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Amazon Web Services is launching AWS OpsWorks, an application management system.  OpsWorks provides lifecycle management capabilities for those building applications in the cloud, including resource provisioning, configuration management, deployment, monitoring, and access control.

Application management traditionally has been complex and adds cost to development.  OpsWorks addresses these issues by providing an end-to-end, flexible, and automated solution for more operational control over applications.   At least according to AWS.

There is no additional charge for AWS OpsWorks.  You pay for the AWS resources needed to store and run their applications.  AWS OpsWorks is available in all public AWS Regions.

If you have not got it yet, the application development, testing, deployment, and management technology is moving quickly to the cloud.  The OpsWorks tool is just the latest instance of this trend.  Most PaaS providers, including Google App Engine, Red Hat’s OpenShift, and Microsoft Azure, have similar features.

The advantage that cloud-delivered application management systems have over their on-premise counterparts is better capabilities to collaborate, and access to resources that can be self- or auto-provisioned.  Gone soon will be the days of developers waiting around for boxes of hardware and software to show up on the loading dock.  It’s about time.