At the AWS Empower India event in New Delhi, Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon, addressed the audience with a powerful keynote on “The Frugal Architect.” Vogels emphasized that cost should be treated as a non-functional requirement in cloud architecture, presenting a framework that balances innovation with financial prudence and sustainability.
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“We can’t achieve this without keeping both cost and sustainability in mind. I’d like to share some history of the cloud, but more importantly, provide you with key architectural principles and insights on how we can innovate without breaking the bank—and without depleting the planet’s resources,” said Vogels while explaining the concept of “The Frugal Architect” to the audience.
Designing with Cost in Mind
Vogels introduced the concept of “The Frugal Architect” with a critical point: Cost is a Non-Functional Requirement. He explained that just like security, compliance, and performance, cost should be integrated into the early stages of system design. “I believe cost should be treated as a non-functional requirement. Non-functional requirements are those aspects of your system that don’t directly involve the business logic you’re building. Typically, these include security, compliance, performance, and availability—decisions that affect your system but aren’t tied to the core business functionality. In my view, cost and sustainability should be part of this list. When designing your systems, cost should always be a consideration. In fact, I believe that cost, sustainability, security, compliance, and accessibility are non-negotiable. These are not areas where trade-offs should be made,” Vogels advised.
He further highlighted that architecting is a series of trade-offs, and successful systems align their costs with business objectives. This principle allows companies to make cost-efficient choices without sacrificing long-term sustainability or performance.
Measuring and Observing Costs
Vogels moved on to discuss how unobserved systems lead to unknown costs, noting that a lack of visibility can escalate expenses without warning. He urged companies to implement cost-aware architectures, integrating cost controls that allow businesses to track and optimize their cloud spend. He referenced real-world examples like PBS and Zwende, illustrating how careful re-architecting led to significant cost reductions.
Incremental Cost Optimization
In the optimization phase, Vogels stressed that cost optimization is an incremental process, and overconfidence from early success can lead to expensive assumptions. Citing lessons learned from both Amazon and AWS customers, he emphasized the importance of continuously reviewing and adjusting systems to maintain cost efficiency.
Sustainability as a Parallel to Cost
Werner Vogels tied cost optimization to sustainability, stating that, “cost is a proxy for sustainability.” He underscored the responsibility of businesses to reduce their carbon footprint, especially in the cloud where efficiency directly impacts the environment.
Vogels inspired the audience to innovate responsibly, ensuring that technological advances are aligned with both financial and environmental stewardship. The frugal approach, according to him, will enable businesses to thrive in the fast-paced, competitive landscape while safeguarding resources for future generations.
