Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing platform, recently announced the launch of Sovereign Cloud specifically for the European market.
Outside of technology circles, AWS isn’t widely talked about but it is actually one of the most profitable parts of the cash cow that is Amazon.
It is estimated that Amazon controls 33% of the global market for cloud computing, and the service brought in over $80 billion in revenue in 2022.
The recent announcement of launching a European-specific cloud addresses a problem many global companies face with data specific to countries in Europe and the privacy laws that govern them.
These privacy laws, called the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR, are very restrictive privacy regulations maintaining strict guidelines that companies must adhere to.
This includes regulations on storing personal data from people living in European states on servers outside of the EU.
Big data cloud companies like Amazon often maintain data centers across the globe and provide redundancy by backing data up in geographically diverse areas to prevent outages based on natural or man-made disasters in a particular region.
Providing customers with a Sovereign Cloud enables them to maintain compliance with GDPR laws by keeping European data within the EU.
“The AWS European 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,” said Max Peterson, vice president of Sovereign Cloud at AWS.
“The development 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, German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).
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