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AWS’s third European region gives U.K.-based customers the opportunity to run applications, store data domestically.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched its first U.K. data centres, enabling its 100,000 U.K.-based customers to run applications and store corporate data locally.
It is AWS’s third European region; the other two are located in Germany and Ireland. Called AWS Europe (London) Region, it is divided into two sites, which Amazon calls Availability Zones. These zones can act as colocation facilities, ensuring that a single event doesn’t take every customer’s cloud-based applications and services offline.
"Our customers and APN (AWS Partner Network) Partners asked us to build an AWS Region in the U.K., so they can run their mission-critical workloads and store sensitive data on AWS infrastructure locally," said Andy Jassy, CEO of AWS, in a statement on Tuesday.
"For the past decade, we’ve had an enthusiastic base of customers in the U.K. choosing to build their businesses on the AWS Cloud," he said. "A local AWS Region will serve as the foundation for even more innovative cloud initiatives from the U.K. that can transform business, customer experiences, and enhance the local economy."
The AWS Europe (London) Region is available now to businesses and developers, Amazon said.
"I’m delighted to welcome the opening of the U.K. Amazon Web Services Region, which is a strong endorsement of our approach to the digital economy," said Karen Bradley, Secretary of State of Culture Media and Sport. "The new AWS Region shows a clear confidence in the U.K. being open for business and one of the best places in the world for technology companies to invest in and grow."
With the launch in the U.K., AWS now has 42 Availability Zones across 16 regions. Another five Zones in two regions – France and China – are due to come online in the coming months, Amazon said.
