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Is this the first AWS datacenter in China?

by mikece 8y ago

ksec 8y ago
It is if you mean operating independently, otherwise AWS is available within mainland China under partnership agreement.
- meddlepal 8y ago
  Operating independently... for now.
  - ksec 8y ago
    Well it is Hong Kong, so that will last for till at least 2046.
jeffbarr 8y ago
No, we already have AWS Regions in Beijing and Ningxia. Each region includes multiple Availability Zones (AZs).
- billyhoffman 8y ago
  Hey Jeff, I get those mainland China regions are via your partners, and have a separate portal/account, etc. But why does creating a AWS China account require an ICP? I have no intention of serving/hosting content from there, I'm just looking for in-country compute. (To be fair, other US-based cloud providers like Azure have the same ICP-to-even-create-account requirement to access mainland China locations). What is strange is I am able to use Alibaba Cloud, and spin up mainland China instances but didn't need an ICP as part of the account creation process. Why the difference with AWS China? I did an Ask HN about experience with AWS China and got no bites... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17522491 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17522491 Any insights are super appreciated. Thank you in advance.
  - drfritznunkie 8y ago
    I think it's a combination of CYA, government regulations, and simplifying operations for AWS. Without an ICP, you're not allowed any web presence in CN, which would require AWSCN to either modify services that are publicly available by default or not offering them. Instead, if they make an ICP a requirement, they have a defensible position with CN regulators, who really just want a throat to choke. As AWSCN is reasonably far behind compared to Global regions, and they've already enough complexity just doing business in China, so I think it's completely reasonable the trade-off they've made or been forced to make here regarding ICP.
cobookman 8y ago
This is likely the first AWS operated DC in China. The ones in mainland china are operated by: "AWS China (Beijing) Region based out of Beijing and adjacent areas is Beijing Sinnet Technology Co., Ltd. (Sinnet), and the service operator and provider for AWS (Ningxia) Region based out of Ningxia is Ningxia Western Cloud Data Technology Co., Ltd. (NWCD)" [1] GCP & Azure already have Hong Kong regions. [2] [3] [1] https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/about-aws/china/ https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/about-aws/china/ [2] https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/global-infrastructure/locations/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/global-infrastructure/loca... [3] https://cloud.google.com/about/locations/hongkong/ https://cloud.google.com/about/locations/hongkong/
Galanwe 8y ago
Not sure I would describe Hong Kong as China. As a SAR, it is _pretty_ independent. This could be (and is) debated on the political side, but almost completely on the technological infrastructure side. There is no internet filtering, no great firewall, excellent connectivity, etc.

Is this the first AWS datacenter in China?

by mikece 8y ago

Is this the first AWS datacenter in China?

ksec 8y ago

It is if you mean operating independently, otherwise AWS is available within mainland China under partnership agreement.

meddlepal 8y ago
Operating independently... for now.
- ksec 8y ago
  Well it is Hong Kong, so that will last for till at least 2046.

jeffbarr 8y ago

No, we already have AWS Regions in Beijing and Ningxia. Each region includes multiple Availability Zones (AZs).

billyhoffman 8y ago
Hey Jeff, I get those mainland China regions are via your partners, and have a separate portal/account, etc. But why does creating a AWS China account require an ICP? I have no intention of serving/hosting content from there, I'm just looking for in-country compute. (To be fair, other US-based cloud providers like Azure have the same ICP-to-even-create-account requirement to access mainland China locations). What is strange is I am able to use Alibaba Cloud, and spin up mainland China instances but didn't need an ICP as part of the account creation process. Why the difference with AWS China? I did an Ask HN about experience with AWS China and got no bites... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17522491 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17522491 Any insights are super appreciated. Thank you in advance.
- drfritznunkie 8y ago
  I think it's a combination of CYA, government regulations, and simplifying operations for AWS. Without an ICP, you're not allowed any web presence in CN, which would require AWSCN to either modify services that are publicly available by default or not offering them. Instead, if they make an ICP a requirement, they have a defensible position with CN regulators, who really just want a throat to choke. As AWSCN is reasonably far behind compared to Global regions, and they've already enough complexity just doing business in China, so I think it's completely reasonable the trade-off they've made or been forced to make here regarding ICP.

cobookman 8y ago

This is likely the first AWS operated DC in China. The ones in mainland china are operated by: "AWS China (Beijing) Region based out of Beijing and adjacent areas is Beijing Sinnet Technology Co., Ltd. (Sinnet), and the service operator and provider for AWS (Ningxia) Region based out of Ningxia is Ningxia Western Cloud Data Technology Co., Ltd. (NWCD)" [1] GCP & Azure already have Hong Kong regions. [2] [3] [1] https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/about-aws/china/ https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/about-aws/china/ [2] https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/global-infrastructure/locations/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/global-infrastructure/loca... [3] https://cloud.google.com/about/locations/hongkong/ https://cloud.google.com/about/locations/hongkong/

Galanwe 8y ago

Not sure I would describe Hong Kong as China. As a SAR, it is _pretty_ independent. This could be (and is) debated on the political side, but almost completely on the technological infrastructure side. There is no internet filtering, no great firewall, excellent connectivity, etc.