Amazon S3 lets customers ship big data

Amazon S3 lets customers ship big data

Amazon’s S3 cloud storage service has a new option, called AWS Import/Export, for quickly uploading large amounts of information to its datacenters. It uses a well-developed, multimodal content delivery network that can transmit terabytes of data faster than a T-3 leased line.
The fact that this network is based on jets, trucks and messengers with walkie-talkies doesn’t make it any less useful to enterprises, many of which have been using overnight shipping services for backups for several years, according to 451 Group analyst Henry Baltazar. Just make sure the data’s encrypted in case it falls off the back of a truck or otherwise gets lost, he said.
AWS (Amazon Web Services) described the new service in a recent blog posting. AWS Import/Export from Amazon Web Services lets customers send virtually unlimited amounts of data to Amazon when they want to start using S3 for the first time, back up their content offsite, or streamline the Direct Data Interchange process with their partners. All customers will have to do is copy their data to a device, such as an external hard drive, create a manifest file with authentication information and a digital signature, e-mail loading instructions and ship the device. AWS lays out guidelines for the storage devices on an information page at its Web site.
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