely continue to improve upon its offerings to stay competitive with other cloud computing services.
"Amazon EC2 provides an unmatched selection of instances to support customers running whatever workload they want on AWS. Some of our customers have requested instance types that optimize their performance and cost for applications that don't use the full CPU capability frequently, but require the full CPU resources for short bursts," Matt Garman, vice president of Amazon EC2 at Amazon Web Services said. "T2 instances address this need by providing a consistent baseline performance with the ability to burst to full CPU core performance -- all at a very low cost."
That low cost is certainly important to the ever-increasing number of small- and midsize businesses adapting their business models to the cloud. The AWS EC2 and the T2 instances will help organizations better manage their expenses and pay only when they need, when their workload significantly increases. Various industries including software and web development, education and gaming have begun to utilize the credits from Amazon already.
It was also reported that these instances can be paired with solid state storage available in the Elastic Block Store. AWS T2 instances come in micro, small, and medium varieties. They can be configured as one vCPU and 1 GB of memory all the way up to two vCPUs and 4 GB, sources report. The instances are backed by Intel Xeon processors at up to 3.3-GHz clock speed. They are available in a variety of countries.
