AWS to open edge computing zones in six LatAm cities by 2023

Amazon Web Services (AWS) will open new edge computing zones, called AWS Local Zones, in six Latin American cities by end-2023, the company said in a statement.

The new structures will be activated in Rio de Janeiro, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Lima, Querétaro and Santiago and are part of 32 such structures the public cloud leader aims to activate in metropolitan regions around the world.

AWS had already announced its intention to launch these structures starting this year, but had not yet detailed the locations. Investment estimates were not provided.

AWS did not specify launch dates or the state of the Latin American zones. An AWS spokesperson told BNamericas that the activation period for the new cloud services is 2022-23.

AWS Local Zones are a type of infrastructure that extends AWS cloud regions (datacenter clusters) to put computing, storage, database and other services at the edge, or close to individual customers, and industrial and IT centers.

This, according to the company, allows customers to deploy applications that require latency of less than 10 milliseconds closer to end-users or local datacenters.

Most customers achieve the necessary latency to support the performance of their applications by having them in the AWS cloud, AWS said.

“However, for applications that require ultra-low latency (e.g., real-time remote gaming, multimedia and entertainment content creation, live video streaming, engineering simulations, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning inference on edge, etc.), customers need the AWS infrastructure to be closer to their end users to support a flawless experience.”

To date, customers have been able to use AWS Local Zones in 16 US cities. Netflix, Couchbase and Fox Corporation are among those relying on such zones.

There are, however, customers outside the US who need to comply with strict local data residency rules in regulated industries, such as healthcare and life sciences, financial services, and government.

FIRST LATAM SPACE DEAL

In related news, AWS and Brazil’s space agency (AEB) have signed on Wednesday a technical cooperation agreement to foster the segment in the country. It is deemed the first of its kind in Latin America. 

One of the partnership's objectives is to increase access of Brazilian space startups to AWS tools, which include data processing via satellites, AWS and AEB said in a statement.

The agreement also involves support for the creation of national space research and development programs and technical support to improve local regulations, among others. 

Neither the government nor Amazon mentioned amounts involved. The agreement was signed at the Brazilian embassy in Washington.

AWS has a division dedicated to systems used in launching and operating satellites and rockets, and has partnered with Nasa and other aerospace manufacturers.

The Brazilian government also hopes that the partnership will help expand the use of the Alcântara launch center in Maranhão to transform it into an industrial hub for the space sector.

"Our expectation is that by the end of this year we will have companies announcing regular launch services in Alcântara," AEB president Carlos Moura said.

The US and Brazil signed an agreement in 2019, allowing US agencies and companies utilizing US-made components to use the Alcântara base for rocket launches. The agreement was already approved by the congresses of both countries.