Taking it to the Cloud: Amazon's AWS

We touched on this in class in b-school, but it will be interesting to see how Amazon fares with their cloud computing business, known as Amazon Web Services (AWS).  It is certainly a strong growth opportunity for the electronic commerce company, a company that is now larger than IBM and Walt Disney in market cap, and on the brink of becoming one of the largest conglomerates. Amazon is now a mega-corp made up of an e-commerce company, a hardware and device maker, a government services provider, a cloud computing and marketing company, a transportation and logistics outfit, a lender, a payment processor, and a warehouse operator. WHEW.  Earnings were released last Thursday, with $1.56 billion in sales the first quarter, up 49% from the year earlier. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has called AWS a "$5 billion business." Industry experts are watching this roll-out like a hawk. Key success factors will be the adoption of the large enterprise business, which will come hand in hand with businesses trusting Amazon to control mass quantities of valuable corporate data, a cultural shift to boot.

Above: CEO Jeff Bezos.

Campaign Stool

I'm increasingly impressed by Serena & Lily's furniture products as of late, and this leather stool does not disappoint. For product specs, visit here.  

On the Market: A Villa in the French Riviera

Panoramic views of the Mediterranean Sea, a rose garden, a vegetable garden, a covered terrace and ocean breezes for days.... this home in the French Riviera is on the market. To view this property and more, visit here.

Sweet Sentiments from Julia Child

I loved this article in the WSJ about a Thank You letter Julia Child sent Legal Sea Foods' President and Executive Roger Berkowitz. While the American chef was teaching us how to 'Mast[er] The Art of French Cooking' she was also a regular at their seafood post, acquiring fresh fish at their fish counter. Julia was known for encouraging Americans to cook and consume more seafood, and had a particular penchant for oysters. For her 92nd birthday, Mr. Berkowitz and his Father sent her a clam bake to her California home, and Julia was smitten. So smitten she wrote them a hand written thank you note (a gal after my own heart), a note that they have held on to all of these years. Read more, here.