This holiday season, more than ever before, so much of our traditional hustle and bustle is happening online. From browsing for gifts, to video conferencing with distant loved ones, to binge-watching holiday romance specials — technology plays an important supporting role in the holidays.
What you may not know is that many of the world’s digital connections needed to make all of this possible are happening here in Dublin. That’s all due to the growing importance of the computer applications, digital systems and databases that make online commerce and entertainment possible. An essential element in all of this is “the cloud.” We can take pride in knowing that cloud computing is a technology that’s made its home right here in our community.
As the world’s consumers use computers and smartphones to buy gifts and stream entertainment for their holiday celebrations, merchants are busy stocking their online shelves and preparing their websites and digital resources for a massive influx of holiday traffic. The National Retail Federation forecasts that online and other non-store sales will increase between 10% and 12% this year to as much as $267 billion. This is up from $238.9 billion last year, which saw record growth in digital sales. By supporting all of this online activity, cloud computing allows us to have almost anything delivered to our door with the push of a button. It facilitates things like our online banking and bill paying to streaming movies to our devices at home. We all benefit from cloud computing. But, because it’s working in the background and with technologies few of us fully understand, we don’t always realize the many ways the cloud touches our daily lives or how much of this is happening so close to home.
Dublin plays an important role in cloud computing and brings benefits to consumers worldwide because we have an Amazon Web Services campus in our community. Seven years ago, Amazon sought to bring cloud computing to the center of the United States. Dublin was fortunate to be chosen by Amazon Web Services as the home for its first data center in Ohio. We’re also fortunate because we are one of the few communities in the world that has benefitted from this incredible investment.
Today, with the cloud becoming an ever more important factor in global commerce, entertainment and communications, the presence of Amazon Web Services in our community has made Dublin a hub for indispensable global technology.
This holiday season, we have good reasons to celebrate the power of the cloud and its positive impact helping our community serve the world.
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