AWS Thailand Region: Bolstering Data Centre Infrastructure
Amazon Web Services (AWS), has launched an infrastructure region in Thailand with a US$5bn investment commitment. The tech giant estimates the construction and operation will contribute US$10bn to Thailand's gross domestic product.
The deployment comprises three availability zones each operating with independent power, cooling and physical security systems, which will be connected through redundant networks designed for ultra-low-latency performance.
The investment brings AWS's global footprint to 111 availability zones across 35 geographic regions. The company has also announced plans for 15 additional availability zones across five regions including Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and a European Sovereign Cloud deployment.
“I am pleased that Thailand's potential and readiness have been recognised by one of the world's leading companies," says Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand.
“I look forward to AWS playing a pivotal role, in partnership with the government, in advancing Thailand toward a more inclusive digital society and expanding access to digital services for all citizens.”
Financial service firms lead AWS cloud adoption in Thailand
The technical architecture follows AWS's established design principles for maintaining business continuity while delivering performance. The company has implemented measures to increase data centre energy efficiency through optimised design, purpose-built chips and cooling technology innovations.
AWS will also create roles that will span construction, maintenance, engineering, telecommunications and other areas within the AWS supply chain. The new region ultimately highlights its long-term commitment to meeting growing cloud demands in Thailand and across the wider Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
Bank of Ayudhya, one of the largest banks in Thailand, is planning to expand its cloud programme using the local infrastructure.
“As our strategic cloud provider, AWS plays a critical role in driving the Krungsri cloud program, which serves more than 12 million people. With a local Thailand Region, this will expand the Krungsri and AWS partnership tremendously and will significantly expand the possibilities,” explains Pochara Vanaratseath, Head of IT at Bank of Ayudhya.
Likewise, KASIKORN Business-Technology Group (KBTG), the technology arm of Kasikorn Bank which operates more than 400 applications on AWS, plans to use the regional deployment to improve its service delivery.
“With the new AWS Thailand Region, we will easily enhance our network response times, be able to synchronize data more effectively, and consistently deliver superior financial services to our customers quickly and safely by relying on the world’s most secure, reliable and available infrastructure,” says Tawan Jithavech, Chief Technology Officer at KBTG.
Supporting regional AWS customers
Since 2020, AWS has built six edge locations in Thailand - data centres that cache content closer to users to reduce latency. The company has also deployed AWS Local Zones in Bangkok for applications requiring single-digit millisecond latency, in addition to introducing AWS Outposts for hybrid cloud deployments that combine on-premises and cloud infrastructure.
“We continue to see rapid cloud adoption across Asia Pacific as more customers unlock the full potential of the world’s most extensive, reliable, and secure cloud,” comments Prasad Kalyanaraman, Vice President of Infrastructure Services at AWS.
“This new AWS Region in Thailand will help customers across all industries deploy advanced applications with a broad set of AWS technologies that offer both core cloud capabilities, such as compute, storage, analytics and networking and services that enable customers to rapidly evolve, such as AI and machine learning.
“With today’s launch, AWS is proud to support Thailand’s digital transformation and help accelerate its role as a regional hub for AI.”
A June 2024 report by Accenture, commissioned by AWS, estimates AWS's infrastructure is up to 4.1 times more energy efficient than on-premises deployments. When workloads are optimised on AWS, the associated carbon footprint can be reduced by up to 99%.
Also in Thailand, AWS has trained more than 50,000 individuals in Thailand in cloud computing skills since 2017, with AWS Academy running courses in more than 30 Thai universities.
Explore the latest edition of Data Centre Magazine and be part of the conversation at our global conference series, Tech & AI LIVE and Data Centre LIVE.
Discover all our upcoming events and secure your tickets today.
Data Centre Magazine is a BizClik brand
