AWS Launches Infrastructure Region in Spain

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company, announced the launch of its eighth infrastructure Region in Europe, the AWS Europe (Spain) Region. Starting today, developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and nonprofit organizations, will have even greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in Spain, using advanced AWS technologies to drive innovation. AWS estimates that its projected spending on the construction and operation of the new Region will support more than 1,300 full-time jobs, with a planned $2.5 billion (approx. 2.5 billion euros) investment in Spain over 10 years. AWS also estimates that the new Region will add $1.8 billion (approx. 1.8 billion euros) to the Spanish gross domestic product (GDP) over 10 years. As part of its commitment to the Region, AWS also announced a $150,000 (approx. 150,000 euros) AWS InCommunities Fund in Aragón, where the AWS Europe (Spain) Region is located, to help local groups, schools, and organizations initiate new community projects. For more information about AWS Global Infrastructure, visit aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure.

“The cloud enables organizations of all types and sizes to speed up innovation, improve business processes, and reinvent experiences for their customers and end users,” said Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president of Infrastructure Services at AWS. “We are delivering on our promise to build new world-class infrastructure locally to help customers in Spain achieve the highest levels of security, availability, and resilience. We are also proud to be investing in Aragón to support community projects led by local schools and organizations. Our investment in the AWS Europe (Spain) Region reflects AWS’s long-term commitment to support the country’s economic development, job creation, and business growth.”

“We welcome the investment of one of the world’s leading technology companies in Spain,” said Pedro Sánchez, prime minister of Spain. “The opening of the AWS Europe (Spain) Region is a significant milestone that helps position our country as a leading digital economy.”

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“We continuously train our workforce in cloud technologies, and we have certified more than 550 people in AWS in the last two years to provide transformative solutions to our customers and boost Spain’s progress.”

With the launch of the AWS Europe (Spain) Region, AWS has 93 Availability Zones across 29 geographic regions, with announced plans to launch 18 more Availability Zones across six AWS Regions in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, New Zealand, and Thailand. AWS Regions are composed of Availability Zones that place infrastructure in separate and distinct geographic locations. The AWS Europe (Spain) Region consists of three Availability Zones and joins seven existing AWS European Regions in Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Milan, Paris, Stockholm, and Zurich. Availability Zones are located far enough from each other to support customers’ business continuity, but near enough to provide low latency for high-availability applications that use multiple Availability Zones. Each Availability Zone has independent power, cooling, and physical security and is connected through redundant, ultra-low latency networks. AWS customers focused on high availability can design their applications to run in multiple Availability Zones to achieve even greater fault tolerance.

The launch of the AWS Europe (Spain) Region provides customers building applications that comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) access to another secure AWS Region in the European Union (EU) that helps meet the highest levels of security, compliance, and data protection. AWS is also Esquema Nacional de Seguridad (ENS) High certified, meaning its infrastructure meets the highest levels of security and compliance for government agencies and public organizations in Spain.

Customers welcome the AWS Europe (Spain) Region

Organizations in Spain are among millions of active customers using AWS every month in more than 190 countries around the world, including tens of thousands of customers in the Iberian Peninsula and more than 75% of companies listed on IBEX35, the Spanish stock market index. Enterprises including Acciona, Atresmedia, Ávoris, Banco Santander, Bankinter, BBVA, CAF, Celsa, Cepsa, Dorna Sports, Endesa, Grup Mediapro, Grupo Henneo, Hijos de Rivera, Madrileña Red de Gas, Mahou San Miguel, Mapfre, Mediaset España, Meliá International Hotels (Meliá), Naturgy, NH Hoteles, Repsol, Santalucía, Securitas Direct, and Volotea choose AWS to enhance agility and innovation. Spanish public sector organizations and institutions such as Cantabrian Health Service; City of Madrid; Correos; Government of Andalusia; Government of Aragon; Renfe; Royal Spanish Academy; Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food; Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration; University Jaume I; and University Oberta of Catalunya are using AWS to drive cost savings and better serve citizens. Spanish startups such as Cabify, Devo, Fever, Fintonic, Flywire, Glovo, Holaluz, Job and Talent, LactApp, LetGo, Monei, Odilo, RavenPack, Signaturit, Smile and Learn, Telecoming, Wallbox, Wanup, Webbeds, and Wefox are building their businesses on AWS to scale rapidly and expand their geographic reach. Small and medium-sized businesses in Spain including Ayesa, Cash Converters, Fashiola, Help Flash, Imagina Energía, Materiales de Fábrica, Spherag, and Wikiloc are adopting AWS to boost security and scalability.

BBVA is a customer-centric global financial services group operating in more than 25 countries with total assets of $738 billion, more than 87 million customers, and over 114,000 employees. “AWS has helped us develop new projects quickly, expand rapidly, and increase security while complying with European and international regulations. Together with AWS, we have developed innovative cloud projects like BBVA C-fit, a platform built on AWS to simplify the management of market data used to set prices or manage book risk. We also developed and implemented a fully compliant contactless payments system, which allowed us to significantly reduce cost with on-demand scaling,” said José Luis Elechiguerra Joven, global head of Engineering at BBVA. “We welcome the AWS Region in Spain to help us continue accelerating our digital transformation and provide the best banking experiences for our customers.”

