AWS announces new region in Canada • Hacker News Board

Re: AWS announces new region in Canada

#41

Post by mistermann » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 10:47 PM UTC

faeriol wrote: post #9

api wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OVH has a monster data center there too. The region has very cheap power due to a lot of hydroelectric available.

The region should have become the Datacenter capital of North-America... Cold temperatures, Cheap (and renewable) power...

Any idea what would a data center pay per year for cooling? Would it be worthwhile to build in a cooler location where cooling would be free in the winter?

And maybe even (somehow) freeze water in the winter and melt it in the summer to provide additional "free" cooling? (Might be a bit of a stretch)

Re: AWS announces new region in Canada

#42

Post by dubcanada » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 10:50 PM UTC

The prices seem to have a 14% roughly increase compared to US East.

I also assume that this also means Canadian tax is going to start being added onto all the prices?

Re: AWS announces new region in Canada

#43

Post by alex_anglin » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 10:53 PM UTC

ris wrote: post #32

Got to wonder if there's been an uptick in enquiries about moving some operations across the border in the last month.

n=1 and all, but the Internet Archive's Canadian mirror is a notable example: https://blog.archive.org/2016/11/29/help-us-keep-the-archive...

Re: AWS announces new region in Canada

#44

Post by Cyph0n » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 11:10 PM UTC

api wrote: post #40

Twirrim wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Data Locality is going to continue to be a strong driver for cloud providers getting a presence in different countries. It feels like it's post-Snowden (but it may be I wasn't paying enough attention before then), but more and more countries have been passing data locality laws and are less willing to have their data residing in the US.

Does data locality matter if the servers are controlled by a US company?

Well, in theory, US companies could still leak user data out, but the consequences are dire if Canada (or whoever) finds out. On the other hand, if Canadian user data is stored in AWS US East for example, then Canada can do absolutely nothing from a legal standpoint.

Re: AWS announces new region in Canada

#45

Post by vacri » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 11:12 PM UTC

dubcanada wrote: post #42

The prices seem to have a 14% roughly increase compared to US East. I also assume that this also means Canadian tax is going to start being added onto all the prices?

Yes. They add Australian, Japanese, and UK tax to services run in those regions. Canada will be in the same boat.

Re: AWS announces new region in Canada

#46

Post by olalonde » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 11:12 PM UTC

tempestn wrote: post #31

gaurav-gupta wrote: post #3

sure don't have to worry about keeping the servers cool eh? :)

The location will help, but it's not like Montreal is in the frozen tundra. It's about 30 miles from the border with Vermont. All of Washington state is north of Montreal.

It's not the frozen tundra but you can't compare climates with latitude alone. Montreal still gets a lot colder than Washington State or Vancouver.

Source: https://gfycat.com/UnlinedAdorableElectriceel

Re: AWS announces new region in Canada

#47

Post by tempestn » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 11:20 PM UTC

olalonde wrote: post #46

tempestn wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The location will help, but it's not like Montreal is in the frozen tundra. It's about 30 miles from the border with Vermont. All of Washington state is north of Montreal.

It's not the frozen tundra but you can't compare climates with latitude alone. Montreal still gets a lot colder than Washington State or Vancouver. Source: https://gfycat.com/UnlinedAdorableElectriceel

Ha, yes, I know. The reference to Vermont was more relevant.

I actually chose Washington state intentionally over North Dakota since its mild climate made for a more striking comparison. Factually correct, but perhaps a bit misleading.

Re: AWS announces new region in Canada

#48

Post by richerlariviere » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 11:22 PM UTC

exhilaration wrote: post #2

For the curious, the data center is in Montreal according to the press release: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208006034/en/Amaz...

It is located in Montreal downtown

Re: AWS announces new region in Canada

#49

Post by faeriol » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 11:26 PM UTC

notheguyouthink wrote: post #10

faeriol wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The region should have become the Datacenter capital of North-America... Cold temperatures, Cheap (and renewable) power...

> Should have Is there a reason it didn't? (i'm not "in the know")

They put business people in charge of the Electrical company instead of engineers...

Service quality went down, new projects were put on hold, and investments in new technology was basically killed... Prices went up too.

Quebec has nationalized electricity and really missed the boat for newer technology.

Re: AWS announces new region in Canada

#50

Post by ibejoeb » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 11:27 PM UTC

ironlady wrote: post #4

So many companies that legally required a server physically located in Canada are going to be running to AWS now, practically everyone touching health care, government, personal data, or even getting some level of government funding likely was obligated to keep things within Canadian borders.

Yup. I've been eagerly awaiting this since they announced earlier this year. I was getting worried I'd have to contract with a different provider. I'm a heavy RDS user, too, so I wasn't looking forward to it.