Today, cloud computing has become the new normal, and forward-looking companies worldwide are closing down their physical datacenters and embracing the freedom of cloud-based infrastructure.

The leading provider of that infrastructure is, of course, Amazon Web Services. But where did it all begin for AWS? In his fascinating FutureStack: London presentation last month, Ian Massingham, AWS chief evangelist, answered that question and more.

Originally, Ian explained, “We realized that it would be more efficient and quicker for our builders if we equipped them with a set of standardized technology components that they could reuse when they were trying to solve problems and build new systems and products.”

But the company also had customers in mind, and when Amazon S3 launched in April 2006, it soon proved popular among start-ups reluctant to burn money on fixed resources. By 2011, large and established enterprise customers were catching on, too.

Today, AWS is proud of the cloud-powered transformations being enjoyed by so many of its customers. Take mutual AWS and New Relic customer Trainline, for example: Just 18 months after moving to the cloud, Trainline is saving $1.5M annually and dealing with 60% less downtime.

So what’s the secret to AWS’s success? To discover the processes and practices that power the company’s fierce pace of innovation, watch Ian’s full talk in the video below:

This article originally published on the New Relic blog.