亞馬遜雲服務將在歐洲設數據中心

Amazon is offering its corporate customers the option of running internet services and holding data in Germany as it addresses concerns from European businesses about the threat of online spying in the US.

亞馬遜(Amazon)正向企業用戶提供在德國運行互聯網服務及保存數據的選項，這是爲了應對歐洲企業對美國網絡間諜活動的擔憂。

The retailer’s cloud computing arm has unveiled plans to build centres in Frankfurt as businesses and governments in continental Europe have been increasingly alarmed at revelations of internet surveillance, exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

這家零售商的雲計算部門公佈了在法蘭克福建立數據中心的計劃。對於美國國家安全局(NSA)告密者愛德華•斯諾登(Edward Snowden)有關互聯網監聽活動的爆料，歐洲大陸的企業和政府日益感到恐慌。

US and UK security services were shown to be capable of breaking into the networks of the US’s leading technology companies, while there was uproar over revelations that the personal phone of German chancellor Angela Merkel had been tapped. European companies hoping to gain some protection from this surveillance have demanded that data be held on servers within the EU, which is seen to have stricter data protection laws than elsewhere in the world. This is particularly the case in Germany, which has powerful online privacy watchdogs.

從爆料內容看，美國和英國的安全部門能侵入美國主要技術公司的網絡，同時德國總理安格拉•默克爾(Angela Merkel)的個人手機被曝遭監聽，引發軒然大波。希望針對這種監聽獲得一些保護的歐洲企業要求將數據存儲在歐盟(EU)境內的服務器上。歐盟被視爲世界上數據保護法律最嚴格的地區，德國尤其如此，該國設有權力極大的網絡隱私監督機構。

Andy Jassy, senior vice-president of Amazon Web Services, said the decision was because of the “cultural preferences” of companies in the region. “We have thousands of German customers and a number of those customers have told us that they would like to move their workload and data to AWS, but can’t do so until we have infrastructure here in Germany.” Previously, enterprises hoping to build their web operations using Amazon’s pay-as-you-go infrastructure would have used the company’s data centres in Ireland or nine other locations outside the EU.

亞馬遜網站服務 (Amazon Web Services，簡稱AWS)高級副總裁安迪•雅西(Andy Jassy)稱，做出這個決定是因爲歐洲企業的“文化偏好”。“我們有成千上萬的德國客戶，其中一些客戶告訴我們，他們希望能將工作量和數據轉移到AWS平臺，但只有當我們在德國擁有基礎設施後他們纔會這樣做。”此前，希望使用這個按使用量付費的基礎設施平臺來進行web運作的企業，需要使用亞馬遜設在愛爾蘭或者歐盟以外地點的9個數據中心。

Research suggests that US-based cloud providers may be losing business to overseas competitors because of alarm at online snooping. Last year, a report from think-tank the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation found US cloud companies could lose $35bn by 2016 because of this trend.

研究表明，網絡監控引發的恐慌可能使位於美國的雲服務提供商被海外競爭者搶走業務。去年，智庫“信息技術創新基金會”(Information Technology and Innovation Foundation)的一份報告顯示，到2016年，這種趨勢可能使美國的雲服務企業損失350億美元。

Aaron Levie, chief executive of Box, said his cloud enterprise company was looking at creating bespoke services built on data centres in Europe. But he argued that improved encryption and security were a better way to convince European groups to trust US tech providers. “The Snowden issue has obviously prompted more caution.”

雲服務提供商Box的首席執行官阿龍•利維(Aaron Levie)表示，Box在考慮依託歐洲的數據中心提供定製服務。但他認爲，要說服歐洲企業信任美國技術提供商，改善加密和安全技術是更好的辦法。“斯諾登事件顯然促使人們更爲小心。”

Amazon does not disclose figures for its AWS business. But Macquarie Capital estimates the unit’s revenues will rise from $5.3bn this year to $8.1bn in 2015.

亞馬遜並不公佈AWS業務的詳細業績。但據麥格理資本(Macquarie Capital)的估算，該業務的收入將從今年的53億美元升至2015年的81億美元。