Comcast partners with AWS as it struggles to fight cord-cutting disruption

Cloud providers are eager to brag about their customers and Amazon has received a big prize today by announcing that Comcast chose AWS as the preferred provider of the cloud.

What does this mean exactly? Comcast probably puts most of its workloads in the cloud on AWS. At a time when Comcast is fighting the trend of cable, it may be important to be able to create cloud services and applications that distinguish them from a simple content provider.

These services include features such as voice search via the Comcast Remote or the Xfinity TV Remote App, which lets you see what is currently turned on and lets you choose which programs you record on your DVR. They also created XFi, an application that gives customers more control over their Comcast WiFi networks.

Comcast has used a number of AWS services, such as computing, storage and analysis, to help generate these applications. The company hopes that by using this relationship, cloud flexibility can be used to keep fighting malfunctions.

Nowadays, everything you need from Comcast and other cable providers is access to the internet. With a streaming device such as Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV or Google Chromecast, you can make a large number of choices, usually at a lower cost than cable TV subscriptions.

Cutting the cord is faster than expected. According to eMarketer's survey, more than 22 million people have dropped their cable subscriptions last year, a 33% increase over 2016. Not all Comcast customers are, of course, but the trend must be to be the company concerned.

With so many substantive options, even Comcast, who also owns NBC Universal, has ended up in a crisis. One way to combat this disruptive power is to offer content-based services to differentiate themselves from other offers such as Netflix and Hulu, not to mention purer cable alternatives such as Hulu Live TV, Playstation Vue and YouTube TV.

AWS is by far the largest provider of cloud infrastructure. Comcast is one of the leading providers of cable television with 22.5 million subscribers. AT & T had slightly more than 25 million subscribers, both based on last year's figures.