European business leaders welcome Amazon’s new Frankfurt cloud data centres
Policymakers and business strategists across the EU have welcomed the launch of Amazon’s new region in Germany, its second to be based on EU soil. Amazon Web Services, which now has eleven regions worldwide, already had European infrastructure in its AWS EU (Ireland) region.
The new AWS EU (Frankfurt) region creates scope for many more European businesses to advance into cloud computing. It currently comprises two connected data centres in separately managed physical locations, each with its own security, power source, and cooling facilities for more reliable service availability. It’s also the third AWS region to be set up to run on carbon-neutral power.
The obvious immediate potential is offered to German companies previously prevented, by computer security policies, from using offshore facilities (such as those in Ireland) for cloud storage of sensitive or mission critical data. Many German businesses, including insurers and media companies, were already using AWS cloud services where possible, but will now be moving more of their data and operations into the cloud, further fuelling the international trend.
The development creates potential for businesses in all EU countries to benefit from increased cloud capacity, as businesses across the whole of Europe better distribute and manage their data storage across more data centres. Cloud computing offers huge potential to businesses of all sizes, but is particularly valued by SMEs because of its flexibility, which can result in significant savings at the critical start-up stage.
Andy Jassy, AWS Senior Vice President, told American news site, Business Wire: “By opening a second European region, and situating it in Germany, we’re enabling German customers to move more workloads to AWS, allowing European customers to architect across multiple EU regions, and better balancing our substantial European growth.”
Kevin Comolli of London venture capitalists Accel Partners said: “Cloud technologies have transformed the landscape for start-ups in Europe. Entrepreneurs are no longer constrained by technology resources or their location, as cloud makes it possible for anyone with a great idea to build a global business quickly and reach millions of customers around the world.”
