Amazon opens Australian office

Renai LeMay
Thursday, 14 July 2011 18:33

IT Industry - Strategy

The company's Asia-Pacific managing director of its Web Services division Shane Owenby and global chief technology officer Werner Vogels (pictured) hit Sydney today for a half-day presentation to a moderate-sized group of customers at the ritzy Sofitel Wentworth hotel in the downtown central business district. A similar event was held in Melbourne earlier in the week.

It has previously been unclear whether Amazon has dedicated staff in Australia. However, Owenby told the crowd that the company had launched a local office to support its growing Web Services (cloud computing) business. Customers had asked Amazon: 'Will we see staff in Australia?' said Owenby. 'The answer is yes.'

Apart from the lack of local staff, another sticking point for Australian customers looking to adopt Amazon's services has been the lack of an Australia-based datacentre, with the closest facilities being located in Singapore and on the West Coast of the United States. Amazon's other main facilities are located in Europe, America's East Coast and Japan, and it operates a number of other smaller fringe facilities as part of its global content distribution network.

Earlier this week, The Australian newspaper reported that Amazon was canvassing up to three sites in Sydney for a potential new local datacentre to be set up, with a potential unveiling of such a facility by early 2012. However, at the event this afternoon, Amazon executives didn't deliver any concrete confirmation or denial of the reported plans.

'International expansion is important,' said Owenby, noting Australia was a 'key market' for Amazon. 'Being a customer-centric organisation, we've heard from customers that they want infrastructure in Australia, it's something that we're interested in talking to customers about.'