Question

Difficulty: EasyUnderstand concepts of cloud economics

A logistics startup is launching a new delivery tracking application. To keep initial costs low, the startup decides to host the application on AWS to avoid buying physical servers and instead pay a variable monthly rate based on their actual resource consumption. Which of the following terms describes this financial transition?

  1. A
    A transition from a monolithic architecture to a loosely coupled design
  2. A shift from capital expenses (CapEx) to operating expenses (OpEx)Answer
  3. C
    A shift from operating expenses (OpEx) to capital expenses (CapEx)
  4. D
    A transition from a migration strategy of rehosting to replatforming

Answer

A shift from capital expenses (CapEx) to operating expenses (OpEx)
The correct answer is the option stating a shift from capital expenses (CapEx) to operating expenses (OpEx). By choosing to host the application on AWS rather than purchasing physical hardware, the startup avoids upfront capital expenses and instead pays a variable monthly cost based on usage, which is classified as an operating expense.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the financial characteristics of the startup's on-premises option.
Buying physical servers requires significant upfront money, which represents capital expenses (CapEx).
To understand the starting point of the financial transition.
2
Analyze the financial characteristics of the AWS cloud option.
Paying a variable monthly rate based on actual resource consumption represents operating expenses (OpEx).
To understand the destination point of the financial transition.
3
Combine the analyses to determine the direction of the transition.
The transition goes from capital expenses (CapEx) to operating expenses (OpEx).
To identify the correct concept that matches the scenario.

Key Concept

Shifting from upfront capital expenses (CapEx) to variable operating expenses (OpEx) is a major economic benefit of the AWS Cloud.
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