Amazon WorkSpaces’ new virtual desktops will be powered by solid state drives (SSDs). A new cost optimizer has been introduced to determine the best billing option based on usage patterns.
Amazon WorkSpaces allows enterprises to offer cloud-based virtual desktops for employees. They can access documents and applications on a variety hardware such as Mac, Windows, iPad, Fire, and Android tablets, and Chromebooks along with Chrome or Firefox Web browsers.
The fully managed desktop service will now generate new instances using SSD. Users of existing WorkSpaces are able to rebuild them to increase SSD volumes.
Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), stated in a Tuesday blog post that these volumes offer better performance than magnetic volumes. This means you’ll have faster boot times and a better user-experience when you run sensitive disk latency applications.
The post also introduced the Amazon WorkSpaces Cost Optimizer, which can help reduce expenses for companies that use the service in different ways. You can choose from either the monthly billing option (which was introduced last August) or the hourly rental plan (which was introduced last September).
The tool automatically determines the most cost-effective billing option based on the detected usage patterns. It does this by leveraging multiple AWS services, such as AWS Lambda for “serverless computation” and executing code in response events.
AWS stated that you can use the solution as is, modify it for your environment, or take it apart to see how events, logging and serverless code can be used to increase efficiency in your organization in interesting ways.
