Big Changes Coming to Amazon Web Services

Michael Garrity — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:00:00 GMT

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Web services division of the e-commerce juggernaut, has dropped some big news about some new capabilities for customers that are designed to help support the security, network management, dedicated connectivity and identity management requirements that enterprises need when they install mission-critical applications in the cloud.

One huge change taking place is the expansion of Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) to all AWS regions. This will allow enterprises to launch their Amazon VPC ecosystems around the world, including from the east and west coasts of the United States, Europe, Singapore and Tokyo, as well as the multiple AWS Availability Zones within each region.

With Amazon VPC, businesses can now procure a private section of AWS and then open their AWS resources in a virtual network that they define and control. This includes selecting the IP address range, creating subnets and configuring route tables and network gateways. Now, businesses have an easy method of leveraging AWS while keeping the same security and management controls already familiar to them.

AWS also announced AWS Direct Connect, which will allow enterprises to bypass the Internet and deliver data to and from AWS by using a private connection, which will help increase bandwidth throughout, reduce networking latency and costs, and provide a more consistent networking experience for when enterprises need to move data between AWS and their data centers.

AWS Identity and Access Management (AWS IAM) also got an overhaul, adding new functionality that enables “identity federation,” which is the ability for enterprises to use their existing corporate identities to allow users both secure and direct access to AWS resources without having to create a new AWS identity for them. Because of this, enterprises can programmatically request the necessary security credentials that grant their corporate identities access to AWS resources that are controlled by that enterprise.

Both Amazon VPC and IAM can be accessed through the AWS Management Console. Console support for AWS Direct Connect will come along later this year.

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Big Changes Coming to Amazon Web Services