Data Centre Magazine - April 2022 Edition

AWS’ Next Big Idea: Smaller data centres? Despite being one of the biggest builders of the world’s biggest hyperscale cloud data centres, Amazon Web Services may be about to take a different tack as it tries to strengthen its position in the APAC region. Increasingly, the way to conquer lots of smaller markets seems to be, well, lots of smaller data centres.

For the last five years, when AWS built a data centre, it built a sprawling, multi-megawatt hyperscale site. Then, it built three more next to it for good measure. These massive campuses have formed the company’s cloud regions in North America, Europe, and beyond — including in some of APAC’s larger markets like Japan, Australia, India and Hong Kong.

As the company looks to push into less mature markets however, AWS’ APAC director Phil Davis has said that these smaller countries “may not need the full capability [of hyperscale cloud regions] ... but need much more local infrastructure."

It's a new approach for a new type of target market; unlike in large markets like the US, and the highly interconnected, functionally identical markets that make up the EU, APAC is a patchwork of discrete countries that can’t readily be served by a single large cloud region. In response, one of the world’s biggest cloud companies looks like it’s going small.  

If you have a story to tell send me an email at lewis.vaughan@bizclikmedia.com or feel free to reach out to me directly here on LinkedIn to become a part of the conversation.