Amazon Web Services vs Salesforce Lightning Platform

August 19, 2023 | Author: Michael Stromann
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Amazon Web Services
Access a reliable, on-demand infrastructure to power your applications, from hosted internal applications to SaaS offerings. Scale to meet your application demands, whether one server or a large cluster. Leverage scalable database solutions. Utilize cost-effective solutions for storing and retrieving any amount of data, any time, anywhere.
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Salesforce Lightning Platform
Salesforce Lightning Platform is the proven cloud platform to automate and extend your business and deliver the social enterprise. Salesforce Lightning Platform is an extremely powerful, scalable and secure cloud platform, delivering a complete technology stack covering the ground from database and security to workflow and user interface. Build the social, mobile apps you need to power your Social Enterprise.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Salesforce Lightning Platform are both cloud-based platforms, but they have different focuses and cater to different needs. AWS is a comprehensive and widely adopted cloud computing platform that offers a vast array of infrastructure services, including computing power, storage, databases, and networking. It provides organizations with the building blocks to develop, deploy, and scale applications and services. AWS offers flexibility, scalability, and a wide range of services to meet diverse business requirements. On the other hand, Salesforce Lightning Platform, developed by Salesforce, is a low-code development platform that focuses on building business applications, particularly with a strong emphasis on customer relationship management (CRM). It provides a visual development environment, pre-built components, and seamless integration with Salesforce's suite of business applications. Salesforce Lightning Platform enables organizations to rapidly build and customize applications that enhance customer engagement and streamline business processes.

See also: Top 10 Public Cloud Platforms
Amazon Web Services vs Salesforce Lightning Platform in our news:

2020. AWS launches Amazon AppFlow, its new SaaS integration service


AWS has recently launched Amazon AppFlow, an integration service designed to simplify data transfer between AWS and popular SaaS applications such as Google Analytics, Marketo, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Slack, Snowflake, and Zendesk. Similar to competing services like Microsoft Azure's Power Automate, developers can configure AppFlow to trigger data transfers based on specific events, predetermined schedules, or on-demand requests. Unlike some competitors, AWS positions AppFlow primarily as a data transfer service rather than an automation workflow tool. While the data flow can be bidirectional, AWS's emphasis is on moving data from SaaS applications to other AWS services for further analysis. To facilitate this, AppFlow includes various tools for data transformation as it passes through the service.


2019. AWS launches fully-managed backup service for business


Amazon's cloud platform, AWS, has introduced a new service called Backup, allowing companies to securely back up their data from various AWS services as well as their on-premises applications. For on-premises data backup, businesses can utilize the AWS Storage Gateway. This service enables users to define backup policies and retention periods according to their specific requirements. It includes options such as transferring backups to cold storage for EFS data or deleting them entirely after a specified duration. By default, the data is stored in Amazon S3 buckets. While most of the supported services already offer snapshot creation capabilities (except for EFS file systems), Backup automates this process and adds customizable rules to enhance data protection. Notably, the pricing for Backup aligns with the costs associated with using the snapshot features (except for file system backup, which incurs a per-GB charge).


2017. AWS launched browser-based IDE for cloud developers



Amazon Web Services has introduced a new browser-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) called AWS Cloud9. While it shares similarities with other IDEs and editors like Sublime Text, AWS emphasizes its collaborative editing capabilities and deep integration into the AWS ecosystem. The IDE includes built-in support for various programming languages such as JavaScript, Python, PHP, and more. Cloud9 also provides pre-installed debugging tools. AWS positions this as the first "cloud native" IDE, although competitors may contest this claim. Regardless, Cloud9 offers seamless integration with AWS, enabling developers to create cloud environments and launch new instances directly from the tool.


2017. AWS introduced per-second billing for EC2 instances



In recent years, several alternative cloud platforms have shifted towards more flexible billing models, primarily adopting per-minute billing. However, AWS is taking it a step further by introducing per-second billing for its Linux-based EC2 instances. This new billing model applies to on-demand, reserved, and spot instances, as well as provisioned storage for EBS volumes. Furthermore, both Amazon EMR and AWS Batch are transitioning to this per-second billing structure. It is important to note that there is a minimum charge of one minute per instance, and this change does not affect Windows machines or certain Linux distributions that have their own separate hourly charges.


2017. AWS offers a virtual machine with over 4TB of memory



Amazon's AWS has introduced its largest EC2 machine yet, the x1e.32xlarge instance, boasting an impressive 4.19TB of RAM. This represents a significant upgrade from the previous largest EC2 instance, which offered just over 2TB of memory. These machines are equipped with quad-socket Intel Xeon processors operating at 2.3 GHz, up to 25 Gbps of network bandwidth, and two 1,920GB SSDs. It is evident that only a select few applications require this level of memory capacity. Consequently, these instances have obtained certification for running SAP's HANA in-memory database and its associated tools, with SAP offering direct support for deploying these applications on these instances. It's worth mentioning that Microsoft Azure's largest memory-optimized machine currently reaches just over 2TB of RAM, while Google's maximum memory capacity caps at 416GB.


