Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced that it will now offer free data transfers to other cloud providers, similar to Google Cloud. This is an interesting shift in the cloud computing, and a hint to developers on the approach to cloud storage and data management.
It used to be a pain
Historically, data transfer fees have been a sticky issue within the cloud computing. While switching could sound like a good idea, there were substantial costs when moving data between cloud services, which in consequence discouraged the adoption of multi-cloud strategies. Google Cloud, cleverly, as being the 3rd largest and the more interested on it, broke the mold by eliminating these fees - probably because of EU pressure as well. All positive overall.
Implications for the Cloud Computing
Boost Innovation: Developers and companies will be more inclined to experiment and innovate, knowing that data can be moved freely across platforms.
Enhance Competition: With major players like AWS and Google making such customer-centric changes, other providers may feel pressured to follow suit, leading to better services and pricing for users.
My View: A Dynamic Future for “Object Storage” or “Compute” Resources
As we see these shifts, it’s an interesting moment to observe the evolving cloud space. From the perspective of a cloud provisioner, the no-fee data transfer policies introduce an open proposition: the dynamic consideration of “object storage (s3 or bucket)” or “compute (eks or gke)” resources across different clouds, depending on cost and other factors. Is it possible to make more cost-effective?
Punchline: It’s time to add scope for multi-cloud switching on demand on cloud provisioning.
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