Amazon AWS: New Canadian cloud region for AWS

Calgary, Alberta, is to be home to AWS’s new Canadian cloud region, set to be available from late 2023 to early 2024. According to AWS, over the next few years, it will invest over $17 billion (CA$21 billion) in Canada, $3bn (CA$4bn) will go to the new Calgary region.

Speaking about the announcement, Jeff Barr, Chief Evangelist for AWS, said: "I am happy to announce that we will be opening an AWS region in Calgary, Canada in late 2023 or early 2024. This three-AZ region will reduce latency for end-users in Western Canada and will also support the development of advanced, distributed solutions that span multiple AWS regions. It will also provide additional flexibility for AWS customers that need to store and process data within Canada’s borders."

Prasad Kalyanaraman, Vice President of Infrastructure Services at AWS, added: “Our infrastructure in Canada has allowed customers to transform the way businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies serve their stakeholders. With another AWS Region in Canada, customers will see even lower latency for emerging solutions like 5G-enabled applications and machine learning at the edge, and it will strengthen their ability to architect their regional infrastructure for even greater fault tolerance, resiliency, and availability.”

Further to this, he said: “We are excited to build world-class infrastructure to help organizations reinvent how they deliver customer solutions and fuel economic growth.”

Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said that the investment reveals the extent to which Alberta is establishing itself as a “dominant player in digital technology and innovation.” “This multi-billion-dollar data center project in our province underscores the work being done by Invest Alberta to create jobs and diversify the economy. I look forward to working with AWS on this project and seeing how it will strengthen Alberta’s information technology and communication sector,” he said.