Cloud computing has truly revolutionized data storage and processing. It has made it incredibly easy for companies and startups to rent a complete and highly flexible IT infrastructure.

Why Companies Choose Cloud Computing?

Several statistics published by the Hosting Tribunal show web-based cloud computing services’ incredible power and popularity. According to reports, the worldwide cloud computing market is set to cross US$ 330 billion in annual revenue by end of 2020. Well over 30% of companies today use cloud services in one form or another, with hybrid cloud adoption (cloud servers + conventional servers) exceeding 57% in 2020. A survey showed that users highlighted the cloud technology’s ability to allow access from anywhere as the main reason for shifting their IT aspects to cloud servers.

These stats prove just how popular and incredibly vast cloud technology has evolved. Of the several top cloud service providers, Amazon Web Services (AWS) leads the global market with a 31% market share. AWS has over 1 million active enterprise customers spread over 190 countries worldwide. AWS reportedly collaborates with over 10,000 members in its global partner network and provides over 3,000 software products from reliable 3rd party vendors. With annual revenue exceeding US$ 40 billion in 2019, AWS maintains its hold on the larger market share.

Why are AWS EC2 Reserved Instances (RIs) so Popular?

Amazon Web Services offers a scalable computing capacity with the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, AWS EC2. The AWS EC2 helps users avoid the high expense of investing in building and maintaining an in-house IT infrastructure. It is designed to help users to develop and launch applications quickly and in the most cost-efficient manner.

Amazon EC2 lets users launch any number of virtual servers they require, configure network and security settings, and manage data storage on cloud servers efficiently. The impressive scalability offered by AWS EC2 is excellent for adjusting your server requirements according to fluctuating usage, thus reducing the need to predict server traffic from your end.

Amazon offers its virtual computing environments in the form of “instances”. A Reserved Instance (RI) can be bought within two classes – Standard RI or Convertible RI. Conventionally, an RI includes a single platform type, scope, and tenancy for use over the entire purchase term of the particular usage plan.

On the other hand, depending on the offering class, you can alter your current RI or switch it with another one, which is more suitable when your computing needs change. You need to remember that every offering class has its limitations and restrictions.

Standard and Convertible RIs can be bought and applied to instances in a specific Availability Zone (called Zonal Reserved Instances) or within a specific Region (called Regional Reserved Instances).

What are Convertible RIs?

Convertible Reserved Instances (RIs) are designed so that users can replace them with another Convertible RI, provided that the new RI has the same attributes (instance type, family, scope, platform, tenancy, etc.) as the original Convertible RI. Several attributes of Convertible RIs can be also be modified.

In simple terms, Convertible RIs allow users to switch environments as long as the properties of the new and original RIs match.

When AWS launched the Convertible RIs in 2016, it became an incredibly innovative and cost-effective solution for small enterprises and startups as the ideal IT solution. The impressive flexibility offered by AWS Convertible RIs allowed users to modify, split or merge Convertible RIs. This ensures the user gets the best-suited and most efficient cloud computing environment.

Advantages of AWS Convertible RIs

Convertible RIs are popular thanks to their incredible scalability. The ability to allow users to switch to a cheaper and better-performing virtual environment whenever they feel the need to do so is the most prominent advantage offered by Convertible RIs.

It is incredibly easy to merge, split, alter or switch Convertible RIs if you follow simple rules. However, you can expand the benefits of AWS Convertible RIs by choosing the right payment model from the three – No Upfront, Partial Upfront and All Upfront.

Conclusion

AWS Convertible RIs have helped numerous enterprises to acquire cutting-edge cloud computing solutions at highly discounted rates in the market. This has helped the enterprises to grow at a steady and cost-efficient rate.

AWS Partial Upfront Payment Model

AWS EC2 Dashboard


AUTHOR

Steve is a product-marketer and Engineer at Cloudysave who works with Cloud Management and Adoption team. Over the past years, he has collaborated with multiple teams to provide a robust and cost-effective architecture patterns to influence business and engineering decisions. His key areas of interests include Cloud Costs Management, Security and DevOps Best-Practices.