As part of its effort to meet the stringent laws that businesses and those working in the public sector must go by in the European Union, Amazon is launching a separate cloud for the continent.
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud, which will be housed in and run out of Europe will be independent of current AWS regions but will have the same security, availability, and performance, according to a statement released by Amazon Web Services on Wednesday. Customers will be able to retain all metadata created in the EU on the cloud, which will also feature its own use of metering and billing systems.
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud, according to Max Peterson, vice president of the company’s sovereign cloud, “reinforces our commitment to offering AWS customers the most advanced set of sovereignty controls, privacy safeguards, and security features available in the cloud.”
Transatlantic data protection has become an increasing worry ever since the European Union’s highest court invalidated the Privacy Shield data-sharing agreement in 2020. The deal which permitted companies to transfer data to the U.S. in accordance with the EU’s stringent data privacy laws, was declared unlawful at the time by the court because it didn’t go far enough to prohibit the American government from spying on user data. Microsoft stated in 2021 that it would permit its commercial and public sector clients in the European Union to retain cloud computing data within the 27-country bloc in order to allay worries about sensitive data being accessed by the US government.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) facilitates users in meeting regulatory requirements by supporting 143 security standards and compliance certifications. The business said that in order to address the region’s increased demand for data residency, operational autonomy, and resilience, AWS is working with European authorities and national cybersecurity organizations to establish the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
All European clients will have access to the first AWS Region in the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, which will be Germany. The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will only be operated and supported by EU residents who work for AWS and are based in the EU.
The creation of a European AWS cloud “will make it much easier for many public sector organizations and companies with high data security and data protection requirements to use AWS services,” said Claudia Plattner, president of the German Federal Office for Information Security.
Frankfurt, Ireland, London, Milan, Paris, Stockholm, Spain, and Zurich are among the eight areas in Europe that now house AWS infrastructure. Canada, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Thailand will be the locations of the company’s five upcoming AWS zones.
