Amazon Web Services announced on Wednesday that it will roll out an independent AWS European Sovereign Cloud to help companies and the public sector meet the European Union’s strict regulations.
The new European offering, which will be located in Europe and operate out of the continent, will feature security, availability and performance similar to existing AWS regions.
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will launch its first region in Germany, which will be available to all European customers. The new service will work separately from eight existing AWS Regions already operating in Frankfurt, Ireland, London, Milan, Paris, Stockholm, Spain and Zurich.
The new European setup will provide customers an option to meet individual needs on data residency, operational autonomy and resiliency, AWS said. It will also provide customers the flexibility to meet evolving EU requirements.
The cloud’s European customers will be able to keep all their created metadata in the EU and will have their own billing and usage metering platforms.
Among the government regulators and partners that welcomed the AWS European Sovereign Cloud’s rollout were the German Federal Office for Information Security and the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community.
“We are aware of the innovative power of modern cloud services, and we want to help make them securely available for Germany and Europe,” said Claudia Plattner, president of the infosec office, also known as BSI.
“The C5 (Cloud Computing Compliance Criteria Catalogue), which was developed by the BSI, has significantly shaped cybersecurity cloud standards, and AWS was, in fact, the first cloud service provider to receive the BSI’s C5 testate. In this respect, we are very pleased to constructively accompany the local development of an AWS cloud, which will also contribute to European sovereignty, in terms of security.”