24 Sep Amazon Web Services are coming to New Zealand
NZ to become an AWS Cloud Region with $7.2b Investment
Amazon Web Services are coming to New Zealand in one of the largest technology investments the region has seen. AWS (Amazon Web Services) is planning a massive $7.5b investment in data centres in Auckland. Set to open in 2024, the build will include 3 data centres around Auckland to maximise storage capacity and service capability while minimising latency for users.
The investment is predicted to create over 1000 jobs while adding over $10b to New Zealand’s economy. Opening these data centres puts New Zealand in the company of locations ranging from our neighbours in Australia to regions as diverse as Spain, Switzerland, and the UAE. Set to take place over the course of the next 15 years. This timeframe as well as the sheer scale of AWS in the industry means huge opportunities for New Zealanders to not only find local employment but for us to make our mark in IT on a global scale.
So why has Amazon decided to place Auckland, New Zealand at the centre of cloud computing? According to AWS’ New Zealand manager Tim Dacombe-Bird, Auckland provides the best landscape in terms of both talent and infrastructure. He states that “Auckland has a large pool of top-quality technology talent”. Top quality talent is something that we are all too familiar with at Techtorium. For over 16 years we have been turning IT students into IT professionals and with the advent of the cloud, we have adapted.
Auckland’s rich talent pool is no mystery to the IT industry at large. Only last year, Microsoft made clear their intentions to harness New Zealand’s IT capability with Auckland based data centres of their own. Other Cloud companies in Canberra Data Centres and DCI Data Centres have been constructing and applying for permission to build data centres respectively.
As cloud computing has grown, we have woven it more and more into the fabric of our courses, culminating currently in our Level 7 Diploma in Cloud Management. Recognising AWS and Microsoft Azure as industry standards, we have focussed on equipping our students to thrive in these environments and it shows. In the 2021 New Zealand Cloud Skills Challenge, Techtorium students placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd. First place winner Jason has since found employment with Lucidity Cloud Services.
To find out more about AWS and the data centres they’ll be opening, there are great reports to be found here, here and here. If you would like to find out more about Techtorium and how we prepare our students for industry, here is a great look at our training philosophy.
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