Amazon Web Services announced the availability of Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) from datacenters in the European Union. Amazon S3 was the first web service launched by AWS over two and a half years ago, but data storage has previously been available only in the US.
"Since the U.S. launch of Amazon S3, developers in Europe have asked us to add the ability to store data in Europe. They wanted the same high quality, low cost service, but with lower latency and local data storage. We've been working hard to make this a reality and are excited to offer Amazon S3 from European datacenters," said Adam Selipsky, Vice President of Product Management and Developer Relations for Amazon Web Services. "We are actively working on other important requirements, such as accepting payment in Euros and providing local language support, but are pleased to offer a release that we think many European businesses and developers will find useful right now."
Pricing for EU-based storage is slightly higher in some respects. In the EU, the monthly storage fee is $0.18/GB, compared to $0.15/GB in the US. Also, 1,000 PUT or LIST requests are $0.012 in the EU, compared to $0.01 in the US. Other charges, such as data transfers, are the same in both the US and EU. Note that developers around the world may use the Amazon S3 web service, but their data must be stored in the US or in the EU datacenters. Naturally in either region, customers must comply with local privacy regulations that cover data storage. For more information, visit aws.amazon.com/s3 http://aws.amazon.com/s3.