2014. AWS now supports Docker containers



Amazon has announced the preview availability of EC2 Container Services, a new service dedicated to managing Docker containers and enhancing the support for hybrid cloud in Amazon Web Services. This offering brings forth a range of benefits, including streamlined development management, seamless portability across different environments, reduced deployment risks, smoother maintenance and management of application components, and comprehensive interoperability. It is important to note that AWS is not the first cloud provider to provide support for Docker's open-source engine. Google has recently expanded its support for Docker containers through the introduction of its Google Container Engine, which is powered by its own Kubernetes and was announced just last week during the Google Cloud Platform Live event. Furthermore, Microsoft had previously announced its support for Kubernetes in managing Docker containers in Azure back in August.


2014. Amazon and Microsoft drop cloud prices



Cloud computing is witnessing a continuous decline in costs. Therefore, if you previously assessed the cost-effectiveness of migrating your IT infrastructure to the cloud and determined it to be expensive, it is worth recalculating now. Cloud platforms have significantly reduced their prices, and another round of reductions is currently underway. Starting tomorrow, the pricing for Amazon S3 cloud storage will decrease by 6-22% (depending on the amount of space used), while the cost of cloud server hard drives (Amazon EBS) will drop by 50%. Additionally, Microsoft's cloud platform, Windows Azure, will lower its prices by 20% a month later to ensure they remain slightly below Amazon's. Given these developments, it's worth reconsidering the need to invest in an in-house server when the cost of cloud services is approaching zero.


2014. Salesforce ahead of Microsoft and Google on the Enterprise PaaS market



Gartner, an analytical company, has recently released the latest Magic Quadrant for aPaaS (Application Platform as a Service) providers. What exactly is aPaaS? It refers to the PaaS (Platform as a Service) platforms specifically designed for enterprises. These platforms offer cloud services tailored for building and running business applications, excluding games and social-oriented applications. The top spot in this market, with a significant lead, is held by Salesforce and its platforms Force.com (now known as Salesforce1 Platform) and Heroku. Microsoft secures the second position with its Windows Azure platform, while Google occupies the third place with its Google App Engine. The remaining participants in this market trail behind these three industry giants. It is worth noting the surprising absence of Amazon, despite equipping its platform with PaaS tools for simple hosting of business applications.


2013. Salesforce launches Private AppExchange - the own App Store for your company


Usually Salesforce unveils a bunch of new products and news at the November Dreamforce event, but this year they decided to start beforehand. Over the last couple of weeks, they have already launched the single sign-on service Salesforce Identity, announced the death of Do.com and few days ago - released Private AppExchange - the private app store that any company can create for its employees. And, in this store company can "sell" employees not just mobile apps, but also web-based services and desktop apps. It can contain both privately-built applications and third-party products, taken from the public AppExchange. At first glance, it look like a useful thing only for IT administrator who can create a list of allowed applications, provide app access to certain employees, monitor their usage and pay for all licenses from single place. But it's also suitable for employees. For example, they can write app reviews, discuss app performance with their colleagues and troll the administrator if app doesn't work as it should. ***


2012. Google and Amazon reduce cloud storage prices. Launch new cloud services



Competition - is good for customers. On Monday, Google reduced prices for its Google Cloud Storage by over 20%, and today, in response, Amazon has reduced prices for its S3 storage by 25%. Obviously, in the near future, Microsoft will also reduce prices for Windows Azure, to bring them to the competitive level - about $0.09/month per GB. The same story occured in March when Amazon lowered prices, and then Microsoft and Google aligned their pricing with Amazon. Because on the cloud platforms market the price is no longer a competitive advantage, but your pricing is higher than the competition - is't a big disadvantage. Some experts already doubt that Amazon and the contenders are earning something on selling gigabytes and gigahertzs. Like in case with the mobile market, the main task of cloud vendors - is to hook up large companies and SaaS-providers to their platforms, even if they should sell computing resources at a loss. ***

Author: Michael Stromann
Michael is an expert in IT Service Management, IT Security and software development. With his extensive experience as a software developer and active involvement in multiple ERP implementation projects, Michael brings a wealth of practical knowledge to his writings. Having previously worked at SAP, he has honed his expertise and gained a deep understanding of software development and implementation processes. Currently, as a freelance developer, Michael continues to contribute to the IT community by sharing his insights through guest articles published on several IT portals. You can contact Michael by email stromann@liventerprise.com