Amazon AWS: SES will offer satellite connectivity for the AWS modular data facility

SES released a satellite connectivity solution for Department of Defense (DoD) clients using the new modular data center product from Amazon Web Services (AWS). This week, SES Space & Defense, a wholly-owned division of SES, announced that satellite-powered network connectivity is now available for AWS Modular Data Center.

Last year, the US Department of Defense granted the nine-billion-dollar Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract to Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, and Oracle. Its antecedent, the JEDI contract, had been abandoned due to multiple litigation and legal obstacles.  A ruggedized container created for disconnected, disrupted, intermittent, or limited (DDIL) circumstances houses the self-contained module. The system includes equipment for internal networking, ventilation, and power distribution. It can be expanded by deploying multiple modular data center units.

SES Space & Defense can link field-deployed AWS Modular Data Centers and AWS Regions using Cloud Direct. Customers can utilize satellite connectivity to offer network redundancy if modules utilize terrestrial connectivity. The service offers direct connectivity from the client module to AWS regions via SES' Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites, including the forthcoming O3b mPOWER satellite system.