Amazon Web Services, (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ:AMZN), announced the launch of a new AWS Local Zones location in Lagos, Nigeria. AWS Local Zones are a type of infrastructure deployment that places AWS compute, storage, databases, and other services near large population, industry, and information technology (IT) centers—enabling customers to deploy applications that require single-digit millisecond latency to end users or on-premises data centers. Customers can run workloads with low latency requirements on AWS Local Zones while seamlessly connecting to the rest of their workloads running in AWS Regions. AWS now has 32 AWS Local Zones around the world, with announced plans to launch 24 more Local Zones globally. To get started with AWS Local Zones, visit aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/localzones/.
For applications that require single-digit millisecond latency or have to remain within a geographic boundary for regulatory reasons, the location of cloud infrastructure matters. Most customer workloads run in an AWS Region, a geographic location where AWS clusters data centers to serve customers. However, when a Region is not close enough to meet low latency or data residency requirements, customers need AWS infrastructure closer to their data source or end users. Traditionally, organizations maintained these location-sensitive workloads on-premises or in managed data centers that required customers to procure, operate, and maintain their own IT infrastructure, and use different sets of APIs and tools for their on-premises and AWS environments.
The launch of the new AWS Local Zones location in Lagos means customers can easily deploy applications located close to end users in the metro area. Having AWS Local Zones close to large population centers in metro areas enables customers to achieve the low latency required for use cases like online gaming, live streaming, and augmented and virtual reality. AWS Local Zones can also help customers operating in regulated sectors like healthcare, financial services, and the public sector that might have preferences or requirements to keep data within a geographic boundary.
AWS manages and supports AWS Local Zones, meaning customers do not incur the expense and effort of procuring, operating, and maintaining infrastructure in various cities to support low-latency applications. AWS Local Zones can also help organizations migrate additional workloads to AWS, supporting a hybrid cloud migration strategy and simplifying IT operations. Customers can connect to AWS Local Zones through an internet connection, and they can use AWS Direct Connect for secure, private network connections to both AWS Local Zones and any AWS Region.
“With today’s launch of a new AWS Local Zones location in Lagos, we are proud to bring the cloud closer to AWS customers, so they can deploy latency-sensitive workloads and meet local data residency requirements,” said Robin Njiru, AWS regional public sector lead for West, East, and Central Africa. “We’ve designed Local Zones to support a broad range of use cases—from trading applications that need to respond quickly to market fluctuations to the interactive live event and gaming experiences. Customers in a variety of industries can now deliver new innovative services and experiences to their end users, all with familiar AWS infrastructure, services, APIs, and tools.”
The AWS Local Zones location in Lagos is Nigeria’s newest addition to its AWS infrastructure, which already includes local offices, Amazon CloudFront edge locations, and AWS Outposts.
Customers and AWS Partners welcome AWS Local Zones in Lagos
The Lagos State Government welcomes the arrival of AWS Local Zones in Lagos. “The launch of the AWS Local Zone location in Lagos is a significant milestone for our regional enterprises and digital transformation agenda,” said Hakeem Popoola Fahm, Honourable Commissioner of Lagos State Ministry of Science and Technology. “The services available with AWS Local Zones will promote and accelerate the introduction of new digital solutions at our technology and engineering location in the heart of Lagos.”
Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC is a financial service holding company in Nigeria with subsidiaries in banking, stock brokerage, investment advisory, asset management, investor services, pension management, trustees, and life insurance businesses. “Being a future-ready organization goes beyond being able to deploy new solutions for the benefit of our customers,” said Demola Sogunle, CEO at Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC. “It also means building reliability into our business and customer offerings through the use of AWS compute, storage, and on-demand scaling. This is why we have chosen to work with AWS, one of the world’s leading cloud service providers, to achieve this important objective.”
The Terragon Group is a Nigerian startup building Africa’s largest data-powered marketing cloud ecosystem and driving business growth by providing a deeper understanding of African consumers and their experience on mobile. “Every single day, AWS helps us scale globally and take advantage of new technological opportunities,” said Ayodeji Balogun, co-founder, and CTO at The Terragon Group. “The launch of an AWS Local Zones location in Lagos is something we have been looking forward to because it offers fast, secure access to AWS services that help us deliver low latency access to our applications running locally.”
About Amazon Web Services
For over 15 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud offering. AWS has been continually expanding its services to support virtually any workload, and it now has more than 200 fully featured services for computing, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 99 Availability Zones within 31 geographic regions, with announced plans for 12 more Availability Zones and four more AWS Regions in Canada, Israel, New Zealand, and Thailand. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer, and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
This is a welcome development in Lagos. aws local zone here will improve local application performance.