Amazon unveils ElastiCache

Amazon has taken the wraps off its latest offering, which enables caching services for its customers.

ElastiCache is available to users of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and is said to speed up the retrieval of information from web applications by introducing caching technologies.

Caching is a core part of so many web applications today, but running your own caching infrastructure is time-consuming and rarely adds differentiated value for your business.[/]pquote]

This will help businesses manage web applications they run as part of their own company, as well as their public facing ones with varying demands.

Up until now companies have had to implement their own caching technologies on AWS but now it is Amazon who will "shoulder the responsibility."

"Caching is a core part of so many web applications today, but running your own caching infrastructure is time-consuming and rarely adds differentiated value for your business," said Raju Gulabani, vice president of database services at AWS.

"Amazon ElastiCache answers one of the most highly requested functionalities of AWS customers by providing a managed, flexible and resilient caching service in the cloud."

Customers can implement cache clusters onto their web applications with the ability to scale memory up or down through the number of cache nodes deployed, depending on workload needs.

The cache nodes, running Memcached software, are also automatically replaced if one fails to guarantee better uptime.

This latest service addition helps Amazon become more convincing as a place to run an entire application stack, rather than just elements of the platform.

As with all its services, ElastiCache will be charged on a per use basis and Amazon claims prices could start as low as $0.095 an hour, depending on the size of the cache nodes.

The service is available immediately and Amazon says it will take minutes to implement.