
AWS Asia Pacific – Hong Kong Region - jeffbarr
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/now-open-aws-asia-pacific-hong-kong-region/
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ksec
I often wonder what happened during the 2013 - 2017 era, that Google, Amazon,
many Cloud / DC Hosting Services, Internet Backbone Companies all of sudden
decide to invest in HK. When they had all previously decided against such
investment in 2009 - 2012. Or they did and then pulled out.

There is a new Submarine Cable being lay out every year connecting HK to
Sydney or US or other parts of the world.

I mean HK has been the Financial Center for Asia and hasn't changed one bit,
you cant tell me all of a sudden they discover there are lots of demands from
Financial Companies and they are all rushing to layer new cables and built DC
for them.

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mrkurt
It's the best way to get close to China without actually having to put
infrastructure in China. There's a _lot_ of demand for access to China, and
many companies who want it are fine with Hong Kong.

~~~
ksec
But these are exactly the reason why it should have been done earlier, And
these reason would have been the same in 2010 - 2016.

When Google started negotiation in 2010 and announced their HK Datacenter
project in 2011, every one thought this should finally kickstart what was then
even consider as being late to the DC and Connectivity race in the region. And
all of a sudden 2012 Google decided to pull out. Cloudflare could have opened
an Office in HK but decided Singapore instead. Lots and Lots of Datacenter /
Hosting companies came and looked and decided to give it a pass.

Something changed in 2016 and there has since been lots of investment in Data
Center and Connectivity.

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xfalcox
How does stuff hosted in this region work regarding the China Firewall?

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strayamaaate
There is no GFW in Hong Kong, so you enjoy unfettered Internet access.

For traffic inbound to China from HK, traditionally it's been slightly faster
but that may just be proximity rather than any preferential treatment by the
GFW.

~~~
rsync
Can confirm. We have datacenter space in Hong Kong with a fiber connection to
he.net and it is indistinguishable from all of our other sites, globally.

End user Internet usage in Hong Kong is also indistinguishable from
California. Although, to be fair, I stay at (relatively) expensive, western
hotels and my Internet experience _inside of mainland China_ is also
indistinguishable from California.

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logotype
Just tried to login to AWS Console but just getting a "Website Temporarily
Unavailable":
[https://console.aws.amazon.com/console/home](https://console.aws.amazon.com/console/home)

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mikece
Is this the first AWS datacenter in China?

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jeffbarr
No, we already have AWS Regions in Beijing and Ningxia. Each region includes
multiple Availability Zones (AZs).

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billyhoffman
Hey Jeff,

I get those mainland China regions are via your partners, and have a separate
portal/account, etc. But why does creating a AWS China account require an ICP?
I have no intention of serving/hosting content from there, I'm just looking
for in-country compute. (To be fair, other US-based cloud providers like Azure
have the same ICP-to-even-create-account requirement to access mainland China
locations).

What is strange is I am able to use Alibaba Cloud, and spin up mainland China
instances but didn't need an ICP as part of the account creation process. Why
the difference with AWS China?

I did an Ask HN about experience with AWS China and got no bites...

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17522491](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17522491)

Any insights are super appreciated. Thank you in advance.

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drfritznunkie
I think it's a combination of CYA, government regulations, and simplifying
operations for AWS. Without an ICP, you're not allowed any web presence in CN,
which would require AWSCN to either modify services that are publicly
available by default or not offering them. Instead, if they make an ICP a
requirement, they have a defensible position with CN regulators, who really
just want a throat to choke.

As AWSCN is reasonably far behind compared to Global regions, and they've
already enough complexity just doing business in China, so I think it's
completely reasonable the trade-off they've made or been forced to make here
regarding ICP.

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simonebrunozzi
Ah, the memories. I joined AWS in Europe in 2008 as the first (non Data
Center) employee, shortly joined by Martin. Then on Jan 1st, 2010 four of us
(Shane, Kingsley, Rick and I) "started" the APAC region.

I visited HK in April 2010 to speak at a conference (it was my second time
ever in HK). Rick, who knew HK well, suggested I try Lanson place - terrific
breakfast and great position to visit perspective clients.

These were really great times. Small team, good bonds, lots to build.

It gives you a real sense of perspective to think that now AWS has a "region"
in Hong Kong. Still mind-blowing how fast AWS grew in these years.