As Spain’s first ever “unicorn”—a tech startup reaching $1 billion in market valuation—Cabify operates a multi-mobility application in more than 40 cities in eight countries that connects more than 42 million users and companies with the means of transportation that best suits their needs. Cabify relies on AWS to power its core app and track vehicle locations, which enables drivers and passengers to interact. “AWS’s global reach is extremely important for a technology company like Cabify, which offers real-time services to users and focuses on sustainable innovation. AWS provides Cabify with the reliability needed in this time-critical sector. It has also allowed us to reduce the latency of access to critical databases from two seconds to less than 45 milliseconds, giving drivers and passengers a top-quality experience,” said Carlos Herrera, chief technology officer at Cabify. “This new AWS Region represents a huge step toward creating a local tech community in Spain. About 80% of our tech team is based in Spain, so moving our cloud investment to our country contributes to developing local technical talent. At Cabify, we work tirelessly to be at the forefront of privacy and security for our users, and the AWS Europe (Spain) Region greatly simplifies our privacy compliance with European and Spanish regulations.”

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Spain-based AWS Partners also welcome the AWS Europe (Spain) Region

The AWS Partner Network (APN) includes tens of thousands of independent software vendors (ISVs) and systems integrators (SIs) around the world. AWS Partners build innovative solutions and services on AWS, and the APN helps by providing business, technical, marketing, and go-to-market support to customers. AWS SIs, consulting partners, and ISVs help enterprise and public sector customers migrate to AWS, deploy mission-critical applications, and provide a full range of monitoring, automation, and management services for customers’ cloud environments. Examples of AWS Partners in Spain include Accenture, ACKStorm, Anadat, Apser, Arrow, Atos, ATSistemas, Audiense, BBVA Next, Capgemini, Claranet, Crayon, Deloitte, Devo, Devoteam, DXC, Evolutio, Fujitsu, IBM, Indra, Inetum, Ingram Micro, Itera, IThinkUPC, Keepler, Kyndryl, Logicalis, MagicBeans, NTT Data, Optiva Media, Outsystems, Paradigma Digital, RedPoints, Seidor, SoftwareOne, Syntax, TD Synnex, TechEdge, Telefónica Tech, T-Systems, and Zoi.

NTT DATA, the ninth-largest IT services company in the world and an AWS Partner since 2010, helps customers plan, assess, develop, and deliver AWS solutions that transform their businesses by combining a global reach with local customer focus. “We work with AWS to help organizations in Spain innovate, scale their businesses, and accelerate growth. Today’s launch of the AWS Region in Spain is a milestone for the acceleration of digital transformation in the country. The AWS Europe (Spain) Region will offer additional advantages to our customers such as low latency, energy efficiency, and compliance with in-country data requirements. With the AWS Region and our highly skilled team of cloud experts, we will help our customers migrate applications to AWS faster, quickly develop new cloud-native services, and modernize their businesses,” said Sergi Biosca, chief executive officer at NTT DATA Spain. “We continuously train our workforce in cloud technologies, and we have certified more than 550 people in AWS in the last two years to provide transformative solutions to our customers and boost Spain’s progress.”

Upskilling Spain’s workforce

AWS continues to invest in upskilling developers, students, and the next generation of IT leaders in Spain through programs like AWS re/Start, AWS GetIT, AWS Academy, and AWS Educate. Since 2017, AWS has helped train more than 100,000 individuals in Spain with cloud computing skills. These AWS education programs help learners of all backgrounds and experiences prepare for careers in the cloud. From college courses to full-time training programs and self-paced learning content, AWS education programs offer access to the skills needed to begin a career in cloud computing. AWS and the Madrid Chamber of Commerce teamed up to bring the AWS re/Start program to Spain in 2020. The AWS re/Start skills training program prepares individuals for entry-level roles in cloud computing and connects them to potential employers. AWS also collaborates with Spanish regional governments to introduce the AWS Academy program into vocational training programs. Through the next two years, AWS estimates that 6,000 students in Andalusia and 2,000 in Aragon will access AWS training to prepare for in-demand cloud careers. These programs are part of Amazon’s commitment to help 29 million people around the world grow their tech skills with free cloud computing training by 2025.

Commitment to Sustainability

Amazon is committed to becoming a more sustainable business and reaching net-zero carbon across its operations by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement, as part of The Climate Pledge. Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge and became its first signatory in 2019. As part of its Climate Pledge commitment, Amazon is on a path to power its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of the original 2030 target. Amazon is the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, and as of the end of 2021, reached 85% renewable energy across its business. Amazon announced 16 renewable energy projects in Spain with more than 1.5 gigawatts of clean energy capacity. Once fully operational, Amazon’s renewable energy portfolio in Spain will generate the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power 850,000 homes in Spain each year. Organizations that move compute workloads to AWS can benefit from the net effect of Amazon’s sustainability efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.