AWS Global Infrastructure is the network of data centers and edge locations that power the cloud computing services of Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS Global Infrastructure consists of 25 geographic regions, each with two or more availability zones, and over 200 points of presence (PoPs) around the world. AWS Global Infrastructure enables customers to deploy applications and data in multiple locations with high performance, reliability, security, and scalability.
A region is a physical location where AWS operates clusters of data centers. Each region is designed to be isolated from the other regions, to provide fault tolerance and stability. Regions are connected by high-speed private networks, and customers can choose which regions to use for their applications and data. AWS currently operates regions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.
An availability zone (AZ) is a logical grouping of one or more data centers within a region. Each AZ has independent power, cooling, and physical security, and is connected to other AZs in the same region by low-latency fiber-optic links. AZs are designed to provide high availability and redundancy for customers’ applications and data. Customers can launch instances of various types and sizes in any AZ, and can use services such as Amazon Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) and Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) to distribute traffic and data across multiple AZs.
A point of presence (PoP) is an edge location where AWS delivers content and services to customers. PoPs are located in major cities around the world, and are connected to the AWS regions by high-speed private networks. PoPs enable customers to use services such as Amazon CloudFront (CF), Amazon Route 53 (R53), and AWS Global Accelerator (GA) to deliver content and applications to their end users with low latency and high performance. PoPs also support services such as AWS Direct Connect (DX) and AWS VPN (VPC), which allow customers to establish private connections between their on-premises networks and the AWS cloud.
AWS Global Infrastructure is constantly expanding and evolving to meet the growing needs and expectations of customers. AWS regularly launches new regions, AZs, and PoPs, as well as new services and features that leverage the global network. AWS also invests in renewable energy sources and sustainability initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of its operations. AWS Global Infrastructure is the foundation of the cloud computing revolution, and enables customers to innovate faster, scale easier, and operate more securely than ever before.
