AWS opens Local Zone data center in Amsterdam
AWS is expanding its AWS Local Zones locations. It concerns no fewer than 32 new Local Zones in 26 countries. Amsterdam will also have an AWS Local Zone.
With AWS Local Zones, the tech giant is bringing infrastructure closer to locations where many people live and work. The rationale for this is that organizations can handle minimal latency. This makes it easier for them to deliver services that use very limited latency, live streaming, AR and VR solutions, and virtual desktop environments.
Type of Edge Locations
The local AWS locations make it easy and fast to migrate their applications to a public cloud environment and thus provide cloud functionality to branches of their own on-premises data centers. Other functionality is being able to comply with laws and regulations that require a local presence.
In general, AWS Local Zones can actually be seen as large ‘edge locations’. Each Local Zone is managed through a control plane in the parent AWS region that contains the Local Zone.
Significant expansion outside the US
in the now announced expansion AWS is expanding the AWS Local Zones to 32 new locations in 26 countries. Until now, this ‘edge functionality’ was only available in 16 locations in the United States. The various new Local Zones are located in Canada, all outside the North American continent, in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. In the Netherlands, an AWS Local Zone is now established in Amsterdam. There is also a location in Brussels.
It is striking that in Europe there are no locations in France, Italy, Spain and a number of smaller EU countries. For example, Germany has two AWS Local Zones, in Berlin and Munich. Scandinavia is covered by locations in Copenhagen and Oslo. Vienna and Warsaw should cover Central Europe and Athens probably the Balkans.