Seattle-based Amazon Web Services announced today it has introduced a new cloud-computing service based on graphics processing units (GPUs). Portland, OR-based Elemental Technologies is the first company to offer cloud-based services for video transcoding on top of Amazon Web Services.
Elemental is going after broadcast and online video customers in its push to become the go-to supplier of technologies that help people watch high-quality video on any device, anytime.
The target customers of Amazon’s new service, more broadly, are developers and businesses that need high-performance computing on demand. GPUs are powerful graphics chips that provide unique parallel-processing capabilities. Amazon Web Services is using chips made by Nvidia.
GigaOm reported more details and context around Elemental and Amazon last month, well ahead of any announcement.
Author: Gregory T. Huang
Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003.
Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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