Last week reports surfaced indicating that Eli Lilly, a marquee customer of Amazon’s Web Services, had decided against expanding its use of the hosted services after the companies failed to agree on liability terms. Some analysts have concluded that Amazon is essentially unwilling to negotiate contract terms and may not be serious about targeting enterprise customers.
Amazon cloud hosting services (AWS) has declined to comment on the specifics of its contract with Eli Lilly, but said that the pharmaceutical company continues to be a customer of Amazon’s Web Services and that both companies are pleased with their current relationship. Eli Lilly also confirmed that it continues to employ a variety of Amazon Web Services.
In an interview, the head of Amazon’s Web Services said that the company does negotiate contract terms with enterprises and is interested in attracting customers of all sizes. He also said that large companies may need to adjust their expectations when starting to use the cloud.
“We absolutely negotiate enterprise agreements with enterprises who want something more tailored” than the stock customer agreement that Amazon offers on its Web Services sites, said Adam Selipsky, vice president of Amazon Web Services.
