Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon.com that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms operated from server farms located across 16 geographical regions worldwide. AWS allows organizations to access shared computing and storage resources over the internet rather than building and maintaining their own infrastructure. Some benefits of AWS include lower costs, easy management, portability, and no direct coupling between hardware and software. Large companies like Netflix, Adobe, and General Electric utilize AWS for its scalable and reliable cloud services.