The cloud comes to Cape Town with AWS Africa
The logo of Amazon Web Services (AWS) is seen during the 4th annual America Digital Latin American Congress of Business and Technology in Santiago, Chile, September 5, 2018. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado/File Photo The logo of Amazon Web Services (AWS) is seen during the 4th annual America Digital Latin American Congress of Business and Technology in Santiago, Chile, September 5, 2018. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado/File Photo
Cape Town is home to the first Amazon Web Services server region on the African continent.
Launched last week, the newly dubbed AWS Africa serves as a location for businesses to host their websites and online operations locally, while also connected to the global internet cloud service offered by the American company.
“An AWS Region in Africa will enable businesses and government organisations, including those focused on fighting the effects of COVID-19, to build cloud applications and store their data locally, while reaching users across Africa with even lower latency,” said Amazon chief technology officer, Werner Vogel in a statement.
Latency refers to the delay in the transfer of data between an internet user and the source of the data.
Cloud services have become more and more essential for internet operations for both people and businesses in recent years as it allows remote access to data around the world. Popular cloud services that people use include Dropbox and Google Drive.
Intended for business use, AWS Africa is made up of three availability zones with several data centres established in Cape Town. The centres each have independent power sources, cooling needed for server operations and physical security. Amazon has 73 availability zones located around the world with 12 more planned to be opened across Europe and Asia.
According to Synergy Research Group, AWS accounted for 33 percent of all global internet cloud infrastructure in 2019. Microsoft was in second place with 18 percent.
According to a 2019 Research & Markets report, Africa’s cloud service industry was estimated to be worth 1.7 billion US Dollars. That number is expected to double by 2024.
Previously, the challenges faced by cloud technology locally included a lack of proper infrastructure, cost, unreliable power supply in the form of load shedding, and a distrust of the service.
But according to local industry expert Brendon Petersen, the arrival of AWS is a big boost for the technology in the country.
“AWS Africa will prompt other big names in cloud to expand their digital footprint in South Africa which could lead to more data centers which then promises even more options in terms of cloud offerings, lower prices, more jobs and more companies adopting cloud,” he said.
“While it might not make us one of the global leaders in cloud, it will significantly boost our global presence and give businesses more opportunity to think globally and potentially grow their businesses faster and on a larger scale.”
Petersen continued: “Historically Amazon has always considered a variety of factors including infrastructure and local e-commerce penetration before launching in a country or region and even then, they launch with digital services first and then expand their presence depending on how that has performed.”
Other Amazon products and services available locally include the company’s video streaming platform, Amazon Prime.
“You can expect to see some of the products and services announced at AWS events to slowly start making their way to the region as the infrastructure develops and more businesses adopt AWS services,” Petersen added.