Amazon’s AWS (Amazon Web Services) has recently announced a significant change that will benefit its customers. They will now be able to transfer their data out of AWS without incurring any egress fees. This move comes just a couple of months after Google made a similar announcement. However, as Google is the third largest player in the public cloud market, it has more incentive to lead by example. The hope is that by making it cheaper for companies to leave AWS or Microsoft and move to Google cloud, these companies will be more inclined to make the switch.
This decision is also in line with the European Data Act that came into effect in January. The act is designed to promote competition in the cloud market by making it easier for customers to switch providers. This can be done by either moving to a different cloud provider altogether, adopting a multi-cloud strategy, or bringing all data back in-house to an on-premises infrastructure.
While AWS does already offer a free monthly data transfer allowance of up to 100GB, this is not sufficient for companies looking to transfer their entire data stores to another provider. This is what has changed for AWS customers, as of today.
It’s worth noting that while the European Data Act is specific to European markets, AWS’s decision to remove egress fees applies globally. This mirrors Google’s earlier announcement, demonstrating that both companies are committed to promoting competition not just in Europe, but worldwide.
For companies interested in moving their data off of AWS, they can contact AWS for assistance. It has been reported that AWS will provide credits to support the migration process. However, AWS principal developer advocate Sébastien Stormacq hopes that customers will not have to take advantage of this option.
As the other major player in the public cloud market, it is likely that Microsoft will now follow suit after the announcements from Google and AWS. TechCrunch has reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update accordingly.
It’s unclear how this news impacts the UK’s ongoing antitrust investigation into cloud lock-in practices. One of the main focuses of the investigation has been on egress fees. Assuming Microsoft also removes these fees, the regulators will have one less issue to address.
However, there are other factors to consider as well. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has also highlighted interoperability concerns, which refers to situations where cloud providers design their products to not be compatible with rival services. Although the removal of egress fees is a positive step, it doesn’t address the technical barriers to switching that the CMA has identified. So, there may be further regulatory challenges on the horizon.
