AWS unveils Australia's first local zone in Perth
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has made a significant move by launching its first local zone in Perth, Australia - an important milestone for the region. This local zone, the 29th worldwide, aims to provide customers with lower latencies when running cloud workloads, while also catering to the increasing demand for infrastructure closer to data sources and end-users.
With this new local zone, AWS aims to empower customers to deploy applications near end-users in the area. This strategic positioning allows customers to leverage low latency for use cases such as running virtual workstations, augmented reality processes, and virtual reality experiences. Additionally, the local zone benefits regulated sectors, including healthcare, the public sector, and financial services, where data residency requirements must be met.
Introducing local zones addresses situations where an AWS region might not be geographically close enough to meet low latency or data residency preferences. Customers require infrastructure closer to their data sources or end-users in such cases. Traditionally, these workloads were managed on-premises or in data centers operated by other companies, which added complexity due to different APIs and tools used in on-premises and AWS environments. But with AWS local zones, customers no longer need to procure, operate, or maintain infrastructure in multiple cities to support low-latency applications.
Sarah Bassett, Head of Australia Enterprise at AWS Australia, expressed the company's commitment to Western Australia. She stated how pleased they are to deepen their investments in Perth. Bassett reiterrated the need for speed in business, and talked of designing AWS local zones to deliver low-latency capabilities to improve the performance of digital applications. This also helps process vast amounts of data faster, and drive productivity.
Looking ahead, AWS has plans to launch another local zone in Brisbane, Australia's east coast, as well as in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2024. Furthermore, AWS intends to introduce local zones in 21 other global locations, including cities in the Asia-Pacific.
Stephen Dawson, Western Australian Minister for Innovation and the Digital Economy recognizes the significance of AWS' investment in Western Australia. He calls it a big win for businesses and the local economy. A Perth office opens up more innovation opportunities for Western Australian businesses, which also translates to better customer experiences.
With the launch of the local zone in Perth, AWS continues to expand its global footprint and provide customers with enhanced capabilities, enabling them to optimize their cloud workloads with reduced latency and improved performance.
