Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) has announced plans to launch a new AWS Local Zone in Manila, Philippines. This new AWS Local Zone will complement AWS’ existing infrastructure in the Philippines, including Amazon CloudFront and AWS Outposts.
Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network service built for high performance, security, and developer convenience, while AWS Outposts is a fully managed service that extends AWS infrastructure, services, APIs, and tools to customer premises.
AWS Local Zones are a type of infrastructure deployment that places AWS compute, storage, database, and other services at the edge of the cloud near large population, industry, and information technology (IT) centers to enable customers to deploy applications that require single-digit millisecond latency closer to end-users or on-premises data centers. AWS Local Zones allow customers to use core AWS services locally while seamlessly connecting to the rest of their workloads running in AWS Regions with the same elasticity, pay-as-you-go model, application programming interfaces (APIs), and toolsets.
The vast majority of customers get the necessary latency required to support their applications’ performance by running them in AWS Regions. However, for applications that require ultra-low latency, customers want AWS infrastructure closer to their end-users or on-premises data centers to support a seamless experience. The new AWS Local Zone will give customers in the Philippines the ability to offer end users single-digit millisecond performance designed to suit applications such as remote real-time gaming, media and entertainment content creation, live video streaming, engineering simulations, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning inference at the edge, and more.
“We know that delivering ultra-low latency applications for a seamless user experience matters for many businesses and industries, so we are excited to bring the edge of the cloud closer to more customers in the Philippines to help meet their requirements. AWS Local Zones will empower more public and private organizations, innovative startups, and AWS Partners to deliver a new generation of leading-edge, low-latency applications to end-users, taking advantage of the cost savings, scalability, and high availability that AWS provides. This new AWS Local Zone is a continuation of our investment to support customers of all kinds and commitment to accelerate innovation by bringing cloud infrastructure to more locations in the Philippines,” according to Conor McNamara, Managing Director for Commercial at AWS in ASEAN.
AWS Local Zones are managed and supported by AWS, thereby translating to lesser expense and effort of procuring, operating, and maintaining infrastructure to support low-latency applications of their customers in the Philippines. This new infrastructure will also allow customers with local data residency preferences in the Philippines to run parts of their applications in on-premises data centers and seamlessly connect to AWS while ensuring ultra-low latency for these types of hybrid deployments — all while using familiar AWS APIs and tools.
“DICT commits to fully implementing the Philippine Cloud-First Policy across all government agencies in the country, in-line with our efforts to maximize and harmonize the use of ICT in government. Cloud computing offers benefits such as access to global solutions and up-to-date cybersecurity. It also fosters innovation, scalability, security, and cost-efficiency among users. The Cloud First Policy aims to address the enduring issues of fragmentation among government agencies by establishing better collaboration and faster integration of public systems. We aim to utilize the benefits of cloud computing to make our services more responsive to the needs of the Filipino people. With the deployment of an AWS Local Zone in the Philippines, we are optimistic about the future of the cloud services industry. We believe that this initiative will help promote cloud as the preferred ICT deployment technology for better governance and more efficient public service delivery,” said Emmanuel Rey R. Caintic, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Acting Secretary.
Once activated, the new AWS Local Zone in Manila will join 16 existing AWS Local Zones across the United States and an additional 31 AWS Local Zones planned to launch in 25 countries around the world over the next two years all aimed at delivering single-digit millisecond latency performance at the edge of the cloud to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Cascadeo — a company with majority investments from the Philippines’ leading digital solutions provider, Globe Telecom — welcomed this development. The company has offices in Seattle and Manila, and is an AWS Premier Consulting Partner and AWS Managed Services Provider (MSP).
“Businesses in the Philippines are reinventing themselves through cloud computing to thrive in today’s rapidly-evolving digital landscape. AWS Local Zones in the Philippines helps enterprises across industries gain access to AWS cloud solutions that enable innovations such as augmented and virtual reality, Internet of Things, live video streaming, and real-time data analytics, while also meeting strict data sovereignty requirements. Our collaboration with AWS can help create fast and secure customer experiences and will be the cornerstone of customer and Globe-specific cloud initiatives for years to come. AWS continues to be a leading cloud player, providing technologies that allow Globe, Cascadeo, and our customers to achieve business agility in a growing digital world,” said Jared Reimer, Founder & President of Cascadeo.