As of March 2016, employees at education and research institutions can use Amazon Web Services without paying for data transport. Amazon has decided to abolish its data transport fees following discussions with the GÉANT cloud team. DTL partner SURF is part of this team.
By abolishing these transport costs, Amazon is ensuring lower prices and more predictable usage fees. The retraction of data transport costs is an important step for the implementation of cloud services in Europe on a wider scale. GÉANT invites other cloud providers to follow the example set by Amazon.
GÉANT cloud catalogue
Amazon Web Services is part of the GÉANT cloud catalogue. This catalogue was put together by European national research and education networks (NRENs) in the GÉANT umbrella organisation. It shows how cloud service providers make their services available to education and research institutions and the degree to which they meet the requirements and desires of the target group.
The role of SURF
SURFnet plays a key role in international collaboration with regard to cloud services. SURFnet coordinates cloud and service delivery for the European NRENs.
More information
• Read GÉANT’s report ‘GÉANT and Amazon Web Services breaking down barriers to cloud services adoption‘.
• Read Amazon’s blog ‘AWS offers data egress discount to researchers‘.
• View the GÉANT cloud catalogue.