AWS launches Australia's first local zone for low-latency workloads and data residency

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched its first local zone in Perth, the first of its kind in Australia and the Oceanic region.

The local zone is the 29th AWS now offers around the world which promises to provide lower latencies when running cloud workloads.

By launching the local zone in Perth, AWS said it's hoping to help customers easily deploy applications closer to end users in the surrounding area. Customers can then make the most of the low latency required for use cases such as running virtual workstations and augmented and virtual reality processes.

It can also help customers in regulated sectors that might have to keep data within a geographic territory, such as in healthcare, public sector, and financial services.

The cloud giant said that local zones are important when an AWS region isn’t close enough to meet low latency or data residency preferences.

Instead, a customer might need infrastructure closer to their data source or end users, which is when a local zone is used. In the past, companies have managed these workloads on-premises or in data centres managed by other companies.

However, this can end up making things more complex, since a different set of APIs and tools might be used for on-premises and AWS environments. Through AWS local zones, customers don’t have to procure, operate, or maintain infrastructure in various cities to support low-latency applications.

“We are pleased to deepen our investments in Western Australia by bringing the first Australian AWS local zones location to Perth,” said Sarah Bassett, head of Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland Enterprise at AWS Australia.

“Speed matters in business, and we’ve designed AWS local zones to deliver low-latency capabilities for organisations to improve the performance of their digital applications, process large amounts of data faster, and drive productivity gains.”

AWS is planning to launch another local zone in Brisbane, on Australia’s east coast, as well as in Auckland, in New Zealand in 2024, although it didn’t reveal exactly when these would be running.

It’s also planning to launch local zones in 21 other locations across the world, including in countries in the Asia-Pacific region like Bengaluru and Chennai in India, Hanoi in Vietnam, and Manila in the Philippines.

“AWS' investment to launch its first Australian AWS local zones location in Perth is a big win for Western Australian organisations and the economy,” said Stephen Dawson, Western Australian minister for innovation and the digital economy.

“An AWS local zones location in Perth opens up more opportunities for Western Australian businesses to innovate and develop new services enabling better experiences for their customers and our citizens.”