Amazon Web Services (AWS) has named three of its first customers at its upcoming Auckland, New Zealand cloud region.
Scheduled to go live in 2025, the likes of One New Zealand and Vector will use the cloud region, and Datacom will host some of its customers in the region, reports Reseller News.
“We’re really excited about how One NZ will be able to leverage in-region workloads to support low latency and AI-driven customer experiences which make the most of AWS’s generative AI, machine learning, and analytics capabilities to further enhance our customer experience,” said Jason Paris, CEO, One NZ.
Jerry Li, general manager of digital technology, at Vector, said: “We’re currently using AWS to run a significant portion of our digital workloads as we migrate, modernize, and transition toward a more sustainable environment. With local, faster access to AWS services through the new Auckland region, we can accelerate our vision of creating a new energy future,”
Plans for AWS' Auckland region were first shared by the cloud giant in 2021, with the company receiving permission in 2022 and planning a 2024 launch date.
AWS plans to build three data centers to support the new region, and in March 2024, reports emerged that the project was being quietly stalled and AWS would not meet the planned 2024 launch date. Issues with stormwater design and a small fire on the construction site of the first data center may have contributed to this.
At the time, an AWS spokesperson told DCD: "We are committed to launching an AWS Region in New Zealand to support growing demand from customers. Our NZ$7.5 billion investment in world-leading cloud infrastructure will democratize access to technologies such as AI and act as a catalyst to accelerate innovation, drive productivity, fuel economic growth, and level the playing field for New Zealand organizations. We are not able to share details about the construction or the location of our Region as this is part of our secure design approach. "
With the company now expecting a 2025 launch date, any issues have presumably been resolved.
In 2023, AWS signed a wind PPA in New Zealand with Mercury to procure half the output from the 103MW Turitea South onshore wind farm.
Microsoft is also launching a cloud region in New Zealand. The company announced plans to develop a data center region in New Zealand in May 2020, receiving approval in September of that year. In 2022, the company revealed that the cloud region would be powered by 100 percent renewable energy, later signing a 51MW geothermal PPA with Contact Energy.
The region is expected to be operational in late 2024, with early customers already announced including Warehouse Group, Whakarongorau Aotearoa, Fonterra, Auckland Transport, Te Tumu Paeroa, CCL, BNZ, ASB, PwC, and the Accident Compensation Corporation.
