AWS - EMEA Press Scan
AWS is expanding its footprint in the EMEA region. It has launched new locations, closed deals with major organizations and governments, and made new investments in the region. In Europe, specifically, the increasingly competitive landscape could disrupt the company, which is the region's front runner.
Article #1: AWS to Launch New Infrastructure Region in Spain
- Date: November 2019.
- Publication: Data Centre News and Amazon (press release).
- Summary: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is launching a new infrastructure region in Spain, the company's seventh in Europe. It is expected to open in 2023 and will consist of three Availability Zones at launch. "The new Spain region will also join other Europe regions in Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Paris and Stockholm, as well as the Milan Region set to launch early next year."
- Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, noted that "This investment from AWS will allow Spain to fully adapt to the digital transformation and develop as an international center of innovation and technology."
Article #2: German Football League Adopts Cloud-Based AI To Improve Fan Viewing
- Date: January 2020.
- Publication: Data Economy and Amazon (press release).
- The German football league, Bundesliga, adopted AWS to deliver real-time statistics to predict future plays, game outcomes, and recommend footage across multiple devices. Christian Seifert, CEO of Bundesliga, stated, “Innovation means challenging the status quo. Working closely with AWS significantly enhances the investment we’ve made in innovation over the past two decades, all of which contributes to us being able to deliver a world-class football experience for our fans.”
- Andy Isherwood, vice president and managing director for EMEA at Amazon Web Services, added that AWS will work closely with the league to help them give football fans around the world a more engaging match day experience and look forward to helping them leverage our deep portfolio of ML and AI services so they can deliver even greater insight into the world’s favourite game.”
Article #3: BP to Shut Down European Data Centers, Move Workloads Over to AWS
Article #4: Digital Transformation of Greece Powered by AWS
Article #5: Amazon Web Services Announces New Investments in Germany to Drive Innovation
- Date: September 2019.
- Publication: Amazon EU.
- Summary: AWS opened a new Munich office and hired over 500 people to support the fast growth of cloud computing in Germany. The office counts with new customer engagement facilities, and the company announced organizations would be invited for training, education, networking and collaborations.
- Klaus Buerg, General Manager — Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — Amazon Web Services EMEA SAR, stated that the new office marks the company’s continued investment in supporting cloud adoption in Germany.
Article #6: Amazon Web Services Launches Middle East Cloud Region In Bahrain
- Date: July 2019.
- Publication: TechCrunch and Data Economy.
- Summary: AWS opened a Middle East Region in Bahrain, following Microsoft launching a Middle East data center in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the previous month. AWS CEO Andy Jassy noted that Amazon is trying to extend its lead in the cloud infrastructure market by addressing emerging areas. Amazon reported that this launch is part of a continuing expansion.
- It is also launching a new AWS Direct Connect location in the region, which is “the first to be operated by AWS, joining the two AWS Direct Connect locations and two Amazon CloudFront Edge locations in the UAE that launched in 2018.”
Article #7: The war rages on for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud: Exploring the battlefield and strategy for 2020
- Date: January 2020.
- Publication: Cloud Computing News.
- Summary: The article explores the cloud landscape, with emphasis on the European market. The competitive environment in the region is becoming more aggressive, and the significant gap AWS used to have is starting to decrease, albeit it is still the front-runner. Some analysts noted that companies tend to go deeper with Google and Microsoft than AWS due to their SaaS application capabilities.
Article #8: Amazon Brushes Off European Challenge to Its Cloud Business
- Date: October 2019.
- Publication: Bloomberg.
- Summary: France and Germany unveiled plans for an EU-focused cloud following concerns regarding data privacy; however, the tech giant stated the project would probably lack the scale to compete with the industry’s key players.
Article #9: Vodafone Business and Amazon Web Services to Bring Edge Computing Closer to Customers
- Date: December 2019.
- Publication: Computer Weekly.
- Summary: Vodafone is collaborating with AWS to bring AWS Wavelength to Europe. The service provides developers with the ability to build applications that “serve end-users with single-digit millisecond latencies over the 5G network.” The collaboration is intended to provide multi-access edge computing to IoT, developers, end-users, and devices.
Article #10: Amazon Web Services Expands into Kenya with Amazon CloudFront Edge Location
- Date: November 2019.
- Publication: Khusoko.
- Summary: The new cloud infrastructure located in Nairobi will be AWS’s third location in Africa and the first one outside of South Africa. The announcement was made in a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta, following a discussion last year in Washington.
- Kenyatta added that “Kenya is an innovator in digital financial services in Africa. Having advanced cloud infrastructure in the country will support our ability to flourish as a nation and reach our potential as one of Africa’s fastest-growing digital economies.”
Article #11: The Dancing Robot Encouraging Girls to Consider a Career in Tech
- Date: December 2019.
- Publication: Amazon EU
- Summary: AWS is investing in diversity and inclusion in the EMEA region, as showcased by its efforts in Sweden. The company launched the “Girls Tech Day”, sponsored by AWS, a series of global events taking place in the U.S., Cape Town, Dublin, Sweden, and Sydney, aiming to address the lack of young women pursuing STEM subjects.
Research Strategy
To locate major announcements, changes, disruptions, or marketing campaigns conducted by AWS in the EMEA region, the research team scoured through multiple news articles and press releases. Even with specific research efforts to locate marketing campaigns, we were unable to find any news about direct campaigns (social ventures, such as Girls Tech Day, could be perceived as a marking effort). Regarding leadership changes, CNBC stated that Amazon's leadership remained mostly unchanged over the last few years, including the AWS global executive team. Other significant leadership changes in the EMEA region were not publicly available or did not occur.